Performance of geogrid-encased stone columns as a reinforcement of soft ground

Further developments of the stone column technique include the reinforcement of the column using either horizontal layers of reinforcement (Sharma et al. 2004) or encasing the individual stone column by geosynthetics (Nabil 1995; Murugesan & Rajagopal 2006). The geosynthetic encasement leads to more increases in the load bearing capacity of the stone column and reduces its bulging due to the additional confinement from the encasement (Malarvizh & Ilamparuth, 2007). The geosynthetic encasement also prevents the lateral squeezing of stones when the stone column is installed in some extremely soft soil, leading to minimal loss of stones and quicker installation. The published literature on the performance of the encased stone columns is limited especially in the long term conditions. Most of researchers also used the geotextile encasement material in spite of the geogrid encasement has the more stiffness.