Verification of a plane strain and three-dimensional model for the analysis of stone columns group

Document Type : Research articles

Authors

1 Professor, Geotechnical Engineering Department of civil engineering, Shubra Faculty Benha University

2 Assistant Professor, Geotechnical Engineering Department of civil engineering, Shubra Faculty Benha University

3 Teaching Assistant, Higher Institute of Engineering, 15th of May City

Abstract

The effect of using stone columns on settlement rate of soft clay soils is considered a subject with little studies. 
This paper presents implementation of 2D and 3D numerical model to predict settlement rate of soft clay soils. The 
numerical models were compared with observations of large-scale field project. The project consisted of 
implementation of 0.90m end-bearing stone columns with spacing of 2.90m and average the field behavior 
especially for settlement values, settlement rates, and pore water pressure. The 2D model is considered conservative 
at the early stage of loading and accurately predict the field observations for long-term behavior. The final results 
show that 3D model is more realistic than the 2D model, but it requires more time and computational efforts.

Keywords