Prediction of the Bearing Capacity of Composite Grounds Made of Geogrid-Reinforced Sand over Encased Stone Columns Floating in Soft Soil Using a White-Box Machine Learning Model  
[PERSON]  
1 Department of Civil Engineering, Najaf Technical Institute, Al-Furat Al-Awsat Technical University, Najaf 54003, Iraq; [EMAIL_ADDRESS]  
[PERSON]  
2 Department of Quality Assurance and University Performance, Al-Furat Al-Awsat Technical University, Najaf 54003, Iraq; [EMAIL_ADDRESS]  
[PERSON]  
3 Department of Environmental Science, College of Energy and Environmental Science, Alkarkh University of Science, Baghdad 10081, Iraq; [EMAIL_ADDRESS]  
[PERSON]  
4 Department of Civil Engineering, Mazaya University College, Nasiriya City 64001, Iraq; [EMAIL_ADDRESS]  
[PERSON]  
5 Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture, University of Beira Interior, 6201-001 Covilla, Portugal  
Haq; [EMAIL_ADDRESS]  
[PERSON]  
6 Building and Construction Techniques Engineering Department, Al-Mustaqbal University College, Hillah 51001, Iraq; [EMAIL_ADDRESS]  
[PERSON]  
6 Building and Construction Techniques Engineering Department, Al-Mustaqbal University College, Hillah 51001, Iraq; zainabal-khafaj@uomus. to using conventional (non-encased) stone columns, affects the distribution of the lateral stress by enhancing the strain-stress behavior. This construction technique also allows for a decrease in the maximum settlement under high loading conditions because the strain-stress behavior is improved. As a result, geotextile-encased stone columns, also known as GESC for short, constitute a method for ground enhancement that can be utilized for extremely soft soils. Recently, several experimental and numerical studies focused on the performance of GESC were performed. [PERSON] and collaborators [9; 13; 14; 15] assessed the performance of soft soil after it was reinforced with GESC and with original stone columns (OSC). They used different inter-column distances, length/diameter ratios, soil shear strengths, and area substitution ratios to explore the effect of these parameters on the improvement of the bearing capacity and on the reduction of the settlement. [PERSON] et al. [16] conducted an experimental research on the behavior of GESC to reinforce soft clay and concluded that the final bearing capacity of GESC is 1.6 times higher than that of OSC. [PERSON] and [PERSON] performed small-scale tests to assess the enhancement of clay beds stabilized with GESC [17]. The results showed that the beds reinforced with GESC presented an ultimate bearing capacity that was three times higher when compared to the unreinforced bed. In addition, [PERSON] et al. [7] observed that the GESC substantially increased the final loading capacity of the soft soil and that the effective length of the encasement was 3 to 4 times higher than the diameter of the stone columns. [PERSON] and [PERSON] [18] performed compression tests with restricted strains on GESC. The findings indicated that composite clays with GESC in end-bearing type and floating type allowed for a significant increase in the load-carrying capacity in comparison with clay, by 2.44 and 2.01 times, respectively. [PERSON] and [PERSON] [19] conducted an experimental study to investigate the behavior of ordinary stone columns (OSC) and GESC to strengthen sand slopes. The observed results showed that placing GESC in the middle of a slope tends to increase the bearing capacity of the sloped crown by 2.17 times more than placing OSC in the same location. The findings of [PERSON] and [PERSON] [20] and [PERSON] and [PERSON] [21] were based on experiments that looked into the load-bearing capacity and settlement of GESC in soft and collapsible soils, respectively. These experiments showed that the encasement provided extra confinement, which resulted not only in an increased maximum carrying capacity of the stone column but also in a decrease in soft ground settlement when compared to traditional stone columns. [PERSON] et al.