Numerical analysis of multilayer geosynthetic-reinforced bed over stone columns-improved soft clay

Abstract

Installation of stone columns is recognized as a usual procedure for the treatment for soft clay soils. In the current research, three-dimensional finite-element analyses were performed to simulate the behavior of multilayer geosynthetic-reinforced granular bed over stone column-reinforced soft soil using the ABAQUS. An extensive research was conducted for better understanding of the mechanism of load transfer in ordinary stone columns (OSCs) and geosynthetic-encased columns (GECs) installed under a concrete foundation. Parametric studies were also carried out to investigate the effects of factors such as hardness of the geosynthetic encasement and the region replacement proportion on the overall behaviour of the GECs group. The results designated that utilizing of more than one geosynthetic reinforcement with stone columns is not so effective to reduce the maximum settlement. But, a multilayer reinforcement system is efficient to decrease the maximum settlement when stone columns are not used. It was also shown that there is a large growth in the amount of stress concentration proportion with the presence of geosynthetic reinforcement in comparison with the amount when there is no geosynthetic reinforcement present.