Time Effect on Bearing Capacity of Composite Foundation with Stone Columns

Abstract

Stone column is an economical treatment method in embankment engineering. Controlling potential bearing capacity failure is a challenging problem in this design technique. A modified bearing capacity calculation method which takes the influence of time into account is presented by utilizing two-dimension consolidation theory. Also, a case study to validate the proposed method and to study the time effect on the bearing capacity of stone column foundation system is also presented in this paper. The analytical result shows that the bearing capacity of stone column composite foundation increases with increase in time. It is therefore suggested that the time effect on the bearing capacity of the composite foundation formed by stone columns should be taken into account in embankment engineering for the economical and optimal design.