regards
Kirtesh Ghandi asked, "For one of our project in Gulf we have been asked to raise the soil bearing capacity by improving ground using stone columns. However we are not very sure of its actual performance at site. Can anyone focus on it?"
A couple of years ago, what I think is the brand name for tamped stone piers was used on a nine-story building we built. A QC issue with soil moisture during the installation caused a three month hiatus in the subsequent building construction. That owner's new projects use piles. As I remember it, there was rain during (or just before or just after) the installation of the soil-compacting stone piers under a column which kept the design compaction from occurring. I do not know which "Gulf" is yours, but I would guess that soft, alluvial soils or soils with a high water table would result in the same kind of difficulty. Proper design may be able to be account for such things, but proper installation is also important.
I'm not saying do not use the method, I'm just saying I happened to be on a project where it was a problem.
HTH,
Jim Getaz
Winchester, Virginia