Numerical Analysis of Stone Column Foundation for Circular Storage Tank

Abstract

A cylindrical storage tank is a simple structure. The process involves installation of stone columns into the ground so that the overall stiffness of the ground gets increased. It has been found, after loading the internally arranged group of stone column experienced more settlement or stress than column at the edge. The conventional pile foundation with a reinforced concrete cap can be extremely uneconomical in relation to the expense of the tank thus the alternate option for oil storage tank foundation is using the stone column. And as an alternate to a concrete cap, a layer of crushed rock of other granular soils is sometimes placed directly above the piles. There have been very less number of studies carried out on stone column foundation used under the storage tank. Generally the case studies are mostly seen for the storage tank and few investigations have been done using finite element methods. Numerous researches carried out on the stone column foundation under the large storage tank with granular cushion but there is no investigation done related to the gravel cushion on the group of stone column. The study aims to overcome the non-uniform stress distribution at gravel cushion pile cap and to analyse less deformation of stone column below circular oil storage tank by considering various parameters.

Keywords: Storage Tank, Stone Column, deformation, Non-uniform Stress, Granular Cushion