Influence of Column Length on Settlement Performance of Floating Stone Column in Soft Clay

Abstract

This paper presents the experimental solutions for the influence of length to the behavior and settlement performance of stone column. Laboratory experiments were conducted to compare the results between the settlement performance of end bearing stone columns and floating stone columns. Unit cell concept is used to idealize the settlement performance of large column group under the uniform load. The parameters that investigated are the column length to diameter ratio. This experimental investigation used a small-scale unit cell model tank and investigated the column length of a single column. Furthermore, the physical test involved the use of a custom-made stone column model, constructed with a rectangular steel frame measuring 600 mm in height and 260*260 mm in length and width. The experiment incorporated three different column heights: 400 mm, 320 mm, and 240 mm. Additionally, three distinct area replacement ratios of 33%, 23% and 15% were employed in these testing experiments. The results indicated that an increase in the length of stone columns correlates with a reduction in settlement, together with the increase ability to dissipate excess water pressure leading to a faster consolidation rate. The settlement performance was compared with existing analytical solution where reasonable agreement was obtained.