A Case Study on the Young's Modulus of Stone Columns Built in Vietnam

Hong Lam Dang; Dinh Cuong Nguyen; Hai Ha Nguyen

doi:10.48084/etasr.12232

Authors

Hong Lam Dang University of Transport and Communications, Hanoi, Vietnam
Dinh Cuong Nguyen FECON Corporation, Hanoi, Vietnam
Hai Ha Nguyen University of Transport and Communications, Hanoi, Vietnam

Volume: 15 | Issue: 6 | Pages: 28629-28634 | December 2025 | https://doi.org/10.48084/etasr.12232

Received: 18 May 2025 | Revised: 19 June 2025, 19 July 2025, and 2 September 2025 | Accepted: 6 September 2025 | Online: 8 December 2025

Corresponding author: Hong Lam Dang

Abstract

Young’s modulus of the stone column is a fundamental parameter in nearly all studies and engineering applications. In addition to the stone properties and construction technology, the elastic modulus also depends on the surrounding soil at the site, necessitating a site-specific study of Young’s modulus. The current study presents an investigation of a stone column in the Long Son Petrochemical Project, Vietnam, including a group load test in order to back-analyze the Young’s modulus of the stone column. Four stone columns of 800 mm diameter and center-to-center spacing of 2200 mm were installed by Vibroflotation. A full-scale on-site test was carried out using a rectangular group of four stone columns. The properties of the stone were determined in accordance with the Vietnamese standard TCVN 7572. The settlement result of the group load test shows the Young’s modulus of the stone column varied from 25 MPa to 40 MPa by back-analysis in the first trial and increased to 70 MPa in the second trial after improving the surrounding soil.

Keywords:

stone column, Young’s modulus, full-scale test, back-analysis

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

B. Fatahi, S. Basack, S. Premananda, and H. Khabbaz, "Settlement Prediction and Back Analysis of Young’s Modulus and Dilation Angle of Stone Columns," Australian Journal of Civil Engineering, vol. 10, no. 1, 2012. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7158/C11-700.2012.10.1

J.-M. Debats, G. Scharff, J. Balderas, and S. Melentijevic, "Ground Improvement Efficiency and Back-Analysis of Settlements," Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Ground Improvement, vol. 166, no. 3, pp. 138–154, Aug. 2013. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1680/grim.11.00029

J. Castro, "Modeling Stone Columns," Materials, vol. 10, no. 7, July 2017, Art. no. 782. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/ma10070782

M. Budak, "Effect of Stone Column Soil Improvement on Liquefaction Resistance: Field and Numerical Study," M.S. thesis, İzmir Institute of Technology, İzmir, Turkey, 2023.

I. G. N. A. Yudistira and Y. Lastiasih, "Analysis of Soft Soil Setting with Reinforcement Grouped Stone Column," Riwayat: Educational Journal of History and Humanities, vol. 6, no. 4, pp. 3183–3189, 2023.

M. Bashir, M. Singh, and K. Kotiyal, "Behavior of Horizontally Reinforced Stone Column in a Layered Soil: Enhancing Ground Improvement," Journal of Mining and Environment, vol. 15, no. 2, Apr. 2024.

D. E. L. Ong, Y. S. Sim, and C. F. Leung, "Performance of Field and Numerical Back-Analysis of Floating Stone Columns in Soft Clay Considering the Influence of Dilatancy," International Journal of Geomechanics, vol. 18, no. 10, Oct. 2018, Art. no. 04018135. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)GM.1943-5622.0001261

N. Rahman, Md. Rokonuzzaman, T. Sakai, and S. Rahman, "Behavior of Floating Stone Columns in Soft Clay: Field Tests and Numerical Analysis," International Journal of Geomechanics, vol. 25, no. 6, June 2025, Art. no. 04025094. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1061/IJGNAI.GMENG-11100

Standard Practice for Classification of Soils for Engineering Purposes (Unified Soil Classification System), ASTM D2487-17, ASTM International, West Conshohocken, PA, USA, 2017.

H. L. Dang, "A Study of Single Stone Column Bearing Capacity from a Full-Scale Plate Load Test in Long Son Project," Engineering, Technology & Applied Science Research, vol. 14, no. 4, pp. 15602–15606, Aug. 2024. DOI: https://doi.org/10.48084/etasr.7698

M. R. Dheerendra Babu, S. Nayak, and R. Shivashankar, "A Critical Review of Construction, Analysis and Behaviour of Stone Columns," Geotechnical and Geological Engineering, vol. 31, no. 1, pp. 1–22, Feb. 2013. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10706-012-9555-9

S. Saxena and L. B. Roy, "The Effect of Geometric Parameters on the Strength of Stone Columns," Engineering, Technology & Applied Science Research, vol. 12, no. 4, pp. 9028–9033, Aug. 2022. DOI: https://doi.org/10.48084/etasr.5138

Aggregates for Concrete and Mortar−Test methods, TCVN 7572, Vietnam Standard and Quality Institute, Hanoi, Vietnam, 2006.

J. E. Bowles, Foundation Analysis and Design, 5th Edition. Columbus, OH, USA: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc, 1987.

W. Steinbrenner, "Tafeln zur Zetzungsberechnung," Die Strasse, vol. 1, pp. 121–124, 1934.

E. N. Fox, "The Mean Elastic Settlement of a Uniformly Loaded Area at a Depth below the Ground Surface," in 2nd International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, Rotterdam, Netherlands, 1948 vol. 1, pp. 129–132.

Hassan. A. Abas and A. M. Medawi, "Investigating Stone Column Effectiveness for Sabkha Soil Improvement: field tests and numerical model," Journal of Umm Al-Qura University for Engineering and Architecture, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 67–77, June 2024. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s43995-023-00042-0

S. Saleh, "Improving Bearing Capacity of Weak Soils: A review," Journal of Construction Research, vol. 3, no. 1, June 2021. DOI: https://doi.org/10.30564/jcr.v3i1.3262

C. R. I. Clayton, The Standard Penetration Test (SPT) - Methods & Use. London, UK: Construction Industry Research and Information Association, 1995.