Advanced Soil Mechanics

Braja M Das
-e.g. Consolidation of a clay layer or silt under vertical drains and surcharge
One dimensional Consolidation and Spring Analogy
 ' = - u

Consider the dependency of Cv

01
u A5 SinBZ exp( B 2 Cv t )
Similar to bn for half range expansions
of odd functions (detail on next page)

Here, p=2H
Linear variation of ui (i) const. with
depth, 2-way drg., (ii) const. with
depth, 1-way drg. (iii) varying with
depth, 2-way drg.

Sinusoidal variation of ui
with depth, 2-way drg.

EOL 02
e0 Vv e0= Vv / Vs
if Vs=1, Vv = e0
1 Vs
End of Lecture 3 /
26.01.2016
By Vertical drains in general
Shown on the
following two pages
 Differential eqn. for 1-D consolidation is
u 2u
cv
t x 2

For 3-D flow it can be derived that

u 2u 2u 2u
c v 2 2 2
t x y z

If a three dimensional process is symmetrical about an axis, it is convenient to replace the

Cartesian co-ordinates by polar coordinates: r in the radial and z in the axial direction
y

For 3-D flow it can be derived that z

u 2u 2u 2u
c v 2 2 2
t x y z

We can transform from rectangular to polar as follows

0

0
Solution for free strain
consolidation with no smear
 Solution for
free strain
consolidation
with no smear

rw = radius of well
n = r e / rw
re = radius of influence zone
3500 psf
 Shown on next page

Considering Vertical drainage

 5

shown on next page

We can consider equal strain condition because of rigid base of the
silo. However notice that for higher degree of consolidation the time
factor will be same for equal and free strain.
Fig. 6 Estimated consolidation settlement at selected borehole locations after elapse of
different time period (due to construction of pavement on untreated ground and
stacking of containers).

Fig. 7 Estimated average degree of consolidation at selected borehole locations after

elapse of different time period (due to construction of pavement on untreated
ground and stacking of containers).
Fig. 8 Time required for occurrence of target settlement at selected borehole locations
under various surcharge level. The target settlement is 25 mm less than the total
consolidation settlement at the point in consideration under working load of 52
kN/m2.

60
With PVD
Width 90mm
50
Time for desired settlement, days

Thickness 3mm
Spacing - 1m c/c
40
BH17
BH12
30
BH26
BH48
20 BH30
BH31

10

0
4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
Height of soil as preload, m

Fig. 10 Required duration of surcharge application for PVD drains at 1 m spacing. The
target settlement is 25 mm less than the total consolidation settlement at the
point in consideration under working load of 52 kN/m2.
Fig. 9 Required duration of surcharge application for 150 mm sand drains at 1 m
spacing. The target settlement is 25 mm less than the total consolidation
settlement at the point in consideration under working load of 52 kN/m2.
For designing ground improvement with wick drains/ PVD used
for sand drains, we can use the same equations and graphs that
we used for sand drains.

The equivalent diameter dw of a PVD/wick drain /band-shaped

drain can be taken as

2 a b
dw

u u t
.
t t t
u 1
.
t t R

u.u R . 1
t tR
u R u
.
t R t
h x, z)