TERNATIONAL JOURNAL, FOR NUMERICAL AND ANALYTICAL METHODS tiv GEOMECHANICS, VOI. 5. 397) Square Arrangement of Stone Columns. Pile Spacing (e) Hexagonal Arrangentent of Stone Columns Figure 2, Various pile arrangements showing the doniain of influence of each column (a) triangular derangement of Stone columns; 0b) square arrangement of stone columns; (e) hexagonal arrangement of stone columnsANALYSIS OF RAFTS ON GRANULAR PILES 381 Lp Smooth. Rigi Stone Column Outer Boundary z; Smooth Rigi¢ Y | — Smooth Rigid a20/2 bede/2 Figure 3, Definition of terms for analysis of equivalent eylindrical unit Because it has been assumed that the site has been stabilized by a large number uf columns it follows that each column and the area surrounding it will respond in virtually the same fashion as those adjacent. It follows from considerations of symmetry that the area surrounding a columa {or the domain of influence) corresponding to & spacing on the vertices of equilateral triangles is ’ regular hexagon of side s/-3; that based on a square, is itself a square of side s; that based on the regular hexagon is an equilateral triangle of side V3s. It also follows from symmetry that the sides of the domains of influence are shear free and undergo no normal displacement. In order to reduce the complexity of analysis each domain is approximated by a circle of effective diameter d., the perimeter of which is shear free and undergoes no radial movement and which has the same area as the actual domain. This assumption leads to a considerable simplification of the geometry of the problem, as shown in Figure 3. The behaviour of the stone column’and the clay is approximated by assigning to them elastic Ygung’s moduli £1, Ey and Poisson’s ratios v,, v2 respectively, where the elastic moduli are chosen to bé representative of the particular stress range under consideration (Davis and Poulos,” Lambe’). The analysis of settlement then reduces to the analysis of the compression, of the cylindrical body showa in Figure 3, between smooth (the raft) and rough (the substratum) plates, while laterally restrained by a smooth rigid wall. . Although the approximation of the actual domain by an equivalent circular domain has considerably simplified the analysis, an examination of the problem shows that a complete solution still depends upon five dimensionless parameters; a/b, h/b, E,/ Ez, vi, v2. Initially a finite element analysis was performed for representative values of these parameters. These results revealed that: (j) the vertical displacement was almost uniform on any horizontal plane and varied almost linearly from zero at the base to a maximum value at the surface; (ii) the shear stresses developed along the substratum were in general small;382 NP. BALAAM AND J. R, DOOKER (iii) values of field quantities remote from the substratum were insensitive to whether it was assumed to be perfectly rough or perfectly smooth. These observations suggest that it might be possible to find an exact solution to a simplified version of the original problem. This is indeed possible if itis assumed that the interface between the pile-soil unit and the substratum is rigid and perfecily smooth, eather than the more realistic assumption of a rough-rigid interface, Details of the solution are given in Appendix I This solution is of course not an exact solution for the situation where there is a perfectly rough base. However, as mentioned previously, numerical studies indicate that the surface vertical displacement, horizontal displacement and contact stresses are insensitive to the base condition. For example, when f/d = 5, where d is the diameter of the stone columa, and d./d = 5, a relatively shallow layer (h/de= 1), the discrepancy in surface vertical displacement and contact stresses between a finite element solution and the analytic solution is less than 0-5 per cent. The discrepancy in surface horizontal displacement at the column-clay interface is 1:6 per cent. The solution can therefore be used with confidence-to calculate these quantities. This analytic approach has several advantages over a purely numerical approach. Firstly, the analytic solution is relatively simple and can de calculated swiftly, to show the effect of the many parameters governing the solution. Secondly, an inspection of the analytic solution reveais several important and