A soil improvement case study using rammed stone column systems

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Tezin Türü: Yüksek Lisans

Tezin Yürütüldüğü Kurum: Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi, Mühendislik Fakültesi, İnşaat Mühendisliği Bölümü, Türkiye

Tezin Onay Tarihi: 2013

Öğrenci: OSMAN FATİH BEŞLER

Danışman: BAHADIR SADIK BAKIR

Özet:

Nowadays, the rammed stone columns and similar systems are used worldwide more and more frequently as an economical way for improvement of the foundation soils. The primary objective of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the rammed stone column system by predicting settlements and bearing capacity increase through evaluation of failure mechanisms of reinforced soil layers loaded in compression. Conventional approaches of design are compared with the results of finite element models using software PLAXIS 3D and field load test. Field and laboratory tests are are carried out to determine the attributes of the in-situ foundation soils . It is found that the predictive capability of available methods for the evaluation of bearing capacity of the reinforced soil fits well with that derived from field load tests, in general. Response of a single loaded column and group of loaded columns don’t show significan differences. On the other hand, regarding elastic settlements some differences were observed between the field test results and those calculated from the finite element model, as well as those estimated by the existing formulations. Potential reasons for those differences are discussed in this thesis.