Reply to the discussion by Khabbazian, M., Meehan, C.L, and Kaliakin, V.N., on 'Geosynthetic-encased stone columns: Analytical calculation model' [Geotextiles and Geomembranes 29(1), 2011, pp. 29-39]

摘要

The discussion presents some finite element results and comparisons investigating the capability of the proposed analytical method to yield predictions of the behavior of encased and non-encased stone column reinforced ground. The main emphasis is on settlement reduction, stress concentration ratio and hoop forces in the geosynthetic encasement. The authors reported that there exists a disparity between the analytical model and the finite element results, which should be particularly evident for encased columns installed in very soft soil. As this is not consistent with previous studies and finite element analyses, which were performed during our research, some additional analyses were made in order to compare the results from analytical and finite element methods. The analyses were made by using the same data set as presented in the discussion. Therefore, the tensile stiffness of the geosynthetic (/), the depth of the unit cell (H), the diameter of the encased column (d_c) were assumed to be 3000 kN/m, 8.0 m, 0.8 m, respectively. Other model parameters, consistent with those used in the discussion, are presented in Table 1.