analytical method for the analysis of stone-columns according to the rowe dilatancy theory boStjan pulko and bojan majes About the authors Boštjan Pulko University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Civil and Geodetic Engineering Jamova 2, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia E-mail: bostjan.pulko@fgg.uni-lj.si Bojan Majes University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Civil and Geodetic Engineering Jamova 2, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia E-mail: bojan.majes@fgg.uni-lj.si Abstract In this paper a new analytical method to analyse the behaviour of rigid foundations stabilized by end bearing stone-columns is proposed. The stone column and the surrounding soil are treated in axial symmetric conditions as a unit cell. The stone column is assumed to behave as an Mohr-Coulomb rigid-plastic material with non-associative flow rule according to the Rowe stress dilatancy theory and the soil as an elastic material. These common assumptions, combined with equilibrium and kinematic conditions, lead to the simple analytical closed-form solution for the prediction of the behaviour for rigid footings resting on stone-column reinforced ground. The parametric study is presented to show the effect of dilatancy of the granular material on the deformations and stresses in the ground and its beneficial effect on settlement reduction. The results of the new method are compared with some already known analytical methods and some published field test results and observations. Keywords ground improvement, stone columns, ground settlements, dilatancy theory 1 INTRODUCTION Stone columns or granular piles are frequently used for the stabilization of soft clays and silts and loose silty sands with large amount of fines. For low-rise buildings, highway facilities, storage tanks, embankments, bridge abutments and other structures that can tolerate some settlements, stone columns are one of the most frequently used methods of support due to the cost, effectiveness and ease of the installation. The beneficial effects of stone columns are increased stiffness, reduced settlements, increased time rate of settlements, increased shear strength and reduction of the liquefaction potential of soft ground. The available methods for the estimation of the behaviour of foundations resting on soft soil stabilised by a large number of end-bearing stone-columns can be classified as either approximate methods with important simplifying assumptions or sophisticated methods based on elasticity and/or plasticity theory such as finite element model. The majority of the proposed approximate methods assume infinitely wide, loaded area with end-bearing stone columns having constant diameter and spacing. For such loading and geometry conditions the stone column and the surrounding soil can be treated in axial symmetric conditions. This approach is commonly known as a unit cell concept and was adopted by several researchers. Several approximate analytical solutions are available to estimate the settlement reduction of stabilized ground and stress concentration in the stone-columns. Many of them [1-3] are based on elastic approach considering the stone-column and the surrounding soil as elastic materials. However, elastic methods give the ratio between the vertical stress in the column and in the soil (also known as stress concentration factor) approximately equal to the ratio of constrained modulus of both materials. This ratio was found to be considerably higher than measured in the field and it is believed that elastic methods may easily overestimate the effects of stone columns on settlement reduction [4]. ACTA G6OT6CHNICA SLOVENICA, 2006/1 37. b. pulko & b. males: analytical method for the analysis of stone-columns according to the rome dilatancy theory The elastic and elasto-plastic solutions presented by Balaam and Booker [2, 5] indicate that the problem can be idealized by assuming that the stone column is in a triaxial state and perhaps yielding, that there is no shear stress at the stone-soil interface, and that there is no yielding in the soil. These common assumptions have been implemented in many methods where stone column is considered to be in a state of plastic equilibrium and under a triaxial stress state [5-8]. In the majority of these methods it is assumed that when loaded, stone-column yields at constant volume. However, in the work by Van Impe and Madhav [8] the nonlinear analytical solution is presented, showing the beneficial effect of the stone-column dilation on the deformation behaviour of the stabilized ground. The objective of this paper is to present an analytical closed-form elastic-rigid-plastic solution which takes into account confined yielding of the stone material according to the Rowe stress-dilatancy theory [9] and to show the beneficial effects of dilation on the settlement reduction. 