Reliability-Based Verification of Serviceability Limit States of Dry Deep Mixing Columns
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 147, Issue 3
Abstract
Deep mixing columns commonly are used to reduce settlement under road and railway embankments on soft soils. However, the structural behavior of the soil volume improved with columns is difficult to predict, due to the existence of considerable uncertainties in the mixing process and the structural interaction between the columns and the untreated soil. This paper probabilistically investigated two serviceability limit states of deep mixing columns from a system reliability perspective. A design framework employing the observational method is proposed that considers allowable residual settlements, excessive settlement from column yielding, and the curing time of the columns. The design framework facilitates an effective reduction of the geotechnical uncertainty during construction and promotes risk-aware decision-making during both design and construction of the embankment.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data used during the study were provided by a third party (soil properties and column penetration tests). Direct request for these materials may be made to the provider as indicated in the Acknowledgments. Code that support the findings of this study is available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge the Swedish Transport Administration and the Development Fund of the Swedish Construction Industry (SBUF) for funding this research. The Swedish Transport Administration supplied data for the illustrative design example.
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Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 147 • Issue 3 • March 2021
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This work is made available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
History
Received: May 16, 2020
Accepted: Sep 23, 2020
Published online: Dec 31, 2020
Published in print: Mar 1, 2021
Discussion open until: May 31, 2021
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