• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.447-462
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• 2019

The vacuum preloading method has been used in many countries for ground improvement and land reclamation works. A sand cushion is required as a horizontal drainage channel for conventional vacuum preloading. In terms of the dredged-fill foundation soil, the treatment effect of the conventional vacuum preloading method is poor, particularly in Tianjin, China, where a shortage of sand exists. To solve this problem, straight-line vacuum preloading without sand is widely adopted in engineering practice to improve the foundation soil. Based on the engineering properties of dredged fill in Lingang City, Tianjin, this paper presents field instrumentation in five sections and analyzes the effect of a prefabricated vertical drain (PVD) layout and a vacuum pumping method on the soft soil ground treatment. Through the arrangement of pore water pressure gauges, settlement marks and vane shear tests, the settlement, pore water pressure and subsoil bearing capacity are analyzed to evaluate the effect of the ground treatment. This study demonstrates that straight-line vacuum preloading without sand can be suitable for areas with a high water content. Furthermore, the consolidation settlement and consolidation degree system is developed based on the grey model to predict the consolidation settlement and consolidation degree under vacuum preloading; the validity of the system is also verified.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.239-249
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• 2018

Typically, soft clay improvement is carried out using installation of PVD and surcharge method. According to circumstances, installed PVD has left for a long time due to the change in construction schedule. Therefore, for simulation of this kind of condition, discharge capacity tests were carried out under a series of temperature condition (30, 35, $40^{\circ}C$). The results indicated that under water confinement, the discharge capacities significantly reduced with elapsed time. And, the empirical equation by Miura and Chai (2000) was used for estimating the long-term in-clay discharge capacity. Based on the test results, it is recommended that in term of long-term discharge capacity, Miura and Chai's equation and reliability evaluation using discharge capacity tests under a series of temperature condition may be used.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.23-32
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• 2015

This paper describes a flow experiment and characteristics of heavy metals based on microfluidics, in order to improve the prefabricated vertical drain system that is possible pollutants removal and soil improvement in soft ground polluted with various pollutants, simultaneously. The result showed that the surface with hydrophobic condition affected large effect on flow velocity pollutants, and pH condition was also influence factor for change of flow velocity. Especially, the flow velocity of lead has risen slightly, when pH was close to basicity in complex heavy metal. This means that lead pollutant can reduce a hydrophobic characteristic in comparison with a copper pollutant.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.26 no.9
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• pp.15-24
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• 2010

Because the thickness and depth of consolidation layer vary at every location, the consolidation settlement and time have to be evaluated spatially. Also, for a rational evaluation of the uncertainty of the spatial distribution of consolidation settlement and time, it is necessary to adopt a probabilistic method. In this study, mean and standard deviation of consolidation settlement and time of whole analysis region are evaluated by using the spatial distribution of consolidation layer which is estimated from ordinary kriging and statistics of soil properties. Using these results and probabilistic method, the area that needs adopting the prefabricated vertical drain as well as raising the ground level for balancing the final design ground level is determined. It is observed that such areas are influenced by the variability of soil properties. The design procedure and method presented in this paper can be used in the decision making process for a geotechnical engineering design.