Performance Monitoring of Rammed Aggregate Piers® (RAPs)

ECE KURT BAL, LALE ONER, KUTAY OZAYDIN

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Abstract



In this paper, settlement performance during water testing of structures at a wastewater treatment facility in Turkey, constructed on soils improved by the Rammed Aggregate Pier® (RAP) System, are presented. The soil profile is comprised of firm to stiff silty clay and medium dense silty sand of 10 m thickness, overlain on thick soft to medium stiff silty clay with thin inclusions of sand lenses. The main goals of the in-situ soil improvement, to eliminate the risk of liquefaction and to form a homogeneous crust to reduce the total and differential of settlements, were achieved by improving the soil with RAPs down to 15 m depth. To verify the design parameters, two kinds of field load tests, the modulus load test and areal loading test, were performed. Completed structures are water tested and settlements recorded, providing performance monitoring data under service loading conditions. With the implemented soil improvement, post construction settlements are reduced to 14-20 cm compared to the initially estimated 20-80 cm long term settlements, and differential settlements are reduced to permissible limits.


Keywords


Impact rammed aggregate piers, stiffness, consolidation settlement, monitoring, ground improvement

Citation


KURT BAL, E., ONER, L., OZAYDIN, K. (2021). Performance Monitoring of Rammed Aggregate Piers® (RAPs), Vol. 6, Issue 1, p.37-52. doi: 10.4417/IJGCH-06-01-02




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4417/IJGCH-06-01-02

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