An Analytical Study on the Determination of the Lowest Improvement Depth of Deep Mixing Method

Design techniques for the deep mixing method, one of the soft ground improvement methods, include two ways to interpret the ground as composite ground and pile ground. However, since comparative studies on these two approaches are insufficient, it is difficult to clearly define the analysis criteria in the design. In this study, two-dimensional and three-dimensional analyses have been performed with different conditions. The three conditions, the embankment height, depth of soft ground, and replacement ratio of reinforcement zones were varied and the analysis was performed on the basis of the assumption of composite ground and pile ground for each condition. As a result, the minimum depth of improvement in the twodimensional analysis was deeper by 6.85∼9.08% than in the three-dimensional analysis. The pile ground analysis showed that the depth of improvement was deeper by 12.22∼ 14.45% than the composite ground analysis. Based on these results, it is concluded that for more accurate design, three-dimensional analysis should be performed rather than two-dimensional analysis. also, it is judged that necessary to analyze the ground as composite ground for economical design, and as the pile ground analysis for stable design.