Laboratory and Finite-Element Investigation of Soil Disturbance Associated with the Installation of Mandrel-Driven Prefabricated Vertical Drains
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 138, Issue 3
Abstract
A series of large-scale laboratory experiments, along with numerical analyses, using the commercial finite-element software package, ABAQUS, were performed to investigate the installation of mandrel-driven prefabricated vertical drains (PVDs). The laboratory tests were conducted using a specially designed large-scale consolidometer and a novel mandrel-driving machine capable of working at installation rates in the range of usual practices. The finite-element simulations include coupled analyses with a large-strain formulation. Coulomb’s law of friction and the penalty method are incorporated into the numerical models. The variations of pore water pressure at different locations during installation of a PVD and withdrawal of the mandrel are presented. Good agreement is found between pore pressures measured in the laboratory and predicted numerically. Moreover, finite-element analyses reveal that when a mandrel is pushed into the soil deposit, the soil surrounding the mandrel moves radially and downwards. Laboratory tests for moisture content and the numerically predicted variations of plastic shear strain, normalized with the rigidity index of the soil, show that for a given type of soft soil subjected to a particular rate of mandrel installation, the size of the smear zone decreases as the in situ effective stresses increase. The finite-element model has been applied to a case history from the Second Bangkok International Airport in Thailand and proves that the model can be applied to field conditions.
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Acknowledgments
The authors express their profound gratitude to Mr. Alan Grant, senior technical officer at the Univ. of Wollongong for his invaluable help during the experimental phase of this research. Sincere appreciation is also extended to Mrs. Mahgol Shekalzahi for her thoughtful suggestions and precious help with the technical drawings used in the manufacturing process. They are partially presented in this paper.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 138 • Issue 3 • March 2012
Pages: 295 - 308
Copyright
© 2012 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Aug 29, 2010
Accepted: Jun 21, 2011
Published online: Jun 23, 2011
Published in print: Mar 1, 2012
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