Evaluating an Improvement in Settlement Using Recycled Concrete Aggregate as Stone Column Filler Material

Growing human population and its conterminous effect on infrastructure development has led to challenges with the availability of soil with good bearing capacity and strong settlement resistance to support these built structures.These challenges have often been addressed by installing pile foundations to secure the structure to a more stable bedrock beneath the weak soil or by replacing the weak soil with one having more potent geotechnical properties.However, these solutions are expensive and time-consuming, especially for low structural loads.Many studies have therefore been conducted to explore techniques for improving in-situ soil properties to avoid the significant cost that will be incurred.Stone columns are mostly used due to their adaptability in improving the bearing capacity and reducing differential settlement in various soils.The sourcing of aggregates for stone columns from quarry sites is an unsustainable approach due to the potential depletion of the natural resource.Innovative and environmentally friendly means of using alternative materials like construction waste have thus been explored.This study focused on using numerical methods to evaluate an improvement in settlement of clayey sandy gravel of South-Central Leeds using recycled concrete aggregate as filler material for stone columns.Analysis of the settlement characteristics of this soil was performed on Settle3 software.From the analysis, total consolidation was reduced by up to 19 % when the sample was reinforced with stone columns made of recycled concrete aggregate.So did an improvement in differential settlement.