Soft soil strengthening by stone columns: case of the embankment under the bridge “Moulay Youssef” (Rabat/Salé)

• Main Authors: Nehab Noura, Baba Khadija, Ouadif Latifa, Cherradi Choukri, Bahi Lahcen
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: EDP Sciences 2014-04-01
• Series: MATEC Web of Conferences
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/matecconf/20141102012

The soil is generally a heterogeneous material presenting very variable characteristics. In a general way, the main problems related to soils are: low bearing capacity, deformations under static or dynamic loads, large displacements and large settlements of soft soil where the soil moves according to a fixed ground water table. The development of soil mechanics and geotechnical engineering has led to the amelioration of a wide range of soil improvement techniques. These techniques consist in modifying the characteristics of the ground by physical action or by incorporating columnar inclusions made of highly compacted gravel or granular material into the original soil. Stone column is one of the soft ground improvement methods, applicable to a wide range of soil strata and an economical method of support in compressible and cohesive soils. However, there are many difficulties in quantitative analysis of soil column interaction due to the fact that bearing capacity and consolidation behavior of stone column-mat foundation system is affected by various parameters. In the present study, mechanism and various parameters of stone column behavior are investigated by loading tests. Also, tests results are compared to the finite element numerical modeling “Plaxis 2D” (case study: the embankment under the bridge “Moulay Youssef, Rabat/Salé”).