Geosynthetic-encased stone columns: analytical calculation model

This paper presents a newly developed design method for non-encased and encased stone columns. The developed analytical closed-form solution is based on previous solutions, initially developed for non-encased columns and for non-dilating rigid-plastic column material. In the present method, the initial stresses in the soil/column are taken into account, with the column considered as an elasto-plastic material with constant dilatancy, the soil as an elastic material and the geosynthetic encasement as a linear-elastic material. To check the validity of the assumptions and the ability of the method to give reasonable predictions of settlements, stresses and encasement forces, comparative elasto-plastic finite element analyses have been performed. The agreement between the two methods is very good, which was the reason that the new method was used to generate a parametric study in order to investigate various parameters, such as soil/column parameters, replacement ratio, load level and geosynthetic encasement stiffness on the behaviour of the improved ground. The results of this study show the influence of key parameters and provide a basis for the rational predictions of settlement response for various encasement stiffnesses, column arrangements and load levels. The practical use of the method is illustrated through the design chart, which enables preliminary selection of column spacing and encasement stiffness to achieve the desired settlement reduction for the selected set of the soil/column parameters. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Stepwise mitigation of the Macesnik landslide, N Slovenia

The paper gives an overview of the history of evolution and mitigation of the Macesnik landslide in N Slovenia. It was triggered in 1989 above the Solcava village, but it enlarged with time. In 2005, the landslide has been threatening a few residential and farm houses, as well as the panoramic road, and it is only 1000 m away from the Savinja River and the village of Solcava. It is 2500 m long and up to more than 100 m wide with an estimated volume in excess of 2 million m(3). Its depth is not constant: on average it is 10 to 15 m deep, but in the area of the toe, which is retained by a rock outcrop, it reaches the depth of 30 m. The unstable mass consists of water-saturated highly-weathered carboniferous formations. The presently active landslide lies within the fossil landslide which is up to 350 m wide and 50 m deep with the total volume estimated at 8 to 10 million m3. Since 2000, the landslide has been investigated by 36 boreholes, and 28 of them were equipped with inclinometer casings, which also serve as piezometers. Surface movements have been monitored geodetically in 20 cross sections. This helped to understand the causes and mechanics of the landslide. Therefore, landslide mitigation works were planned rather to reduce the landslide movement so that the resulting damages could be minimized. The construction of mitigation works was made difficult in the 1990s due to intensive landslide movements that could reach up to 50cm/day with an average of 25 cm/day. Since 2001, surface drainage works in the form of open surface drains have mainly been completed around the circumference of the landslide as the first phase of the mitigation works and they are regularly maintained. As a final mitigation solution, plans have been made to build a combination of subsurface drainage works in the form of deep drains with retaining works in the form of concrete vertical shafts functioning as deep water wells to drain the landslide, and as dowels to stop the landslide movement starting from the slide plane towards its surface. Due to the length of the landslide and its longitudinal geometry it will be divided into several sections, and the mitigation works will be executed consecutively in phases. Such an approach proved effective in the 800 m long uppermost section of the landslide, where 3 parallel deep drain trenches (250 m long, 8 to 12 m deep) were executed in the autumn of 2003. The reduction of the movements in 2004 enabled the construction of two 5 in wide and 22 m deep reinforced concrete shafts, finished in early 2005. In Slovenia, this sort of support construction, known from road construction, was used for the first time for landslide mitigation. The monitoring results show that the landslide displacements have been drastically reduced to less than I cm/day. As a part of the stepwise mitigation of the Macesnik landslide, further reinforced concrete shafts are to be constructed in the middle section of the landslide to support the road crossing the landslide. At the landslide toe, a support construction is planned to prevent further landslide advancement, and its type is still to be defined during the procedure of adopting a detailed plan of national importance for the Macesnik landslide

Use of Automatic Target Recognition System for the Displacement Measurements in a Small Diameter Tunnel Ahead of the Face of the Motorway Tunnel During Excavation

