ISSN: 1945-7545
CODEN: GTJODJ
Published Online: 23 March 2010
Page Count: 11

Laboratory Study of Soft Soil Improvement using Lime Mortar-(Well Graded) Soil Columns

Malekpoor, Mohammad Reza
Dept. of Civil Engineering, Univ. of Kerman, Kerman,

Toufigh, Mohammad Mohsen
Associate Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Univ. of Kerman, Kerman,

(Received 12 December 2008; accepted 5 February 2010)

Abstract

Stone columns and sand compaction piles represent the most known column-type technique for improving soft soils. In this study, more than 675 laboratory tests were carried out on composite specimens with lime mortar-well graded soil (lime-WS) column. These tests were conducted on specimens prepared as lime-WS using a mixture of lime and well graded soil poured into a local clay soil material with various proportions of lime and different curing times. The test programs were designed to investigate influences of variations in the moisture content on composite specimens. All tests were performed on specimens based on the classical California bearing ratio (CBR) testing procedure according to ASTM D1883–94. Test results were used to train an artificial neural network (ANN). ANN makes it possible to predict the behavior of these columns and their load bearing capacity as a function of changes in clay and lime content with different curing times. Tests results show that lime-WS columns, which contain 20 % lime and 22 % clay, increase the strength of soft fine grained soils to a noticeable amount.

Keywords:
soft clay, stone column, lime mortar, CBR value, artificial neural network

Paper ID: GTJ102291
DOI: 10.1520/GTJ102291
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