Analytical solutions for consolidation of soft soil improved by air‐boosted vacuum preloading considering clogging effect

Abstract

Air‐boosted vacuum preloading is a newly emerging soft soil‐improving technology and increasingly draws attention of researchers and engineers. However, few analytical theories are available in the literature to facilitate the design and calculation of it in practice. To fill this gap, an analytical model for the consolidation of soft ground improved by air‐boosted vacuum preloading is proposed based on the assumption of equal volumetric strain and Darcy's law. Moreover, a time‐dependent clogging effect is taken into consideration to describe the gradual reduction in the drainage capacity of prefabricated vertical drains (PVDs) during the consolidation process. In addition, the smear effect is also considered due to the installation of PVDs. An air booster pipe and the surrounding PVDs are introduced into the unit cell for analysis based on the principle of equal cross‐sectional area, and analytical solutions under two typical time‐dependent horizontal loading are then developed. A comparison is made with the existing analytical model of conventional vacuum consolidation, which indicates that air‐boosted vacuum preloading can promote the consolidation of soft soil more effectively than conventional vacuum preloading. Furthermore, the obtained solution under instantaneously loading is used to investigate the influence of several parameters on consolidation behavior. Finally, to verify the accuracy of the analytical model with or without clogging effect, a comparative study is carried out with a field test.

The Application of Geographic Information System in Urban Forest Ecological Compensation and Sustainable Development Evaluation

“…On this basis, an ecosystem service function evaluation index system is established. In the calculation of ecological compensation standards, the calculation expression of the value of regulating water volume for water source conservation capacity is shown in Equation ( 7) [31].…”

Large‐strain consolidation of PVD‐improved soils considering depth‐dependent initial void ratio and initial effective stress due to soil self‐weight

“…With the advancements in geosynthetics and vacuum preloading technology, prefabricated vertical drains (PVD) have become increasingly prevalent in ground improvement projects owing to their low cost and excellent performance. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] Consolidation theory, which serves as the theoretical foundation for engineering designs, has long fascinated academics. Barron 11 first proposed the radial consolidation theory for soils improved with sand well, which did not account for well resistance and relied on several assumptions to arrive at an analytical solution.…”