Performance of Geosynthetic-Encased Stone Columns in Embankment Construction: Numerical Investigation

This paper presents the results of a numerical investigation into the performance of geosynthetic-encased stone columns (GESCs) installed in soft ground for embankment construction. A three-dimensional finite-element model was employed to carry out a parametric study on a number of governing factors such as the consistency of soft ground, the geosynthetic encasement length and stiffness, the embankment fill height, and the area replacement ratio. The results indicate among other things that additional confinement provided by the geosynthetic encasement increases the stiffness of the stone column and reduces the degree of embankment load transferred to the soft ground, thereby decreasing the overall settlement. It is also shown that the geosynthetic encasement has a greater impact for cases with larger stone column spacing and/or weaker soil. Also revealed is that unlike isolated column loading conditions, full encasement may be necessary to ensure maximum settlement reduction when implementing GESCs under an embankment loading condition. Practical implications of the findings are discussed in detail.     

Reinforced Stone Columns in Weak Deposits: Laboratory Model Study

This paper investigates the performance of stone columns in a weak deposit such as peat. It evaluates the effects of reinforcing stone columns by jacketing with a tubular wire mesh and bridging reinforcement with a metal rod and a concrete plug. A series of plate loading tests was conducted on isolated stone columns installed in a soil bed consisting of a peat layer sandwiched between two layers of sand. The load–displacement characteristics of footings supported by stone columns were investigated by applying load to a circular plate supported on: (a) untreated soil; (b) soil treated with stone columns; and (c) soil treated with stone columns reinforced with the above reinforcing techniques. The work has shown that the settlement characteristics of the soil can be improved by installing stone columns and that a significant enhancement in the load–settlement response is achieved when the columns are reinforced by the various methods.     

Studies on the Behavior of Single and Group of Geosynthetic Encased Stone Columns

The stone columns (or granular piles) are increasingly being used as ground reinforcement elements for supporting a wide variety of structures including buildings and flexible structures. The stone columns derive their load capacity from the confinement offered by the surrounding soil. In very soft soils this lateral confinement may not be adequate and the formation of the stone column itself may be doubtful. Wrapping the individual stone columns with suitable geosynthetic is one of the ideal forms of improving the performance of stone columns. This type of encasement by geosynthetic makes the stone columns stiffer and stronger. In addition, encasement prevents the lateral squeezing of stones in to the surrounding clay soil and vice versa, preserves drainage function of the stone column and frictional properties of the aggregates. In spite of many advantages, the behavior and the mechanism of the geosynthetic encased stone columns is not thoroughly understood. This paper investigates the qualitative and quantitative improvement of individual load capacity of stone column by encasement through laboratory model tests conducted on stone columns installed in clay bed prepared in controlled condition in a large scale testing tank. The load tests were performed on single as well as group of stone columns with and without encasement. Tests were performed with different geosynthetics for the encasement of stone column. The results from the load tests indicated a clear improvement in the load capacity of the stone column due to encasement. The increase in the axial load capacity depends very much upon the modulus of the encasement and the diameter of the stone column. The increase in the stress concentration on the stone columns due to encasement was also measured in the tests. The results from the tests were used to develop the design guidelines for the design of geosynthetic encasement for the given load and settlement.     

Consolidation of Soft Clay Foundations Reinforced by Stone Columns under Time-Dependent Loadings

This paper presents an analytical solution for the consolidation of soft soil foundations reinforced by stone columns under time-dependent loadings. The differential equations of the foundations reinforced by stone columns are obtained including smear and well resistance under arbitrary applied loadings. The closed-form solutions of pore pressure and the overall average degree of consolidations are obtained for some common types of loadings, such as step loading, ramp loading, and cyclic trapezoidal loading. By solving the equations using a semianalytical method, the comparisons agree very well with the existing analytical solutions, which verify the correctness and accuracy of the proposed methods. Using the solutions obtained, some selected charts are presented and the relevant consolidation behavior is investigated and discussed.     

Coupled Continuum-Discrete Model for Saturated Granular Soils

A coupled hydromechanical model was used to analyze the mesoscale pore fluid flow and microscale solid phase deformation of saturated granular soils. The fluid motion was idealized using averaged Navier–Stokes equations, and the discrete element method was employed to model the assemblage of solid particles. The fluid–particle interactions were quantified using established semiempirical relationships. Simulations were conducted to investigate the three-dimensional response of sandy deposits when subjected to critical and overcritical upward pore fluid flow. These simulations revealed complex response patterns after the onset of quicksand conditions and provided valuable insight into the associated mechanisms. The employed model provides an effective tool to assess the microscale mechanisms and characteristics of the partially drained response of saturated granular media.     

