Stone column settlement performance in structured anisotropic clays: the influence of creep
Journal article, 2016

The recently developed elasto-viscoplastic Creep-SCLAY1S model has been used in conjunction with PLAXIS 2D to investigate the effectiveness of vibro-replacement in a creep-prone clay. The Creep-SCLAY1S model accounts for anisotropy, bonding, and destructuration, and uses the concept of a constant rate of viscoplastic multiplier to calculate creep strain rate. A comparison of settlement improvement factors with and without creep indicates that ‘total’ settlement improvement factors (primary plus creep) are lower than their ‘primary’ counterparts (primary settlement only). The lowest settlement improvement factors arise for analyses incorporating the effect of bonding and destructuration. Examination of the variations of vertical stress with time and depth has indicated that vertical stress is transferred from the soil to the column as the soil creeps. This results in additional column yielding. In addition, the radial and hoop stresses in the soil are lower for the ‘creep’ case. The reduced radial stresses lead to additional column bulging and hence more settlement, whereas the hoop stress reductions appear to be a secondary effect, caused by additional plastic deformation for the ‘creep’ case. © 2016 Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Finite element (FE) method

Anisotropy

Stone columns

Creep

Destructuration

Author

Brian G. Sexton

National University of Ireland

Bryan A. McCabe

National University of Ireland

Minna Karstunen

Chalmers, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Geology and Geotechnics

N. Sivasithamparam

Stiftelsen Norges Geotekniske Institutt

Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering

16747755 (ISSN)

Vol. 8 5 672-688

Areas of Advance

Building Futures (2010-2018)

Subject Categories

Geotechnical Engineering

DOI

10.1016/j.jrmge.2016.05.004

More information

Latest update

6/12/2020