Performance of floating stone columns installed in soft soils

This research focuses on the behaviour of stone columns floating in soft clays in order to determine its serviceability performance. The strength parameters of the column material used in design are often estimated without much technical basis. Therefore, a series of direct shear tests of scalped column materials was conducted to scientifically determine its strength parameters, which were then used in the finite element analyses to benchmark its field performance. The research outcome demonstrates that both the field and FE results show reasonable comparisons, thus validating the design concept and parameters used for the analyses of floating stone columns.