Performance Monitoring of Rammed Aggregate Piers® (RAPs)

Abstract

Normal 0 false false false TR X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:Table Normal; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Times New Roman,serif; mso-ansi-language:TR; mso-fareast-language:TR;} In this paper, settlement performance during water testing of structures at a wastewater treatment facility in Turkey, constructed on soils improved by the Rammed Aggregate Pier ® (RAP) System, are presented. The soil profile is comprised of firm to stiff silty clay and medium dense silty sand of 10 m thickness, overlain on thick soft to medium stiff silty clay with thin inclusions of sand lenses . The main goals of the in-situ soil improvement, to eliminate the risk of liquefaction and to form a homogeneous crust to reduce the total and differential of settlements, were achieved by improving the soil with RAPs down to 15 m depth. To verify the design parameters, two kinds of field load tests, the modulus load test and areal loading test, were performed. C ompleted structures are water tested and settlements recorded, providing performance monitoring data under service loading conditions. With the implemented soil improvement, post construction settlements are reduced to 14-20 cm compared to the initially estimated 20-80 cm long term settlements, and differential settlements are reduced to permissible limits.