Effect of non-uniform consolidation around a drain and quantitative method
Zhou Yang1 Wang Peng2 Xu Fang3
1. Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China; 2. Wenzhou University, Wengzhou 325035, China;
3. Central South University, Changsha 410075, China
Abstract：Non-uniform consolidation problems for soft clayey soils are not received enough attentions considering its ubiquity in engineering. The effect of non-uniform consolidation induced around a vertical drain may bring a “clogging” problem which highly affects the overall consolidation rate of the unit cell. In this paper, a radial consolidation within a unit cell (of a sand drain or prefabricated vertical drain) was investigated numerically. The characteristics of non-uniform consolidation within a unit cell was studied form the analysis of the results of variations of void ratios and permeability along with the radial distance. Furthermore, the average degree of consolidation from numerical and theoretical analysis were compared to research the influence of non-uniform consolidation to the consolidation rate which called effect of non-uniform consolidation. A concept of equivalent “smear” effect (Ke) was adopted as an indicator of the degree of effect of non-uniform consolidation. In addition, the relationship between Ke and compressibility, permeability and stress conditions were analyzed and a general simple quantitative method was proposed finally to evaluate the value of Ke using the basic soil properties and design parameters.