interesting aspects of the problem, viz: (i) the contact stress between the rigid raft and the soil is unif over the soil. This observation leads to a relatively simple computation of bending moments and shear rces in the rafts : (ii) the stress state in the pile is triaxial, A parametric study has been performed using the analytic solution C (see Table Il) to investigate the effect of the dimensionless parameters a/d, Ey/Es, »4 and von the st 2sses and - displacements within the cylindrical unit. The solutions are not affected by the dimensionless parameter h/6, owing to the assumption of asmooth base. The stone column material is assumed to deform under drained conditions; a representative value of »1=0-3 has been adopted for these analyses. In Figure 4 the vertical strain is plotted against a/b for E,/E3 equal to 10, 20, 30 and 40 and v1 = v2 =0°3. The quantity e,/qaimya is the ratio of settlement of the raft on the stabilizedsite to that on an unstabilized site. Thus, when a/b is zero (no stone columns) there is no reduction in settlement whereas if a/b is one the clay is completely replaced“by stone columns and the reduction in settlement is in the ratio of the compressitilities of the stone column material and the clay. The effect of Poisson’s ratio of the clay is illustrated in Figure 5, where the ratio of the actual vertical strain to a reference vertical strain (vz = 0-3, Figure 4) is plotted against the complete range of Poisson's ratio vz. For a particular Poisson's ratio v2, interpolation of Figure 5 gives a correction factor to be applied to the strain obtained from Figure 4. These figures, or the corresponding formulae in Appendix I, can be used to calculate the undrained and total final settlements. The results indicate the relative importance of the consolidation settlement compared with the initial undrained settlements For a perlectly flexible raft the load is shared in the ratio of the areas of the stone column and natural clay; as the rigidity of the raft'increases the stress in the stone column incréases and so more load iscarried by the stiffer material. The cifect of the ratio of elastic moduli E,/Ex0n the vertical stress, o,, in the stone column is shown in Figure 6 for the case », = vy= 0-3. Th stress concentration on the columns initially increases rapidly with E/E. Thus, this illustrates the over the pile and uniformANALYSIS OF RAFTS ON GRANULAR PILES 383 (Chevy) 1-29) megs v2 = Ea tvg) E/E, ° 2 o4, 06 0-8 1-0 eb Figure 4, Vertical strain of pile-soit unit with varying spacing O75 fz 03203) 0-50 0-28 o OF 02 03 0408 fret Na Figure 5. Ratio of strains for calculating settlements for the complete rangé.of Poisson's ratio v2384 N.P. BALAAM AND J. R, BOOKER ? T T T T T T T Uniform Pressure a, . [ Smooth Rigid 8 | €,/E,+40 L 1 1 19 128. 150 175 20 225. 25 275 30 b/o Figure 6. Variation of vertical stress in stone column with B/a efficiency of using the columns when the raft is rigid compared with a perfectly flexible raft (for rafts of intermediate flexibility the results would be between these two extremes). ‘These results suggest that the vertical stress in the stone column will generally be greater than in the surrounding clay. However, when the load is initially applied to the reinforced clay the contact stress on the clay may be greater than on the stone column. This occurs because the ¢lay is undrained and thus behaves as an incompressible material and so is in fact ‘stiffer’ than the stone column. As the excess pore pressures are dissipated by radial flow to the stone columns, the relative stiffness of the stone columns and clay changes, until finally under drained conditions the soil skeleton of the clay is less stiff than the granular material of the stone columns and the contact stress on thé stone columns is greater than on the clay. This reversal in the magnitude of contact stresses ffOni the tindrained to drained conditions is illustrated in Figure 7 for b/a =2 but this reversal occurs for a very small range in Poisson's ratio. [t may be inferred that, as consolidation occurs, the moment and shear distributions in the raft foundations alter owing to the redistribution of contact stress. Initially when the clay deforms under undrained conditions, the contact stress is nearly uniform and thus the initial moments and shears may be expected to be small when compared with those for drained conditions. 