Performance of Lime-Cement as Column and Raft in Soft Clay Bed

Owing to high compressibility and low shear strength of soft clay deposits, they are generally unfit for geotechnical engineering applications. However, such soft clays can be readily used after they have been subjected to ground treatment methods such as stone column, lime column and compaction granular piles. An attempt is made in this paper to study the influence of lime pile, lime-cement pile and composite raft (lime + geogrid) in the remolded soft clay bed. From the model load test, load-settlement characteristics were evaluated for the above combinations. From the test results, it is found that the load carrying capacity of lime, cement, lime-cement pile and lime-cement pile with composite raft is 100–400% higher than that of untreated soft clay. However, the order of increase in load carrying capacity is lime-cement pile with composite raft > lime-cement pile > cement pile > lime pile.