G MS THESIS_final version_Maxim Prokudin.pdf - Digital Repository ...

1113000Measured Bearing Capacity (kPa)2500200015001000500R 2 = 0.346400 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000Calculated Bearing Capacity (kPa)Figure 72: Calculated design versus actual bearing capacity for single piers of variouscomposition (scatter chart)The brittle failure of the loess and cement composition piers in the top portion of the pierinduced complications to the failure mechanism that could neither be described through pureplunging or pure bulging processes. An even more complicated pier failure mechanism wasalso anticipated for the piers where partial cementing was performed. The bulb and topportions of the aggregate piers that were partially cemented had a unique impact on failuremechanisms by shifting the zone of bulging and, therefore, no bearing capacity evaluationwas performed for these piers.Finally, the 610 mm loess and fiber composition piers were expected to fail similarly to 610mm aggregate pier and sand piers, i.e. through bulging, however, bearing capacitycalculations were limited due to the unknown friction angle of the loess and fibercomposition. Further testing could be performed through direct shear testing on a samplespecimen of loess and fiber composition in order to obtain the value for the friction angle.