2 METHOD OF ANALYSIS If stone-columns are evenly distributed, a regularly shaped area around the stone-column may be consid- ered as a "unit cell", consisting of stone-column and the surrounding soft soil in a zone of influence (Fig. 1). To simplify the analysis the zone of influence is approximated by a circle with a diameter de equal to 1.055, 1.135 and 1.295, for triangular, square or hexagonal pattern, respectively, where 5 is the column spacing. The ratio between the area of column Ac and the area of the zone of influence Ae is represented by the area replacement ratio Ar, defined as A = A = < = rl r A d2 r2 (1) Let us consider a unit cell on smooth rigid base loaded with uniform load through the smooth rigid raft. The high drainage capacity of the granular material ensures that it deforms under drained conditions. The immediate settlement of soil in undrained conditions is negligible compared to the total final settlements, and thus it will not be considered in the analysis [5]. It is assumed that the dense granular material in the column is in triaxial stress state, reaching its peak resistance and thus dilating. The self weight of the soil and the column is neglected, which is one of the main drawbacks of the proposed method. Figure 1. Basic features of the model based on regular patterns of stone-columns 38. ACTA GeOïeCHNICA SLOVENICA, 2006/l b. pulko & b. males: analytical method for the analysis of stone-columns according to the rome dilatancy theory Under uniform load qA applied through rigid raft the end bearing stone-column and the surrounding soil will undergo the same vertical displacement uz and radial displacement ur , thus at the soil-column interface no slippage is expected between the soil and the granular material. The vertical, radial and volumetric strains of the stone-column are defined as ^ = ^ (2) z H u er = - u (3) erd = ez + 2er (4) where H is the height and rc the radius of the column. The relation between vertical and radial stress at the soil-column interface, azc and arc, in triaxial stress state can be simply obtained for the column material at yield: 1 + c K — -:—T-Kpc arc 1- c (5) where p\ represents the peak triaxial shear angle of the column material. According to the Rowe stress dilatancy theory [9], Equation (5) can also be modified to: 1-- 1 + SÎn^ 'q 1- SnP (6) selected column material, while the ratio between the contained plastic strains of the stone-column material, svd and £z, is determined by the selected value of the dilation angle f. The soil surrounding the stone-column can be analysed as a thick cylinder using Equations (9) and (10) relating vertical and radial displacements, uz and ur, at the soil-column interface with vertical stress in the soil and radial interaction stress, a and a [11]: H E 1 C2(Jzs - C1^rs rc - h°zs (9) (10) where Eoed is the oedometric modulus of the soil and C1, C2 and C3 are constants defined as 2k0 Ar n 1-2vs + Ar Y-A"' 2 =~;—TT^—^> C3 = C2 -koCi (11) (1-Ar )(1-Vs ) where vs is Poisson's ratio of the soil and k0 = vs /(1 — vs). Applied vertical load qA must be in equilibrium with vertical stresses in the column and in the soil: ZaA = OzcK + ^ (A - Ac ) (12) Ur = E a a £ z where p 'cv is a triaxial shear angle of the stone material at constant volume. The relationship between the angle of dilatancy f and the peak friction angle p\ can be obtained using Rowe's equation [9]: sin ^ = sin^ c - sin^ cr l-sin^ sin^ (7) Angle of dilatancy f can also be expressed in terms of the volumetric strain due to dilation and vertical strain of the column [10]: sin ^ = — 2 — ^L 2e„ — e.„ (8) The stress-strain behaviour of the column is entirely defined by Equations (5) and (8), and the two material parameters, which can be arbitrary selected between p \ f and p 'cv. The ratio between vertical and horizontal stresses in the column is defined by the strength of the Using the definition of the replacement ratio AR given by Equation (1), Equation (12) can be rewritten as qA = azcAr + azs (1-Ar ) (13) The stresses at the soil-column interface must be equal, thus ars = ac = ar. If kinematic relations (2), (3) and (4) are introduced in Equation (8), Equations (5), (8), (9), (10) and (13) represent a set of five equations for five unknowns: vertical stresses in the column a and in the zc soil a , radial stress at the soil-column interface a, verti- zsJ r cal displacement uz and interface displacement ur. This set of equations can be solved to obtain simple analytical closed-form solutions for displacements and stresses: 2 HqA Eoed C4 u = - waKl Eoed C4 (14) (15) e e e z e z ACTA GeOïeCHNICA SLOVENICA, 2006/l 39. b. pulko & b. males: analytical method for the analysis of stone-columns according to the rome dilatancy theory qA (C2 K, + 2fc0) =-c- () C4 qAKpc (C2K, + 2k0) ^ =-~C- (17) C4 =(18) where constants K and CA are defined as follows: y 4 K * = 1 + sin * 1 — sin * C4 = (1 - Ar )(C1Kf + 2) + ArKpc (C2 Kf + 2k0) Constant C4 depends only on material and geometrical properties of the column and the surrounding soil. If the area of the applied load is sufficiently large, then the settlement of the untreated soil can be estimated as Uz,0 = (20) Eoed Combining Equation (20) with Equation (14), a settlement reduction factor ft, which is usually used as a measure for the improvement of the ground, can be calculated as ß = ^ = f Uz,0 C4 (21) Stress concentration factor q defined as a ratio between vertical stresses in the soil a and in the column a can zc zs be calculated as Kfc (c Kf + 2kJ n = — = —--- (22) ^ CK- +2 v ; Similarly, stone-column stress concentration factor nc defined as a ratio between vertical stress in column azc and the applied load qA can be calculated as Kpc (C2 K, + 