Authors
Abstract
As in piles, the efficiency of a group (Eg) of stone columns is defined as the ratio
between the capacity of the group to the capacity of each stone column in the group
multiplied by single stone column capacity. In this paper, the group efficiency of 24 model
stone columns installed in soft clay is considered. These groups consist of 2, 3 and 4
columns. The tests were conducted on stone columns with length to diameter ratio (L/D) of 6
and 8. A laboratory setup was manufactured in which two proving rings were used to
measure the total load applied to the soil-stone column system and the individual load carried
directly by the stone column. The foundation steel plates have 220 mm diameter and 5 mm
thickness. These plates contain 1, 2, 3 and 4 holes, respectively. The spacing between all
holes equals twice the stone column diameter (D), center to center.
The stone column capacity is taken as the load corresponding to a settlement equals
to 50% of the diameter of stone column. The results illustrated that the group efficiency
decreases with increasing the number of stone columns, also the stone columns with L/D of
(8) provided higher efficiency than those with L/D of (6).
Keywords
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