2 Effect of domain of influence on solutions ‘The concept of equivalent diameter is widely used in geomechanics and has led to consi able simplifications in the problem under investigation, It is interesting to test its validity in thisANALYSIS OF RAFTS ON GRANULAR FILES 385. Figure 7. Variation of vertical stresses with Poisson's ratio of clay context. To do this, consider the case of piles having a square domain of influence as shown in Figure 8. The solution can be found by using the technique developed in Appendix I and superimposing two solutions, the first corresponding to uniform vertical strain and no horizontal movernent, i.e, solution A, and involving a discontinuity of radial stress at the pile-soil interface, the second being the plane strain solution of the problem shown in Figure 8(a).in which the applied radial traction is equal in magnitude but opposite in sign to that generated by the first Solution. It is not possible to find an analytic solution to this second problem for a non-circular Gomain of influence; it is, however, possible to find a numerical solution using a standard two-dimensional finite element anslysis. For purposes of illustration the particular situation in which Ey/E2 = 0, vi= v2=0'3 and d.jd =2 has been considered. The finite element mesh used for the plane strain analysis of the Sclumn is shown in Figure 9. Because of symmetry only a quarter of the square need be considered, The approximate solution obtained by replacing the square domain by an equivalent circle has been compared with the solution for the gctual domain of influence, Contours of the percentage difference of contactstressfor the two solutions have been plottedin Figute 10. The maximum discrepancy occurs at the interface of the column and clay diagonally opposite the corner. The agreement between the two solutions is therefore very good, indicating the accuracy of the equivalent diameter concept. ANALYSIS OF THE RAFT In this section the reaction distributions derived in the previous section will be used to calculate the bending moments and shear forces withip the raft. Tf the vertical deflection of the raft is w then the equations governing the behaviour of the raft (Timoshenko and Woinowsky-Krieger”, are: viw=p/D aN. P. BALAAM AND J. R. ROOKER 3 Smooth |Rigict Radiol Traction To a? stone_|Column Ea 8 8 § § Clay Smooth] Rigid iB (a) Domain of Influence of Stone Column Smooth Rigid Roft - Stone Column | Clay ‘Smooth Rigid Smooth Rigid ‘Smooth Rigid Base {b) Section AA: Compression of Stone Column by o Smooth’ Rigid Raft Figure 8, Problem definition where p= qa—qn is the net load distribution acting on the raft, qa = the pressure exerted by applied loads, qa=the reaction pressure exerted by the underlying columns and soil, 'D = flexural rigidity of the raft. . There is some difficulty in using this equation to,analyse the case of a rigid raft (D co). This may be overcome by observing that for a specified net pressure p =qa—qn that bending moments and shear forces are independent of D and thus that these values apply when D ~+00,, provided of course that the correct net load p, viz. that corresponding to rigid movement of the raft and soil, is used. 'Smooth Rigid SA ROIKVY | . SSS isl = 3 J P< : x ‘Smooth Rigid Sollina of Column Figdre 9. Finite element mesh used in check of stresseé rom eylinder theory Contours of percentage dilference in verticot contact stress Figure 10. Schefatis diagram of the contours of ecror in the vertial stresses388 N. B DALAM AND J. R, BOOKER ‘The concept of a domain of influence applies equally well to the raft as to the soil. As before, the domain of influence may de an equilateral triangle, a square or a regular hexagon. The boundaries of the domain of influence will experience no shear and will have zero slope ina direction normal to the boundary. Tewas shown in the previous section that the contact stress between the pile ond raft and the contact stress between the soil and raft are very nearly constant, In many practical situations the applied load will be uniformly distributed over the ralt and attention will be restricted to this case. Thus, ifp: isthe net pressure acting on the raft immediately above the pile and p2 is pressure acting on the raft immediately above the surrounding soi, it follows from equilibrium that: a easier (2) A