2fc0) nc = — = —--- (23) qA According to the above analysis the settlement reduction and the stress concentration factor depend mainly on area replacement ratio Ar , on material properties of the column material represented by the peak shear angle p 'c, the angle of dilatancy f and on Poisson's ratio vs of the soil. 3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 3-1 PARAMETRIC STUDY A parametric study has been made to show the effect of area replacement ratio Ar , peak shear strength p 'c and especially the effect of dilation on settlement reduction and stress concentration. In stone column construction usually 15 to 35 percent of the soft soil is replaced [4]. However, the replacement ratios Ar from 5 up to 50 percent were considered in the present study. When selecting basic input parameters of the method, such as peak and dilation angle of the column material, one should consider that the values for peak, critical and the dilation angle of the granular soil are not independent. The critical state shear angle p 'cv of granular material, which is sheared under constant volume, is in general a function of mineralogy and can be treated as material property. The relationship between the peak shear angle p \ , the critical state shear angle p 'cv and the angle of dilatancy f is theoretically given by Equation (7), which can be rewritten in the following form: sinw ' + sin é sinp\ = . é (24) 1 + sinp cv siné In practice the difference between peak and critical state shear angle can also be correlated to the material's relative density and principal stress. According to the work of Bolton [12] the peak triaxial shear angle correlates to the relative density of the granular material and to the mean effective stress p ' as follows:

5). Figure 2. The effect of area replacement ratio Ar and angle of dilatancy y on settlement reduction factor ft The angle of dilatancy has also significant effect on settlement reduction factor ft, clearly showing the importance of stone densification. High density of the column material yields high dilatancy index, hence higher dilation angle y could be achieved. The higher the value of dilation angle y, the greater is the peak shear angle p\ and more reduction of the settlement could be expected due to higher stress concentration in the stone-column (Fig. 2). However, the effect of the dilation of granular material at yield can not be clearly distinguished from the beneficial effect of peak shear strength of the stone column. The effect of the dilation on settlement reduction is far more evident, if a constant value of peak shear strength is considered (p \ = 46,5°) and different dilation properties of the granular material are taken into account. The effect of dilation angle y on the settlement reduction for this case is depicted in Fig. 3. The volume increase of the granular material at yield has significant effect on the settlement reduction. For example, for the area replacement ratio Ar between 0.15 and 0.35 the total settlement for dilating stone-column (y = 15°) is 16.5 to 28.0 percent lower than compared to the settlement when no dilation is taken into account. Figure 3. The effect of area replacement ratio Ar and dilation angle y on settlement reduction factor p Figure 4. The effect of area replacement ratio Ar and angle of dilatancy y on stress concentration factor n The effect of area replacement ratio Ar and angle of dilatancy y on stress concentration factor n is shown in Fig. 4. The importance of the dilation of the column material on the stress concentration in the column is clearly indicated. Well densified stone-column with high dilation angle y acts stiffer and can take greater proportion of the applied load. Stress concentration factors n are generally in the range from 3 to 8 for the area replacement ratios from 0.15 to 0.35. 42. ACTA G£OT£CHNICR SLOVÊNICR, 2006/l B. PULKO & B. Mflies; ANALYTICAL METHOD FOR THE ANALYSIS OF STONE-COLUMNS ACCORDING TO THE ROUE DILflTflNCY THEORY 1.0 0,8- 0,6- 0,4- 0,2- 0,0 1 1 1 1 1 l 1 I 1 v =0.1 s —O— v = 0.2 s ^ v =0.3 s —v = 0.4 s C3 C4 dc de D E oed E R H K -pc Kps K f qA p' n nc v \ V 'c V cv V f area of column portion; area of soil portion (influence area); replacement ratio; geometrical and material constants; diameter of stone-column; diameter of influence area; relative density; oedometric modulus of soil; elastic modulus of column material; elastic modulus of soil; relative dilatancy index; column height; coefficient of earth pressure at rest; passive earth pressure coefficient (column); passive earth pressure coefficient (soil); dilation constant; applied vertical load; mean effective stress; radius of stone-column; radius of influence area; stone-column spacing; radial displacement of stone-column; vertical settlement; vertical settlement of untreated soil; settlement reduction factor; radial strain; volumetric strain of column; vertical strain; stress concentration factor; column stress concentration factor; peak shear angle of soil; peak shear angle of column material; shear angle of column material at critical state; Poisson's ratio of soil; radial stress at soil-column interface; vertical stress in column; vertical stress in soil; angle of dilatancy. E 0 r r u u z u ß E E E z a, a , a r rs a a zs ACTA GeOïeCHNICA SLOVENICA, 2006/l 39.