Use of lime and cement treated soils as pile supported load transfer platform

Soil treatment on site is an economical and environmental solution for many engineering applications. The technique has been widely used in construction of roads and railways. In recent years, the interest in soil treatment for foundations has significantly increased. In this context, treated soils are used under structure foundations in order to homogenize settlements and establish a resistant base layer called earth platform. An application of this technique is the use of treated soils between foundations of structures and vertical piles. Load transfer mechanisms occur in the earth platform and loads are transferred to the piles head. The mechanical characteristics of the treated soils are then important due to the fact that it is the place where load transfer mechanisms occur.In this context, an experimental study was performed in order to obtain the mechanical properties of lime/cement treated soils. Firstly, physical properties of the Goderville silt were examined. Then different quantities of lime/cement were added to soil and compacted at the optimum water content. Stabilized specimens were tested at 7, 28, 90, and 350 days after the treatment in order to observe the evolution of mechanical resistance in time. Finally, the experimental results were used in a numerical analysis in order to understand the load transfer mechanisms in the piled earth platforms depending on the type of soil treatment, pile spacing and height of earth platform.