Impact Factor (2025): 6.9
DOI Prefix: 10.47001/IRJIET
Soil improvement by means of stone column method is used to improve sabkha
soils in order to limit total and differential settlement and to achieve the
required bearing capacity. Full-scale plate test was performed on site to
confirm the achievement of required bearing capacity at the specified
settlement. Despite the fact that this technique is widely used to improve
sabkha soils, there are no studies focusing on the behavior of stone columns in
such problematic soils. Sabkha soils are known for its high compressibility,
low strength and water sensitivity due to loss of salt cementation upon
flooding during installation of stone columns. Numerical modeling of plate load
test assist to understand complicated behavior of sabkha – stone column
interaction. This paper presents a three-dimensional Finite element model,
using PLAXIS 3D software, to simulate vertical plate load tests on a stone
column installed in sabkha. The predicted settlement values are in reasonable
agreement with the field measure values and the field load - settlement curve
can be predicted with good accuracy.
Country : Saudi Arabia