Two-dimensional study of the inclusions of skirt sand and deep cement piles to improve the load‒displacement behavior of circular foundations on soft clay soil

The bearing capacity of clayey soils is low, and the induced settlements play an important role in estimating the stability of structures built on these weak soils. Therefore, these clayey soils need improved mechanical strength. In this study, a two-dimensional finite element model was used to improve the bearing capacity and settlement of soft clay soil by employing skirt sand piles, and the results were compared with reinforced cement piles. Skirt sand piles consisting of thick sand cores and closed tubes placed under a circular shallow foundation with a steel plate of suitable dimensions, as well as reinforced cement piles of different lengths and in nondrained situations were studied. These calculations were carried out using PLAXIS 2D software, and a series of finite element analyses were performed. The Mohr‒Coulomb and hardening soil models were used to model the fine-grained and granular soils, respectively. A linear elastic model was used to simulate the circular plate and skirt components. Previous experimental studies were used to validate the numerical model. The experimental test and the 2D axisymmetric model agree well. According to the assumptions, the efficiency of skirt sand piles is superior to that of deep cement piles. In addition, increasing the length of SSP skirt sand piles has a significantly greater effect on improving the bearing capacity than increasing the length of deep cement piles. As a consequence, the failure modes of piles with skirt sand were determined. It was found that the failure mode when skirt sand piles were tied into clayey soils occurred in the underlying sandy soil layer as a general shear failure.