Embankment over Soft Soil Improved with Chemico Pile — A Numerical Study

The stabilization of soft clay is one of the most important construction techniques in geotechnical engineering. Chemical admixture (lime and cement as chemical admixture) stabilization has been extensively used in both shallow and deep stabilization in order to improve inherent properties of soil, such as strength and deformation behavior. These methods involve: (1) mixing soil with chemical, and (2) forming columns lime in the soil without mixing. The second method is "Chemical-lime pile" or "Chemico-Pile" and widely used in Japan, and Singapore. This method is a fast, effective and well-recognized technique for ground improvement in soft clay deposit. A test embankment site in Bangkok, Thailand, improved with chemico-pile was selected for numerical modeling. The Finite Element Program PLAXIS was utilized to model the chemico-pile supported embankment. This paper presents the results from numerical modeling, and compares them with field settlement data, for both improved and natural ground.