During construction of the Sentvid tunnel a unique opportunity arose to measure the 3D displacements ahead of the motorway tunnel excavation face, since the exploratory tunnel was already constructed in the axis of the main tunnel. According to reviewed literature such measurements had not been performed yet and several problems regarding equipment and complete scheme of the experiment needed to be overcome. The paper gives a brief description of the Sentvid tunnel project, presents significant factors that affected the choice of the geodetic equipment and describes the scheme of the experiment. A special attention is focused on the problems relating to the operation of the instrument in demanding environmental conditions (water, dust)

Analitična metoda za analizo gruščnatih kolov z upoštevanjem Rowove teorije razmikanja

In this paper a new analytical method to analyse the behaviour of rigid foundations stabilized by end bearing stone-columns is proposed. The stone column and the surrounding soil are treated in axial symmetric conditions as a unit cell. The stone column is assumed to behave as an Mohr-Coulomb rigid-plastic material with non-associative flow rule according to the Rowe stress dilatancy theory and the soil as an elastic material. These common assumptions, combined with equilibrium and kinematic conditions, lead to the simple analytical closed-form solution for the prediction of the behaviour for rigid footings resting on stone-column reinforced ground. The parametric study is presented to show the effect of dilatancy of the granular material on the deformations and stresses in the ground and its beneficial effect on settlement reduction. The results of the new method are compared with some already known analytical methods and some published field test results and observations.V članku je predstavljena nova metoda za analizo obnašanja togih temeljev na z gruščnatimi koli izboljšanih tleh. Gruščnat kol in okolna zemljina sta analizirana v pogojih osne simetrije kot enotna celica. Za gruščnat kol je predpostavljeno, da se obnaša kot Mohr-Coulombov togo-plastičen material z upoštevanjem neasociativnega tečenja po Rowovi teoriji razmikanja. Za zemljino je privzeto, da se obnaša kot linearno elastičen material. Te predpostavke, skupaj z ravnotežnimi in kinematičnimi enačbami, vodijo k preprosti analitični rešitvi za napoved obnašanja togih temeljev na z gruščnatimi koli stabiliziranih tleh. Prikazana je parametrična študija, ki analizira vpliv razmikanja gruščnatega materiala na deformacije in napetosti v temeljnih tleh ter ugoden vpliv na redukcijo posedkov. Rezultati nove metode so primerjani z nekaterimi drugimi analitičnimi metodami in objavljenimi rezultati terenskih testov in opazovanj

Geosynthetic-encased stone columns - analytical calculation model

This paper presents a newly developed design method for non-encased and encased stone columns. The developed analytical closed-form solution is based on previous solutions, initially developed for non-encased columns and for non-dilating rigid-plastic column material. In the present method, the initial stresses in the soil/column are taken into account, with the column considered as an elasto-plastic material with constant dilatancy, the soil as an elastic material and the geosynthetic encasement as a linear-elastic material. To check the validity of the assumptions and the ability of the method to give reasonable predictions of settlements, stresses and encasement forces, comparative elasto-plastic finite element analyses have been performed. The agreement between the two methods is very good, which was the reason that the new method was used to generate a parametric study in order to investigate various parameters, such as soil/column parameters, replacement ratio, load level and geosynthetic encasement stiffness on the behaviour of the improved ground. The results of this study show the influence of key parameters and provide a basis for the rational predictions of settlement response for various encasement stiffnesses, column arrangements and load levels. The practical use of the method is illustrated through the design chart, which enables preliminary selection of column spacing and encasement stiffness to achieve the desired settlement reduction for the selected set of the soil/column parameters. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Small Strain Shear Modulus of the Ljubljana Marsh Soil Measured with Resonant Column and Bender Elements under Isotropic and Anisotropic Stress Conditions

The increasing use of finite element analysis in modern infrastructure design emphasizes the importance of determining soil stiffness at small strains. This is usually represented by the normalized shear modulus degradation curve, which is crucial for accurate design. In the absence of specific measurements on the local soil, engineers often rely on empirical correlations and assume comparable behavior of soils with similar intrinsic properties. However, the application of this approach leads to uncertainties, especially for unique geological formations such as the soft cohesive soils of the Ljubljana Marsh. The main objective of this study was to determine the small strain shear modulus of Ljubljana Marsh soil with a plasticity index between 11 and 35%. Isotropic and anisotropic stress conditions were investigated as part of an extensive laboratory test program that included 45 bender element and 89 resonant column tests on 20 soil samples. By emphasizing the importance of measuring soil stiffness at small strains, this study not only provides reliable data for the development of the built environment in the Ljubljana Marsh and similar areas, but also underlines its necessity

