Browsing by Author "Rajagopal, K."

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Influence of type of drainage boundary on coefficient of horizontal consolidation
(ICE Publishing, 2023) Sridhar, G.; Robinson, R.G.; Rajagopal, K.
Vertical drains are used widely to accelerate the consolidation of soft clay deposits when preloading is used as a ground improvement technique. One of the essential input parameters required in Barron's theory is the coefficient of horizontal consolidation, ch. The values of ch can be determined by the radial consolidation test, using either a central sand drain or a porous plastic peripheral drain. This paper presents the laboratory tests carried out to understand the reason for the difference in values of ch determined from inward and outward radial flow consolidations tests. A 150 mm wide instrumented consolidation cell was used to carry out the inward or outward radial consolidation tests. The total stress measurements during consolidation showed non-uniform stress distribution in clay with higher effective stress values close to the drainage boundary. This stiffening of the clay close to the drain retards the consolidation rate resulting in reduced values of ch. As a result, the ch values determined by radially outward consolidation tests with a larger drainage boundary area are lower to those obtained by inward radial flow tests. The pore water pressure measurements showed significantly higher undissipated pore water pressure away from the drainage boundary for the outward flow tests. © 2023 Emerald Publishing Limited: All rights reserved.
Numerical study of basal reinforced embankments supported on floating/end bearing piles considering pile-soil interaction
(2015) Bhasi, A.; Rajagopal, K.
Construction sites consisting of soft soils may require ground improvement to prevent excessive settlements or bearing capacity type failures and shear movements, which results in construction delays and premature failures. Among the various ground improvement techniques, the Geosynthetic Reinforced Piled Embankment Systems (GRPES) provide a practical and efficient solution due to the low cost and short construction times. Most of the piled embankments are constructed on end bearing piles. At large depths of foundation soil, floating piles are more economical and technically feasible than the end bearing piles. The design of floating piles involves complex soil-structure interaction and there are no clear uniform guidelines available for the design of embankments supported on floating piles. This paper presents the results of numerical investigation into the performance of geosynthetic reinforced embankments supported on end bearing as well as floating piles considering the pile-soil and geosynthetic-soil interaction. 3-D Column models are employed to carry out the parametric studies on factors such as the development of arching, skin friction distribution along the pile length and axial force distribution. Full three-dimensional analyses are carried out to study the overall behavior of the GRPES system and the results obtained from the analyses were compared with those from British Standard BS8006-2010. The results indicated that the use of floating piles could considerably reduce the settlements and the embankment load transferred through the piles to the foundation soil is found to depend very much on the length of the piles. This aspect needs to be accounted for while calculating the arching factor in the empirical equations. 2015 Elsevier Ltd.
Numerical study of basal reinforced embankments supported on floating/end bearing piles considering pile-soil interaction
(Elsevier Ltd, 2015) Bhasi, A.; Rajagopal, K.
Construction sites consisting of soft soils may require ground improvement to prevent excessive settlements or bearing capacity type failures and shear movements, which results in construction delays and premature failures. Among the various ground improvement techniques, the Geosynthetic Reinforced Piled Embankment Systems (GRPES) provide a practical and efficient solution due to the low cost and short construction times. Most of the piled embankments are constructed on end bearing piles. At large depths of foundation soil, floating piles are more economical and technically feasible than the end bearing piles. The design of floating piles involves complex soil-structure interaction and there are no clear uniform guidelines available for the design of embankments supported on floating piles. This paper presents the results of numerical investigation into the performance of geosynthetic reinforced embankments supported on end bearing as well as floating piles considering the pile-soil and geosynthetic-soil interaction. 3-D Column models are employed to carry out the parametric studies on factors such as the development of arching, skin friction distribution along the pile length and axial force distribution. Full three-dimensional analyses are carried out to study the overall behavior of the GRPES system and the results obtained from the analyses were compared with those from British Standard BS8006-2010. The results indicated that the use of floating piles could considerably reduce the settlements and the embankment load transferred through the piles to the foundation soil is found to depend very much on the length of the piles. This aspect needs to be accounted for while calculating the arching factor in the empirical equations. © 2015 Elsevier Ltd.