Engineering Commons^™

Vacuum Consolidation Effects On Lateral Yield Of Soft Clays As Applied To Road And Railway Embankment, Buddhima Indraratna, Cholachat Rujikiatkamjorn, G. Mcintosh, A. Balasubramaniam

Buddhima Indraratna

The use of vertical drains with vacuum preloading is considered as the most effective and economical method for improving soft clays (normally consolidated to lightly over-consolidated) to eliminate settlements of the permanent infrastructure. Application of vacuum pressure via prefabricated vertical drains promotes radial flow consolidation enhancing the shear strength of the compressed ground. In this paper, the mechanisms of the vacuum preloading system based on current practices are described through the selection of the important design parameters. The equivalent plane strain solution for both Darcian and non-Dracian flow are presented to predict the excess pore pressures, lateral and vertical displacements. …