A Comparative Study of Design and Construction Practice of Stone Column

Stone column is a proved ground improvement technique used for the enhancement of bearing capacity of soft soil and to accelerate the consolidation effect. The design criteria and the construction technique of the stone column vary according to the type of soil, soil drainage conditions, and the type of project involved. In most of the ground improvement projects, due to lack of knowledge and poor practice in construction technique, the time and cost of an overall project gets adversely affected. The present study involves different methods of analyzing the effectiveness of stone column. The present work also includes a comparative study of the standard codes for the design and construction of stone column of different countries and organisations. The effects of the difference in calculation of basic parameters, design considerations, and installation techniques have been studied, and an attempt is made to provide the best possible procedure for the design and construction of stone column.