Application of stone columns in foundations of transportation infrastructure

Modern transportation infrastructure such as highways or high-speed railways is being built worldwide under very different ground conditions. Sometimes the foundation needs to be treated to ensure the safety of structures and vehicles. Use of stone columns, as one of the favourite ground improving methods, can shorten the drainage paths while immediately increasing the stiffness of the entire ground. They have already been proven to be effective under low to medium loads. In this thesis, the performance of ground improved by stone column under transportation infrastructure was assessed, and several issues related to the long-term behaviour were discussed through soil consolidation analysis. The effects of clogging in stone column and foundation stiffness were analysed through laboratory tests and a fully instrumented field trial in comparison with the proposed consolidation theory. Laboratory tests were also carried out to investigate the performance of stone column in a unit cell (physical model) under cyclic loading.