Behavior of Stone Columns Based on Experimental and FEM Analysis

A detailed experimental study on behavior of single column and group of seven columns is carried out by varying parameters like spacing between the columns, shear strength of soft clay, and loading condition. Laboratory tests are carried out on a column of 100?mm diameter surrounded by soft clay of different consistency. The tests are carried out either with an entire equivalent area loaded to estimate the stiffness of improved ground or only a column loaded to estimate the limiting axial capacity. During the group experiments, the actual stress on column and clay were measured by fixing pressure cells in the loading plate. Finite-element analyses have also been performed using 15-noded triangular elements with the software package PLAXIS. A drained analysis was carried out using Mohr-Coulomb’s criterion for soft clay, stones, and sand. The numerical results from the FEM are compared with the experimental results which showed good agreement between the results. Columns arranged with spacings more than 3 times the diameter of the column does not give any significant improvement. Based on the results, design charts are developed and a design procedure is suggested.     

Elastic Model for Partially Saturated Granular Materials

This paper presents the development of an elastic model for partially saturated granular materials based on micromechanical factor consideration. A granular material is considered as an assembly of particles. The stress-strain relationship for an assembly can be determined by integrating the behavior at all interparticle contacts and by using a static hypothesis, which relates the average stress of the granular assembly to a mean field of particle contact forces. As for the nonsaturated state, capillary forces at grain contacts are added to the contact forces created by an external load. These are then calculated as a function of the degree of saturation, depending on the grain size distribution and on the void ratio of the granular assembly. Hypothesizing a Hertz-Mindlin law for the grain contacts leads to an elastic nonlinear behavior of the particulate material. The prediction of the stress-strain model is compared to experimental results obtained from several different granular materials in dry, partially saturated and fully saturated states. The numerical predictions demonstrate that the model is capable of taking into account the influence of key parameters, such as degree of saturation, void ratio, and mean stress.     

Design Charts for Evaluating Impact Forces on Dissipative Granular Soil Cushions

This paper concerns the problem of designing standard artificial tunnels for rock boulder protection. The proposed approach consists in uncoupling the problem of the dynamic response of the granular dissipative soil cushion placed on the top of artificial tunnels from the dynamic response of the reinforced concrete structure underneath. An already conceived elasto-viscoplastic constitutive model capable of simulating the penetration process of the boulder within the soil stratum and reproducing the force acting on the boulder is briefly described. Its simplified one-dimensional formulation is outlined. A modified version of the model, taking into account large displacements occurring when either impacts on loose granular soils or high energetic content impacts on dense sand strata are considered, is also introduced. To validate the approach, some in situ test results are numerically simulated. A simplified numerical approach is proposed for obtaining the evolution with time of both impact force and boulder penetration, bypassing the use of the rheological model. This goal is achieved by introducing some abaci obtained numerically with reference to an ideal dense sand soil stratum of reference.     

Investigation of Load-Transfer Mechanisms in Geotechnical Earth Structures with Thin Fill Platforms Reinforced by Rigid Inclusions

The reinforcement of soft soils by rigid inclusions is a practical and economical technique for wide-span buildings and the foundations of embankments. This method consists of placing a granular layer at the top of the network of piles to reduce vertical load on the supporting soil and vertical settlement of the upper structure. The study focuses on the modeling of load-transfer mechanisms occurring in the reinforced structure located over the network of piles with a coupling between the finite-element method (geosynthetic sheets) and discrete element method (granular layer; concrete slab in some cases). The importance of granular layer thickness to increase load-transfer intensity and to reduce vertical settlement was observed. However, without a basal geosynthetic sheet, the compressibility of soft soil has a great influence on the mechanisms. A method predicting the intensity of load transfers was proposed, based on Carlsson’s solution. The main parameters concerned are the geometry of the work and the peak and residual friction angles of the granular layer.     

Normalizing Behavior of Unsaturated Granular Pavement Materials

One of the important components of a flexible pavement structure is granular material layers. Unsaturated granular pavement materials (UGPMs) in these layers influence stresses and strains throughout the pavement structure, and have a large effect on asphalt concrete fatigue and pavement rutting (two of the primary failure mechanisms for flexible pavements). The behavior of UGPMs is dependent on water content, but this effect has been traditionally difficult to quantify using either empirical or mechanistic methods. This paper presents a practical mechanistic framework for determining the behavior of UGPMs within the range of water contents, densities, and stress states likely to be encountered under field conditions. Both soil suction and generated pore pressures are determined and compared to confinement under typical field loading conditions. The framework utilizes a simple soil suction model that has three density-independent parameters, and can be determined using conventional triaxial equipment that is available in many pavement engineering laboratories.     

