Effect of Construction Parameters on the Behaviour of Embankment Resting Over Soft Soil Improved with ESC

The construction of embankments on soft soil poses severe challenges to their stability due to the characteristics of the soft soil. Therefore, to overcome the issues of excessive settlement and stability, the soft soil may be improved by including an encased stone column (ESC). Construction features including the stiffness of the encasement material, column length, and encasement length have a significant impact on how an embankment resting on soft soil behaves when modified with ESC. The impact of these construction characteristics on the behaviour of the embankment was therefore examined numerically in the current study using PLAXIS 3D. The soft soil was represented by the soft soil (SS) model, and the stone column, embankment, and sand platform were represented by the Mohr–Coulomb (MC) model. The study results confirm that the settlement decreases with increased encasement stiffness and ESC length. In addition, load transfer mechanism, development of the plastic points, and stress concentration ratio are also significantly dependent on the mentioned parameters.