Stepwise mitigation of the Macesnik landslide, N Slovenia

The paper gives an overview of the history of evolution and mitigation of the Macesnik landslide in N Slovenia. It was triggered in 1989 above the Solcava village, but it enlarged with time. In 2005, the landslide has been threatening a few residential and farm houses, as well as the panoramic road, and it is only 1000 m away from the Savinja River and the village of Solcava. It is 2500 m long and up to more than 100 m wide with an estimated volume in excess of 2 million m(3). Its depth is not constant: on average it is 10 to 15 m deep, but in the area of the toe, which is retained by a rock outcrop, it reaches the depth of 30 m. The unstable mass consists of water-saturated highly-weathered carboniferous formations. The presently active landslide lies within the fossil landslide which is up to 350 m wide and 50 m deep with the total volume estimated at 8 to 10 million m3. Since 2000, the landslide has been investigated by 36 boreholes, and 28 of them were equipped with inclinometer casings, which also serve as piezometers. Surface movements have been monitored geodetically in 20 cross sections. This helped to understand the causes and mechanics of the landslide. Therefore, landslide mitigation works were planned rather to reduce the landslide movement so that the resulting damages could be minimized. The construction of mitigation works was made difficult in the 1990s due to intensive landslide movements that could reach up to 50cm/day with an average of 25 cm/day. Since 2001, surface drainage works in the form of open surface drains have mainly been completed around the circumference of the landslide as the first phase of the mitigation works and they are regularly maintained. As a final mitigation solution, plans have been made to build a combination of subsurface drainage works in the form of deep drains with retaining works in the form of concrete vertical shafts functioning as deep water wells to drain the landslide, and as dowels to stop the landslide movement starting from the slide plane towards its surface. Due to the length of the landslide and its longitudinal geometry it will be divided into several sections, and the mitigation works will be executed consecutively in phases. Such an approach proved effective in the 800 m long uppermost section of the landslide, where 3 parallel deep drain trenches (250 m long, 8 to 12 m deep) were executed in the autumn of 2003. The reduction of the movements in 2004 enabled the construction of two 5 in wide and 22 m deep reinforced concrete shafts, finished in early 2005. In Slovenia, this sort of support construction, known from road construction, was used for the first time for landslide mitigation. The monitoring results show that the landslide displacements have been drastically reduced to less than I cm/day. As a part of the stepwise mitigation of the Macesnik landslide, further reinforced concrete shafts are to be constructed in the middle section of the landslide to support the road crossing the landslide. At the landslide toe, a support construction is planned to prevent further landslide advancement, and its type is still to be defined during the procedure of adopting a detailed plan of national importance for the Macesnik landslide

Influence of Structural Parameters of Nonwoven Geotextiles on Separation and Filtration in Road Construction

Nonwoven geotextiles are often used in road construction as a separation layer. They consist of the web of fibers with different orientations. The orientation of fibers has an important influence on physical and mechanical properties of nonwoven geotextiles. The production of nonwoven geotextiles is cheaper in comparison to woven or knitted fabrics which can also be used as separation geotextiles. The purpose of this research was to study the influence of structural properties of nonwoven geotextiles, namely the diameter of fibers and mass and thickness of nonwoven geotextiles, on their mechanical and hydraulic properties. Six types of nonwoven geotextiles were used in the research. They were produced by the drylaid process (carded) using mechanical bonding technique and also with the combination of mechanical and thermal bonding technique. The research confirmed that the bonding technique and structural properties significantly influence the separation and filtration properties of nonwoven geotextiles, such as opening size and water permeability. It was also found that there are no significant differences in mechanical properties, such as viscoelastic properties and compression creep, between the samples in the dry and wet conditions