Investigation on the Impact of Seasonally Frozen Soil on Seismic Response of Bridge Columns

This paper presents the development of numerical models that investigated the seismic response of a simple two span prototype bridge system during warm and frozen temperatures. Models from both temperature conditions were subjected to a range of seismic intensities to examine the effect of seasonal freezing on the response of the system. Stiffness characteristics were defined using cyclic models of a bridge pier that were previously developed and validated using results from an experimental program on identical full-scale column-foundation units, which were tested during the summer and winter months. Dynamic characteristics of the seismic models were defined using approaches found in the literature. Frozen conditions increased the maximum bending moment and shear force demands for all seismic intensities, with nonlinearity in the column/foundation reducing the difference between the peak responses at higher intensities. At the depth of maximum foundation shear for the frozen model, demand was three times higher than the unfrozen for the 500-year return period and twice during the 2,500-year event. This is significant as one will assume shear is not critical at this location if the effects of frozen conditions are ignored. Apart from the smallest intensity event, increased peak lateral displacements were developed by the warm model down the length of the column and foundation. However, the displacement demand to capacity ratio was higher at the column top for the frozen model, exceeding the capacity during the 2,500-year return period event.     

Model for Granular Materials with Surface Energy Forces

In light of environmental differences (such as gravitational fields, surface temperatures, atmospheric pressures, etc.), the mechanical behavior of the subsurface soil on the Moon is expected to be different from that on the Earth. Before any construction on the Moon can be envisaged, a proper understanding of soil properties and its mechanical behavior in these different environmental conditions is essential. This paper investigates the possible effect of surface-energy forces on the shear strength of lunar soil. All materials, with or without a net surface charge, exhibit surface-energy forces, which act at a very short range. Although, these forces are negligible for usual sand or silty sand on Earth, they may be important for surface activated particles under extremely low lunar atmospheric pressure. This paper describes a constitutive modeling method for granular material considering particle level interactions. Comparisons of numerical simulations and experimental results on Hostun sand show that the model can accurately reproduce the overall mechanical behavior of soils under terrestrial conditions. The model is then extended to include surface-energy forces between particles in order to describe the possible behavior of lunar soil under extremely low atmospheric pressure conditions. Under these conditions, the model shows that soil has an increase of shear strength due to the effect of surface-energy forces. The magnitude of increased shear strength is in reasonable agreement with the observations of lunar soil made on the Moon’s surface.     

Two-Dimensional Physical and Numerical Modeling of a Pile-Supported Earth Platform over Soft Soil

This paper focuses on the mechanisms occurring in a granular earth platform over soft ground improved by rigid piles. Two-dimensional physical model experiments were performed using the Schneebeli’s analogical soil to investigate the load transfer mechanisms by arching and the settlement reduction and homogenization. Experimental outputs are compared to results obtained on a numerical model using a plane strain continuum approach. The impact of the constitutive model complexity to simulate the platform material behavior was first assessed, but no large difference was recorded. As far as the proposed model, which takes the main features of the observed behavior satisfactorily into account, the numerical procedure could be validated and the parametric studies extended numerically. Both approaches of this study underlined the main geometrical and geotechnical parameters which should inevitably be taken into account in a simplified design method, namely the capping ratio, the platform height, and the platform material shear strength.     

Analytical Elastic Solution Based on Fourier Series for a Laterally Confined Granular Column

This paper presents an analytical solution methodology for the complete stress and displacement fields of a laterally confined granular column loaded from the top end. The granular column is idealized as a homogeneous isotropic elastic medium with Coulomb’s friction at the lateral boundary. The solution methodology consists of an analytical procedure that incorporates a potential approach with trigonometric series and Bessel functions, finite Fourier transforms and the superposition method, and an iterative algorithm to satisfy the Coulomb’s friction condition at the lateral boundary. Stress and displacement fields are computed for a specific example and found completely consistent with corresponding finite element results. Key characteristics, computational errors, the convergence behavior, and restrictions of the present approach are discussed. The methodology developed herein can be beneficially applied in the validation process of numerical simulation techniques in granular mechanics such as finite or discrete element methods.     

Influence of Underlying Weak Soil on Passive Earth Pressure in Cohesionless Deposits

Finite-element simulations demonstrate the influence of underlying weak soil on mobilization of passive pressures in cohesionless deposits. Traditional passive earth pressure theories with typical angles of interface friction may overestimate passive forces in such cases. Simple analytical models that incorporate the underlying weak soil using traditional passive earth pressure concepts are shown to agree reasonably with the finite-element simulations. The studies presented herein are relevant for cases in which cohesionless soil deposits overlie soft clay, liquefiable sand, or other weak layers.     

