• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.29 no.6C
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• pp.287-294
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• 2009

Suction Drain Method is a relatively new technique to improve soft ground using vacuum pressure which can be directly applied to the soft ground through drains that the pore water pressure around them are decreased without changing total stress. This can accelerate volume changes and increase strength of the ground. This paper shows the results of field test of the suction drain method applied at dredged and reclaimed clay. To evaluate the improvement effects of soft ground by the suction drain method, this paper analyzed real-time field measurements to the results of the laboratory tests and numerical analysis. The comparisons of the settlement and shear strength between suction drain method and surcharge preloading method show possibilities for replacement of the preloading methods. The settlements by suction drain method were 2.3 times larger and undrained shear strength were 300%~400% higher than surcharge method. Moreover, the water content is decreased about 30% and the preconsolidation pressure is increased about $0.52kgf/cm^2$.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.2C
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• pp.75-81
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• 2008

In this study, a series of laboratory column test on Suction Drain Method which is one of the way to make an soft ground improvement were conducted in order to investigate the effect of the Hardening Zones and the ratio of improvements depending on periods of the improvements and various applied suction pressures. On this occasion, the experimental conditions are followings; in the case of the periods of effectiveness, 4 days, 8 days, 12 days, 16 days, 20 days and in the case of the applied pressures of the Suction are -20 kPa, -40 kPa, -60 kPa and -80 kPa were carried out. As a result of test, settlement increased with suction pressure and duration increase, and gradually converged. Also, as comparing permeability decrease ratio with which calculated back from water content and numerically predicted using Hansbo's radial consolidation theory, measured value was almost coincide with predicted value when permeability decrease ratio was assumed as 2~3. Furthermore, the hardening zone was appeared within 7~8 cm of whole radial (25 cm).

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.6C
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• pp.321-329
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• 2008

In this study, a series of column test as a way in order to make up for the weakness point of the conventional acceleration method were conducted to both propose the suction board drain method and grapes the specific improvement character of this method as a result of a sort of plastic drain board and a phase of vacuum pressure conditions. On this occasion, the study focused on computing the effective factors of the fittest Suction board drain method affected by each condition through confirming the settlement generated during the test, the water content reduction and stress increase effect occurred arising from the test, and the ratio of consolidation related to the improvement period. In accordance with the shape of core and that whether the core is attached to the filter(pocket or adhesion), the castle type of adhesion and the column type of pocket are more efficient than the others as a consequence of the test to find out the improvement effect depending on each drainage such as a castle type, coil type, harmonica type, column type of pocket and a castle of the adhesion. In case of the step suction pressure, the shorter the period of $-0.8\;kg/cm^2$ as a final step of the suction pressure is, the better the improvement is. In addition, the correlation between degree of consolidation per each suction pressure level and duration of application was drawn as a curve and the point of inflection on this curve was provided to determine the duration period to maximize the consolidation.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2009.03a
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• pp.743-749
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• 2009

In this study, the field test for suction drain method which does not require a surcharge load and a sealing sheet was performed at west seashore's site constructed by the dredged and reclaimed clay. The improvements of soft ground by suction drain method was analyzed by the results of real-time field measurement, SPT(Standard Penetration Test) and laboratory tests. The results indicated that the soft ground improvement is effective the vertical drain method used with vacuum pressure rather than surcharge load with considering settlements, dissipation of pore water pressure and shear strength.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.15-27
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• 2013

A vacuum pressure method has been developed to solve many problems in the conventional surcharge method such as embankments, and its application has increased in the country. Recently, to control target settlements in the field, there have been many studies on the comparison of settlements between vacuum pressure method and surcharge load method in the same conditions. In this study, the settlement characteristics of soil subjected to vacuum pressure and surcharge pressure are discussed. The results indicate that if vacuum pressure is applied to the improvement of soft ground, there will be inward lateral displacement and the vacuum pressure will induce generally less settlement than a surcharge load of the same magnitude. The range of settlement reduction ratio is 0.54~0.67 based on Hooke's law, 0.91 based on field cases, 0.81 based on laboratory oedometer tests, 0.75 based on the theory of elasticity and coefficient of volumetric compressibility and 0.77~0.93 in its recent applications to the thick soft ground.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.28 no.11
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• pp.41-52
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• 2012

Suction drain method can directly apply vacuum pressure to the soft ground through vertical drains so it can make hardening zones around them. These hardening zones make steeply lower the discharge efficiency of the pore water with decreasing permeability. This paper considered a stepped vacuum pressure to minimize a hardening zone which is one of the important parameters that can decrease discharge efficiency. A series of laboratory tests were conducted in order to examine the effect of the hardening zones and to evaluate their effects to the ground improvements with varying durations which applied stepped vacuum pressures(-20kPa, -40kPa, -60kPa and -80kPa) with Busan marine clay. According to strength(CPT), water content test and theoretical investigation indicate a size of the hardening zone within 7cm and the decreasing ratio of permeability about 2.0~4.0. Also, the total settlements are larger for the stepped vacuum pressure than the instant vacuum loading. The application time with vacuum pressure is determined considering the geotechnical properties of the interested clays. Results of numerical analysis show that consolidation behavior is appropriate to measurement for considering hardening zones.