Design for the improvement of soils with liquefaction potential using Rammed Aggregated Piers

Abstract

This paper presents the use of Rammed Aggregated Piers (RAP) for soil improvement; this implementation gives the soil a greater load capacity and provides settlements lower than the admissible. In addition, it mitigates the liquefaction phenomenon in loose sands. The present project is an analytical study where calculations were made considering the construction of a building implementing soil improvement with RAP, which, in first instance, the settlements in the unimproved ground were evaluated using the methodology of Idriss & Boulanger (2008) considering the correction factor for depths of Cetin et al. (2009). Subsequently, the RAPs were implemented and the settlements in the improved soil were evaluated following the 3-step methodology proposed by Geopier. The implementation of the RAP presented a significant improvement in different aspects such as settlement, which was observed that in the results of the settlement calculations all the analyses were less than the admissible settlement (1inch).