Analytical Model for Circular Normal- and High-Strength Concrete Columns Confined with FRP

This paper presents a new incremental stress-strain model for fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP)-confined concrete. The model, able to accommodate concrete with a wide range of strength (25–110 MPa), is based on material properties, force equilibrium, and strain compatibility, and uses newly developed models for constantly confined concrete. An expression is proposed to calculate a FRP jacket rupture strain in columns. Beyond the initiation of rupture, gradual failure of a FRP jacket is modeled to account for the size effect on the FRP-confined concrete columns. This proposed constitutive model is unique in that it accommodates a wide range of concrete strength and uses an analytical rupture strain of a FRP jacket to predict the complete stress-strain curve. Small and large specimens tested by the authors and other researchers are used to validate the proposed model. Very good to excellent agreements have been achieved between the analytical and experimental responses.     

Instability in Granular Materials: Experimental Evidence of Diffuse Mode of Failure for Loose Sands

The influence of three loading paths on the collapse of loose sand is analyzed with a particular attention paid to the onset of collapse and the mode of failure exhibited. Experimental results on conventional undrained triaxial compression tests, constant shear drained tests, as well as quasi-constant shear undrained path are presented, compared, and analyzed. It is now recognized that some collapses can occur before the Mohr-Coulomb plastic limit criterion is reached, and our recent results obtained with the new arrangement built up highlight that these collapses occur under a diffuse mode of failure. An extensive experimental series of tests shows that the first negative value of the second-order work computed using experimental data corresponds to the loss of controllability. Moreover, it is shown that the stress ratios at collapse and the corresponding mobilized angles of friction are very close for all types of tests. For similar void ratios, the onset of collapse is thus largely independent of the loading path under drained and undrained conditions but depends on a stress state to bring the material inside the unstable domain and also on the current direction of the stress increment. Indeed, it appears that the orientations of the stress increments at collapse for all tests are the same, what explains, according to the second-order work criterion, that collapse occurs at the same stress ratio. A potentially unstable domain, depending on the stress increment direction, can thus be defined.     

Development and Validation of a Two-Phase Model for Reinforced Soil by Considering Nonlinear Behavior of Matrix

The paper presents the formulation of a two-phase system applied for reinforced soil media, which accounts for nonlinear behavior of matrix phase. In a two-phase material, the soil and inclusion are treated as two individual continuous media called matrix and reinforcement phases, respectively. The proposed algorithm is aimed to analyze the behavior of reinforced soil structures under operational condition focusing on geosynthetics-reinforced-soil (GRS) walls. The global behavior of such deformable structures is highly dependent to the soil behavior. By accounting for mechanical characteristics of the soil in GRS walls, a relatively simple soil model is introduced. The soil model is formulated in bounding surface plasticity framework. The inclusion is regarded as a tensile two-dimensional element, which owns a linear elastic-perfectly plastic behavior. Perfect bonding between phases is assumed in the algorithm. For validation of the proposed model, the behavior of several single element reinforced soil samples, containing horizontal and inclined inclusions, is simulated and the results are compared with experiment. It is shown that the model is accurately capable of predicting the behavior especially before peak shear strength. The proposed algorithm is then implemented in a numerical code and the behavior of a full-scale reinforced soil wall is simulated. The results of analysis are also reasonably well compared with those of experiment.     

Finite-Element Parametric Study of the Consolidation Behavior of a Trial Embankment on Soft Clay

The paper presents a case study for numerical analysis of the consolidation behavior of an instrumented trial embankment constructed on a soft soil foundation. Details are given to the geological profile, field instrumentation, laboratory test results, and determination of soil parameters for numerical modeling. Embankment settlement is estimated based on one-dimensional consolidation analysis and nonlinear finite-element analysis following Biot’s consolidation theory. Finite-element results are calibrated against the measured field data for a period of more than 3?years. Development and dissipation of excess pore pressure, long-term settlement, and horizontal displacement are predicted and discussed in light of sensitivity of embankment performance to some critical factors through a parametric study.     

Elastoplastic Model for the Long-Term Behavior Modeling of Unbound Granular Materials in Flexible Pavements

The constitutive modeling of cyclic plasticity of soils has made great progress, especially in the area of sands liquefaction modeling. Nowadays, the problem of rutting of flexible pavements linked to permanent deformations occurring in the unbound layers is taken into account only by empirical formulas. This paper presents an elastoplastic model with both isotropic and kinematic hardening. The yield surface, plastic potential, and isotropic hardening are based on a model for sands, which takes into account the influence of the initial void ratio and of the mean stress on the mechanical behavior. A kinematic hardening has been added in order to take into account the mechanical behavior of the material for large cycle numbers. A complete model is then developed, simulations are presented, and comparisons with repeated load triaxial tests carried out on a subgrade soil (clayey sand), have been made. These comparisons underline the capabilities of the model to take into account the monotonic, cyclic, and ratchetting behavior of unbound materials for roads.