Modeling Electroosmosis and Surcharge Preloading Consolidation. II: Validation and Simulation Results
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 142, Issue 4
Abstract
The results of numerical simulations for electroosmosis–surcharge preloading consolidation, obtained using the EC2 model, are presented. EC2 accounts for hydraulic and electroosmotic flows under the conditions of changing physical and geoelectrical properties of saturated compressible porous media. Verification checks for EC2 show excellent agreement of the pore pressure and degree of consolidation with analytical solutions for one- and two-dimensional small-strain consolidation. Similarly, excellent agreement is attained for two-dimensional large-strain consolidation occurring to a kaolinite layer subjected to an experimental test. The EC2 model is then used to investigate consolidation optimization for soil layers in three example problems. The electroosmosis–surcharge preloading combined method outperformed single-process methods, particularly where hydraulic conductivity is on an order of magnitude of or lower. Applying voltage in steps optimizes electric power usage, as does cutting off the power supply when the degree of consolidation reaches approximately 80%.
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Acknowledgments
The writers commenced the study in Hohai University and continued and completed it after the first writer had moved to the University of Adelaide. The writers appreciate the technical support provided at Hohai University. The methodology and computer code in this study were developed from the insights gained from Fox and Berles (1997) and Fox et al. (2003), which are much appreciated. The writers are also grateful to the anonymous reviewers for their comments, which helped to improve the paper.
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Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 142 • Issue 4 • April 2016
Copyright
© 2015 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jul 16, 2014
Accepted: Aug 12, 2015
Published online: Dec 11, 2015
Published in print: Apr 1, 2016
Discussion open until: May 11, 2016
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