The inclusion of sand columns results in enhancing the bearing capacity of clayey soil, increase the rate of consolidation, presentation of liquefaction in loose sandy soils and provide lateral resistance against the horizontal movement. This research aims at investigating the effects of floating columns in clayey soil with silty deposits by developing small scale laboratory models. The effects of sand columns on soils of different shear strengths, slenderness ratio (L/D) of columns were investigated. Group effect was also investigated by varying spacing between the columns. Experimental results were compared with the numerical analysis results. A 15-noded triangular mesh was generated using a finite element tool PLAXIS 2D. Finite element analysis was performed using Mohr’s Coulomb’s criterion considering undrained analysis for soft clayey soil and drained analysis for sand columns. It was concluded that the sand columns can significantly increase the ultimate loading capacity of soft soils. Results show that critical length for floating column ranges from 4 to 5.5 times the diameter of the column, beyond which bulging occurs and loading capacity decreased. The effect of group was also investigated and observed that with high spacing between the sand columns, the group efficiency decreased. The axial capacity of sand columns decreases while increasing spacing between the columns.

中文翻译：

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黏土中浮沙柱的实验室和数值分析

包含砂柱可提高黏土的承载力，提高固结速率，在松散的砂土中表现出液化作用，并提供抵抗水平运动的横向阻力。这项研究旨在通过建立小型实验室模型来研究具有粉质沉积物的黏土中浮柱的影响。研究了砂柱对不同抗剪强度，长细比（L / D）的土壤的影响。还通过改变列之间的间距研究了群效应。将实验结果与数值分析结果进行比较。使用有限元工具PLAXIS 2D生成了15个节点的三角形网格。考虑到软粘土的不排水分析和砂柱的排水分析，使用莫尔库仑准则进行了有限元分析。结论是，砂柱可以显着增加软土的极限承载力。结果表明，浮柱的临界长度为柱直径的4到5.5倍，超过此长度就会发生鼓胀，而载量降低。还研究了分组的影响，并观察到，随着砂柱之间的间距较大，分组效率会降低。砂柱的轴向承载力减小，而柱之间的间距增大。结果表明，浮柱的临界长度为柱直径的4到5.5倍，超过此长度就会发生鼓胀，并且载量降低。还研究了分组的影响，并观察到，随着砂柱之间的间距较大，分组效率会降低。砂柱的轴向承载力减小，而柱之间的间距增大。结果表明，浮柱的临界长度为柱直径的4到5.5倍，超过此长度就会发生鼓胀，并且载量降低。还研究了分组的影响，并观察到，随着砂柱之间的间距较大，分组效率会降低。砂柱的轴向承载力减小，而柱之间的间距增大。