AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON EFFECTS OF DIAMETER ON LOAD CARRYING CAPACITY OF GEOSYNTHETICALLY ENCASED FLOATING STONE COLUMN

It is proven that by using encased stone column technique, not only improve the settlement characteristics but also improve the consolidation parameters of soft soil which is equally beneficial to the building foundation as bearing capacity [14]. Due to extensive use of encased stone column to improving a very soft ground, it is required to check physical dimensions and quantities of stone column material used needed for the ground improvement. It is proven from previous studies that the full encasement length is not required for effective load carrying behaviour of stone column, the half encasement length to the stone column carry equal load as load carried by full encased stone column [9 and 11]. However the full encasement helps to transfer load at greater depth. Meanwhile the lateral dimensions of stone column need to be study for the effectiveness and economic of technique. In present study the labouratory experimental work is carried out to check the effects of diameter on stresssettlement behaviour of ordinary as well as Geosynthetically encased floating stone column in unit cell tank with controlled strain condition.