Numerical analysis of a floating stone column foundation using different constitutive models

This paper shows the results of a back analysis of a well instrumented field trial evaluating the performance of a floating stone column foundation for an embankment. The field test was carried out during the construction of a new football stadium in Klagenfurt, Austria. Different measuring devices such as exten- someters, piezometers, horizontal inclinometers and settlement gauges have been installed and readings were taken over a period of approximately 14 months. Thus the development of pore water pressures and settlements at different depths are available for various construction stages, including installation of columns, construction of the embankment and following consolidation. These provide the basis for back calculations presented in this paper. Advanced elastoplastic constitutive soil models have been used, some of them accounting for anisotropy or small strain stiffness effects. Reasonable agreement with in situ measurements could be achieved in general and it turned out that the anisotropic model gave the best fit to measurements.