aTAo-D " where A, is the area of the pile and Ap is the area of the domain of i Tne domain of infuence is approximated by a circle as was the case for the analysis of settlement. This assumption simplifies the problem considerably and it is possible to obtain the simple analytic results, shown in Table I. Table I. Moments and cheers for circular domain of influence Region 1 O 0.05 Domains of Influence, 0.08 0.02 Hexagonal (8 =1/2) oh Square (®=10/4) -0.02 Hexagonal (@0) Squore(8=0) orale -Circular -0.08 Figure (2. Variation in profile of M2 with arrangementof piles -o2b Figure 13. Radial bending moment diagrams *ANALYSIS OF RAFTS ON GRANULAR PILES -0:6 Figure 15. Blfects of stifness ratio £,/E; on radiat bending momentoye N. P. SALAAM AND J. R. BOOKER oe Eyes 0-6 os oat Vy +03 Vaaer 20°25 ° me - +O 8 -o2bL Figure 16. Effect of stifaess ratio E,/ Ey on tangential bending moment ‘The shear force diagrams for the circular domain of influence are shown in Figure 18 for representative values of b/a. The maximum shear force occurs at the pile-soil interface with zero shear at the centre of the piles and the edge of the domain. The magnitude of this maximum shear force is determined by the diameter of the piles and the reaction pressure py which increases with 6/a. Thus, for a given diameter of piles an increase in the spacing results in a larger maximum shear force. The shear force is also a function of the stiffness ratio £,/ £2; the effect of the stifiness ratio on the shear force distribution is shown in Figure 19 when 6/a =2 and 1 = ¥2=0°3, As would be expected, increasing the stiffness ratio results in larger shear forces. ANALYSIS OF THE TIME-DEPENDENT BERAVIOUR In this section the different pile arrangements are analysed using an equivalent circular domiai of influence, and the time-dependent behaviour of the rigidraft is investigated using a numerical (Finite element) solution to Biot's equations of consolidation. The numerical method used for solution of;Bict's equations is that developed by Booker and Small.’ ‘The problem to be investigated, together with the finite element mesh, is shown schematically in Figure 20. Barron? has preserited a solution for the excess pore pressure, using the approximate diffusion theory of consolidation. The rates of consolidation are shown in Figures 21 to 25 for d./d = 1-5, 2, 2:5, 3 and 5 and stiffness ratios under drained conditions £,/E2 =, 10 and 40 when »; = vy =0-3. The stone columns are assumed to be infinitely permeable whereas the soil is assigned a horizontal permeability ky, A time facter Ty is defined in teraje of the radial coctticiont of consolidation cy where ___EnE al oll + v2)(L= 209) & a)ANALYSIS OF RAFTS ON GRANULAR PILES 393 I IS bw Bx Dxé| (o) Sduara (b) Circular (ec) Héxogonat Domoins of tntluance s+ os oe o=Racivs of Pile ' savere (0+0") Hexagonal (6 =0°) Circular 3 Hexagonel ( ° ee . F790 Figure 17. Comparison berween shear force diagrams for triangular and squcre arrangements of les The degree of settlement U, is defined as SS u, 5 O) Sre—S. where S, = settlement ofraft attimes, S; raft. Also plotted with these results is the average degree of pore pressure dissipation Up, obtained from Barron's solution. The finite element solutions are in reasonable agreement with the Barron solution when E,/Ey= 1 but for practical values of this ratio the Barron solution predicts a slower rate of consolidation. This discrepancy arises because the Barron solution takes no account of the relative stiffnesses of the column and clay materials whereas the results using Biot’s theory show that, for agiven spacing oftolumas, as the stiffness ratio inereases, the columns take a greater proportion of the applied load and the rate of consolidation increases. Numerical studies (Balaam'), show that the effect of the ratio E1/ Ez 0n the rate of consolidation is notsignificant for the case of a uniform applied pressure. This difference in behaviour between the equal and free strain cases may arise because for equal strain the loadintensity on the clay initial Settlement of raft, Sr = total final settlement ofNP. DALAAM ANO J. R. HOOKER 1S 20 25 ra Figur 18. Shear force diagrams for circular domain of influence ° Os +0 2-0 16 2 ae 1? ° Oa Figure 19. Effect of stiffness eat o8 V2 + 20 r/o /Ey on the sheat force distribution 30ANALYSIS OF RAFTS ON GRANULAR PILES ov € i \ Smooth Rigid - fmoerragble = 2 tone Column 0 eg stone © Cloy g Ev Ea.