Ground Strengthening Method by Multistage Local Consolidation

Authors are investigating a ground strengthening method, which effectively consolidates the construction area of requisite minimum in a short time by local consolidation for the soft ground. In this paper, Authors research that the effect of increasing the strength of soft ground by using the three-dimensional elasto-plastic finite element analysis when the area of local loading is gradually changed. First, it was found that the strength of the soft ground just below the local loading surface increased with a short time by the local consolidation and ultimate bearing capacity increases to 2.6 times as much as the initial bearing capacity by the multistage loading. Next, analysis was carried out in the case of the multistage loading with cyclic loading. In the reloading process, loading area is reduced to 1/3 and 1/6 of the loading area of the previous stage. In this case, the ultimate bearing capacity increases to 8.25 times as much as the initial bearing capacity. In conclusion, it was found that the strength of the soft ground just under the loading surface is considerably increased by multistage local loading with reducing the loading area.