Abstract:

This paper focuses on evaluating the settlement and bearing capacity of compressible soil reinforced with stone columns, by applying load compensation through embankment bodies of varying heights at the level of the column heads and the surrounding soil, the latter is a soil formation consisting of a clay layer containing within it a group of columns embedded in the layer in the form of a square mesh resting in turn on a layer of marl, through a load distribution and transfer mattress located above them spread along the group of columns and the same loads are applied to both models of the unit cell and the isolated column in order to perceive how the three models of distinct geometric shape act and produce an effect on the results of instantaneous settlements obtained for an applied static load. In addition, the bearing capacity for the isolated column model is estimated, based on the theoretical principle of Datye (1982), describing the failure mechanism of a top-loaded isolated stone column embedded in a compressible layer, which was analyzed and developed by Greenwood 1970. Using a calculation code (Flac 3D), numerical simulations were performed to obtain and analyze the settlements for the three models, and the bearing capacity for the isolated column model. The numerical results are estimated using other methods and analytical approaches available in the literature that support this line of research. The comparison of settlement results between the numerical models related to the study of this analysis to indicate that both column group and isolated column models show deviations and quantitative differences correlatively low estimated in percentage between − 5.8% and + 8.8% explaining a suitable and adequate convergence. On the other hand, divergences were recorded are more considerable between the column group model and the composite unit cell ranging from + 64% to + 127%, as well as between the isolated column and the composite cell from + 51% to + 126%. These results highlight that the composite cell systematically reduces settlements, while the group model can be considered as the most significant, especially under high applied loads. Regarding the bearing capacity, some analytical methods present a suitable and almost similar estimation of numerical values with reduced percentages varying between − 1.18% and + 1.34%.

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