Reinforcement mechanisms of cemented clay and its application for enhancing monopile lateral bearing capacity

Cemented soil reinforcement has been widely utilized as a foundation improvement method to increase the lateral load-bearing performance of monopiles. This study systematically investigates the mechanical properties of reinforced clay and its enhancement mechanism on the lateral bearing capacity of monopiles through geotechnical tests, laboratory model tests, and finite element analysis. The results demonstrate that increasing the cement content significantly improves the shear and compressive strengths of reinforced clay while transforming its failure mode from plastic to brittle. The reinforced clay substantially enhances the ultimate lateral bearing capacity of monopiles, with the reinforcement width exhibiting a more pronounced effect than the reinforcement depth. When the strength of the reinforced clay exceeds 1.0 MPa, the improvement in bearing capacity plateaus. Additionally, the bearing capacity shows a linear correlation with the reinforcement width, whereas the influence of the reinforcement depth diminishes beyond three times the pile diameter. A comparative analysis of two reinforcement methods (mechanical mixing and prefabricated models) reveals similar improvements in bearing capacity. Finite element analysis validates the experimental results, demonstrating that shallow reinforcement optimizes stress distribution and significantly reduces the maximum bending moment of the pile by enhancing the pile-soil interaction.