During many earthquakes, soil liquefaction has caused much damage to offshore, coastal and waterfront structures. Prevalence of liquefaction in the marine environment necessitates the development of appropriate remediation countermeasures. The risk of liquefaction and associated ground deformation can be reduced by various ground-improvement methods including the stone column technique. An experimental program of dynamic centrifuge model tests was conducted to study the liquefaction remedial effects of stone columns in silty marine soils. The test results demonstrate that stone columns can be an effective technique in the remediation of liquefaction induced deformation and settlement of foundations on non-plastic silty marine deposits.
During many earthquakes, soil liquefaction and associated ground failures have caused much damage to offshore, coastal and waterfront structures (PIANC 2001, Tsuchida 2003, and Sumer et al. 2007). Liquefaction is a phenomenon in which the strength and stiffness of a saturated granular soil is reduced by earthquake shaking or other rapid loading induced pore pressure build-up, causing it to behave like a liquid. The resulting loss of soil strength of the foundations may result in large deformations or complete failures with catastrophic consequences. General review including physics of liquefaction phenomena in marine environment has been provided elsewhere including Groot et al. (2006) and Sumer et al. (2007). Liquefiable foundation soils are quite common in waterfront environments. Prevalence of liquefaction in the marine and coastal environment necessitates the development of appropriate remediation countermeasures. The risk of liquefaction and associated ground deformation can be reduced by various ground-improvement methods including the stone column (gravel drain) technique. The stone column method as liquefaction countermeasure in marine deposits would provide environmentally friendly and cost effective alternative to the commonly used technique of mass dredging of the seabed and large amounts of replacement fill to form a suitable base.
