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The Stone-column is a useful method for increasing the bearing capacity and reducing settlement of foundation soil. The prediction of accurate ultimate bearing capacity of stone columns is very important in soil improvement techniques. Bulging failure mechanism usually controls the failure mechanism. In this paper, an imaginary retaining wall is used such that it stretches vertically from the stone column edge. A simple analytical method is introduced for estimation of the ultimate bearing capacity of the stone column using Coulomb lateral earth pressure theory. Presented method needs conventional Mohr-coloumb shear strength parameters of the stone column material and the native soil for estimation the ultimate bearing capacity of stone column. The validity of the developed method has been verified using finite element method and test data. Parametric studies have been carried out and effects of contributing parameters such as stone column diameter, column spacing, and the internal friction angle of the stone column material on the ultimate bearing capacity have been investigated.

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Presented is a method of two-dimensional analysis of the active earth pressure due to simultaneous effect of both soil weight and surcharge of strip foundation. The study’s aim is to provide a rigorous solution to the problem in the framework of upper-bound theorem of limit analysis method in order to produce some design charts for calculating the lateral active earth pressure of backfill when loaded by a strip foundation. A kinematically admissible collapse mechanism consisting of several rigid blocks with translational movement is considered in which energy dissipation takes place along planar velocity discontinuities. Comparing the lateral earth forces given by the present analysis with those of other researchers, it is shown that the results of present analysis are higher (better) than other researchers’ results. It was found that with the increase in , the proportion of the strip load (q) which is transmitted to the wall decreases. Moreover, Increasing the friction between soil and wall ( ) will result in the increase of effective distance ( ). Finally, these results are presented in the form of dimensionless design charts relating the mechanical characteristics of the soil, strip load conditions and active earth pressure.

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Lateral earth pressure on retaining walls is a widely researched classical problem in geotechnical engineering. This study investigates the active lateral earth pressure on a circular retaining wall using the stress characteristics method in the presence of soil-wall adhesion and friction. A computer code was developed for determining the lateral pressure of soil on the wall as well as the lateral pressure coefficients upon receiving the required input parameters. The principle of superposition was implemented to determine the lateral earth pressure coefficients. The effects of the soil-wall adhesion and friction angle on the lateral earth pressure were studied under active conditions. Moreover, the effects of these parameters on the characteristics network and failure region were demonstrated. The results showed that the coefficient of lateral earth pressure due to cohesion increased with increasing adhesion at the soil-wall boundary.