¥2 £5 tntiitely = ny ge Permeable 5 | Smootn Rigs -Impermecbie (c) Datinition of Boundary Conditions (b) Finta Element Mash . ° * * T T T T 5 e o2b Borrons Solution 4. + Biot Theory g)/eg dN, oar 4 vs ‘ & ve (Facet ost fF a je; Ee vs fa ost 4 Srmoath gis yr0'3,vyr OS 10 1 1 1 9-00001 0-000! 0001 oor on 10 eet wee Figure 21, Rate of settlement of rigid rafts d/dl = 15396 N. P. BALAAM AND J. R. BOOKER ° 1 7 Borron’s Solution 5 — Biot Theory Permeable Top , - Surtece oe Us up o6 4 ° , 10. ae ‘o-co00T 7 On ¥0 gure 22, Rate of settlement of rigid ratt; de/d = 2 varies significantly with time. For realistic values of E,/E2 the load intensity on the clay is initially greater than that on the column but as consolidation proceeds it is reversed and at the completion of consolidation the intensity on the column is far greater than on the clay. Consequently, the rate of change of the bulk stress with time in the clay is significant and dependent on E,/Ez (Le. it has an increasing effect as the ratio of E1/E: increases). In contrast, for the free strain case the Igad intensity on the clay is insensitive to Ey/Ez and nearly constant with time, and this may perhaps account for the rate of consolidation being nearly ind. pendent of E,/Ey and for the much closer agreement between the Biot and diffusion theory solutions for this case. ° T Barrons Solution 0-2 Biot Theory — onal - Us Up o-e 0-8} —— ‘Smooth Rigia ¥420°3,%3103 | ™ 0 iil 2 0.00001 (0.0001 Figure 23, Rate of settlement of rigid raft: dy/el = 2:5ANALYSIS OF RAFTS ON GRANULAR PILES ov Barran’s Solution! Brot Theory eee Smooth Rigid M203, ¥g 203 ° 90-0008 0-007 ~ ‘OF Figure 24, Rate of settlement of rigid calt: d,/d =3 . In Figure 25 the results of a comparison. between the Biut theory solutions for the degree.of settlement and the Barroa solutions for average degree of pore pressure dissipation for both cases of free and equal vertical strain, are shown. It is evident that an anomaly exists; the Barron solution for the free strain case is in closer agreement with the Biot theory for a rigid raft (E\/E2= 1) than the equal strain solution, It appears that this is largely due to Barron's assumption, based on a physical argument regardirg flow, that the initial excess pore pressure distribution is non-uniform for the equal strain case. The theory of elasticity indicates that it should be uniform. Barron does, however, adopt a uniform tial distribution of excess pore Biot Theory Berron’s Solution ~~. (Equal Strain) NS o- Berron’s Solution s weak (Free Strain) \ ge us Sy 1 \& * a a ost Tes Ret , Efe, | ®t vi I¥ hy oak Smootn Rigia 20:9, ¥g8 0-9 10 (0.0007 ‘0-00r 0-08 OF +0 necet - int ED Figure 25. Rate of settlement of rigid raft; d/de5 +398 N. P. BALAAM AND J. R. BOOKER sure for the P free strain case and it is this which apparently leads to the anomaly that this solution is in closer agreement with the Biot theory solution than the equal strain solution, In some practical situations the raft will be separated from the stabilized soil by a layer of permeable sand or gravel. [n such cases dissipation of the excess pore pressures in the soil Oecurs by radial flow to the columns and vertical flow to the permeable top surface. For a typical case, ie, t/d = 10, de/d E/E: =40 andy 3 solutions were obtained for both cases of an impermeable and permeable top surface. The soil was taken to be isotropic. This comparison showed that the vertical component of flow (lid not cause a significant increase in the rave of consolidation (Figure 22) and thus, at least for this case, the solutions for radial flow only can be used to predict the rate of settlement of a raft placed ona gravel mat overlying the stabilized soil, ie 0-86 x10? ab = 0-32x1077 Stone Column. Clay. 4 2 c 0-42x10" ie O-Bax10 * 642x107? 