Vibro stone column ground improvement practice in the United Kingdom

Abstract

Vibro stone column (VSC) techniques have been applied in the United Kingdom (UK) since the late 1950s–early 1960s, where they are one of the most commonly adopted ground improvement techniques. While there have been significant advances in VSC equipment development and also in the monitoring of the installation process for the VSC technique over the past 50 years, the design of VSCs remains largely empirical and has changed very little since the 1970s. Publication of well-documented case histories and of instrumented field trials has also been limited over the past 25 years in the UK, in a VSC ground improvement market which is predominantly commerce driven, based on the cheapest price. This has inherent implications for further advancement of design and innovation through funded full-scale field-based research. Current state-of-the-art of VSCs in UK ground improvement is reviewed in the above context, together with comments on future challenges.