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Basic principle of stone columns rigid inclusions Stone columns also known as aggregate piers are well suited for the improvement of soft or loose soils as they create vertical inclusions with high stiffness, shear strength and draining characteristics.

Stone columns are vertically positioned piles of compacted, gravel-sized stone particles used to enhance the performance of soft or loose soils. The stone can be compacted using impact techniques, such as vibroflots, impact compactors, falling weights, and so on.

The key parameters relevant to the design of floating stone columns include the area replacement ratio, the friction angle of the column material, the loading intensity, and the post-installation earth pressure.

How are stone columns constructed? Stone columns are constructed by experienced contractors using specialist equipment. The construction uses an excavator with a vibrating probe to feed stone into the ground, forming a vertical column of stone.

The addition of the stone column can reduced the increasing of excess pore water pressure up to 40%. The variation in the spacing of stone column shows that the spacing of 1.5 m is the most effective option to achieve the maximum reduction of the increasing pore water pressure.

The area replacement ratio may also be expressed as follows: as = 0.907 (D/S)2 where the constant 0.907 is a function of the pattern used which, in this case, is the commonly employed equilateral triangular pattern. The value of n generally lies between 2.5 and 5 at the ground surface.

The area replacement ratio ( ) is the ratio between the area of the columns and the loaded area, i.e. footing area in this case. For the reference case, the footing diameter, , is 2.5 m and the column diameter ( =1.37 m) was chosen to give an area replacement ratio of = 30%.