6-32 x10" 2 TBSx101 oe | 0 ; ° +0 +5 20 r/a “ 1 Figure 26. Change in vertical stress with time ‘As consolidation proceeds and settlement takes place, the strain of the stone columns increases causing an increase in the contact stress ¢, between the columns and raft and a decrease between the soil and raft from equilibrium. The contact stresses are shown in Figure 26 for various times for the case where d./d =2, E,/Ex=40 and 1 0:3. It was observed numerically and later verified analytically that the rate of increase in uniform stress on the stone columns is identical to the rate of settlement. Thus, if the non-uniform contact stress distribution on the soil is replaced by an equivalent uniform stress, the results presented in the previous section can be used to estimate the magnitude of the mottents and shears at various times. The rate of increase of the moments and shears will then be identical to the rate of settlementsANALYSIS OF RAFTS ON GRANULAR PILES 399 CONCLUSIONS In this paper solutions for the magnitude and rate of settlement of rigid foundations supported by soil reinforced with granular piles have been presented. In the present paper consideration hhas been given to the situation in which the foundation is supported by a regular array of fully penetrating granular piles. An analytic solution using elasticity has been developed for the settlement of the rigid foundation by considering a typical cylindrical pile-soil unit. Expressions for evaluating the moment and shear distributions across the foundation are given. The two regular arrangements of piles used in practice (square and triangular) have been considered in detail. For these arrangements each pite-soil unit has a square or hexagonal plan area respectively. The etfect of treating this aree as an equivalent circular area has been investigated by use of a finite clement analysis (for settlement) and the development of expressions for the moments and shears in a square and hexagonal domain of influence. The results presented show that the errors in.the stresses (and thus settlement) by assuming an equivalent circular area are negligible. However, although the shear force distribution is relatively. insensitive, the moment distributions are largely dependent on the arrangement of piles. Thus, in a sophisticated analysis of the raft where the profiles of principal moments are to be employed, the expressions given in this paper enable these profiles to be evaluated. If, however, the design is to be based on the maximum and minimum values of the moments, then the solutions for the cylinder cai be employed. Numerical solutions to Biot’s theory of consolidation have bezn presented for the rate of settlement of the raft. These solutions quantify the increased fate of consolidation of the reinforced soil with increasing stiffness ratios of the piles and soii. Finally, itis of interest to note that the solutions show that by increasing the stiffness ratio of the piles and soil the settlements are reduced and the rate of settlement increased, but to counteract these, the moments and shears are increased in the raft. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The work described in this paper forms part of a general program of research into the settlement of all types of foundations being carried out at the University of Sydney under the general direction of Professor E. H. Davis (Professor of Civil Engineering (Soil Mechanics). The work is supported by a research grant from the Australian Research Grants Committee. The Authors wish to thank Dr. H. G. Poulos and Professor E. H. Davis for their helpful suggestions. APPENDIX 1 Asa first approximation it seems natural to assume that the pile-soil unit, shown in Figure 3, is in a state of confined compression, Solution A. An examination of this solution reveals a discontinuity in the horizontal stress at the pile-soil interface, The correct solution may therefore be found by adding a solution, (B), corresponding to zero movement of the plate and an applied radial traction which is equal in magnitude-but opposite in sign to the discontinuity in horizontal stress, Since both the plate and substratum are assuined to be smooth, the second solution corresponds to a stote of plane strain, Because of the axial symmetry of the problem, this solution depends only on the radius r and can thus be readily found. The complete solution, C, can be obtained by superimposing Solutions A, B as given in Table II, where the subscripts 1, 2, refer to the stone column and the clay respectively and it has been convenient to introduceANAL SIS OF RAFTS ON GRANULAR PILES 401 Table 111, Solution D—(clay und D Region | Region 2 » He Gry +r Gi4 GI. Poth ec.e GaP -2tG,-caf Figure 27. Definition of terms for analysis of monients in a square domain of influence40: N.PODALAAM AND E.R. BOOKER Case Rectangular pile fr] <4, y|-