The International Conference on Advances in Geotechnical Engineering (ICAGE 2011), 7th - 9th November, 2011, Perth, Australia

Numerical Back Analysis of Smear Zone Properties for Vertical Drain Assisted Preloading in Soft Soils
Ali Parsa-Pajouh1, Behzad Fatahi2, Hadi Khabbaz3 PhD Candidate, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering (BEng, MEng), University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Sydney; +612 95147961;aparsapa@eng.uts.edu.au 2 Lecturer of Geotechnical Engineering (PhD, CPEng), School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Sydney; +612 9514 7883; behzad.fatahi@uts.edu.au 3 Associate Professor of Geotechnical Engineering (PhD, MEng), School of Civil and Environmental Engineering,University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Sydney; +612 9514 9942; hadi.khabbaz@uts.edu.au
1

Synopsis: Installation of prefabricated vertical drains (PVDs) using a mandrel causes disturbance of the clay surrounding the drain, resulting in a smear zone of reduced permeability, which adversely affects consolidation process. There are two important parameters to characterize the smear effects, namely, the smear zone diameter and the permeability ratio. In this study, FLAC finites difference software has been employed to investigate the effects of smear zone characteristics on required time for preloading. The results of a fully instrumented trial embankment in Sunshine Motorway, Queensland, have been used to verify the model, and parametric studies have been conducted on the predicted ground settlement and pore water pressure. According to the results, changes in smear zone parameters can significantly affect the consolidation period. It is observed that the characteristics of smear zone namely size and permeability have a substantial impact on the preloading design to achieve a certain soil strength and stiffness satisfying both bearing capacity and settlement design criteria. Keywords: soft soil, prefabricated vertical drains, smear zone, numerical modelling, FLAC.

1.

Introduction

According to forecasts, the population of Australia would boom from 22 million to 35 million by 2050. Consequently, there is a serious need to expand and build new infrastructures such as highways and railways. In Australia, the major cities are located on coastline, which consists of deep soft clay deposits. Finding efficient ground improvement techniques, considering the project time limitation and the construction cost has been a concern for construction companies for decades. One of the most efficient methods to improve the soft clay strength and stiffness is employing the prefabricated vertical drain (PVDs) assisted preloading, which is cost effective and more environmental friendly in comparison with the other ground improvement techniques. PVDs should be installed in the soft soil using a mandrel. Insertion of the mandrel causes significant soil disturbance around the drain, resulting in a smear zone with reduced permeability. The characteristics of this disturbed region are key factors in preloading design. Current literature proposed a wide range for the diameter of smear zone (rm to 6rm) and its permeability (0.8kh to 0.1kh). Applying inaccurate smear zone properties can result in underestimation of the required preloading time and consequently shear strength gain during the consolidation process. This underestimation of shear strength will increase the risk of embankment failure specifically in road and railway projects. Therefore, it is essential to elucidate the influence of uncertainties in the smear zone characteristics on the design of preloading consolidation incorporating vertical drains. In this paper, FLAC code (2D version 6.0) has been applied to model the preloading process focusing on the smearing effect. A fully instrumented embankment has been simulated to conduct the verification process and parametric studies.

2.

Analysis Background

Despite of performing a number of numerical analyses in the last decade to simulate the vertical drain assisted preloading considering the smear effect, still more research is required to investigate the smearing effect. Bergado et al. [1] developed a finite element based computer program for the preloading with vertical drain analysis (VERDRN ) written in FORTRAN 77, incorporating a finite-element approach. They reported that the predicted settlements agreed with the field performance of vertical drains when

The International Conference on Advances in Geotechnical Engineering (ICAGE 2011), 7th - 9th November, 2011, Perth, Australia

kh/ks=10 and ds=2dm. Plane strain, multi-drain model using the finite element code CRISP92 was employed by Indraratna and Redana [2] applying Cam-Clay model, which did not recommend specific properties for smear zone. Hawlader and Muhunthan[3] developed a numerical solution implementing a constitutive model that accounted explicitly for the influence of clay structure viscosity and drainage length on the consolidation of clays and concluded that the overall progress of consolidation is mainly controlled by the inner smear zone surrounding the drains and the outer smear region has little influence. A three-dimensional numerical model based on the finite element method has been developed by Borges [4]to analyse the structural behaviour of an embankment on soft soils incorporating vertical drains ignoring the smear effect. The Biots consolidation theory was incorporated and constitutive relations were simulated by the pqh critical state model. Rujikiatkamjorn et al. [5] applied a 2D multi-drain finite element analysis (ABAQUS) based on the equivalent plane strain theory to evaluate the consolidation of soil under combined vacuum and surcharge (fill) loading considering smearing effect. The finite-element code PLAXIS was employed by Sathananthan et al. [6] to study the performance of a test embankment selected from the Sunshine Motorway, Queensland, Australia. According to this investigation the extent of smear zone can be varied from about 2.0 to 4.0 times the equivalent mandrel diameter by considering a parabolic curve for the variation of smear zone permeability with radial distance. A new elasticvisco-plastic (EVP) soil model has been implemented by Kelln et al. [7] to simulate the measured deformation response of a soft estuarine soil loaded by a stage-constructed embankment incorporating the vertical drain considering rs=4rw and ks=0.57kh. To conduct the finite element analyses the coupled stressstrain and pore-water pressure finite element program SIGMA/W has been applied. Yildiz and Karstunen [8] investigated the 3D behaviour of a single drain and its influence zone (a unit cell) under the centreline of the embankment by 3-D finite element code PLAXIS 3D Foundation V2 incorporating three different constitutive models. A finite element program coupled with Biot consolidation theory (ABAQUS) has been used by Saowapakpiboon et al. [9] to simulate the PVD improved reconstituted specimens with and without vacuum, which reported kh/ks values of 3.0 and 2.7, respectively. As a result, the literature review indicates that there is no unified analysis method for the PVD assisted preloading incorporating accurate smear zone properties.

3.

Numerical Model

In this study FLAC 2D v6.0 has been employed to conduct the numerical analysis of embankment behaviour on the improved ground. FLAC 2D is a two-dimensional explicit finite difference program simulating the behaviour of structures built on soil, rock or other materials that may undergo plastic flow when their yield limits are reached. Materials are represented by elements, or zones, which form a grid that is adjusted by the user to fit the shape of the object to be modeled. The explicit, Lagrangian calculation scheme and the mixed-discretization zoning technique used in FLAC ensure that plastic collapse and flow are modeled very accurately. FLAC also contains the powerful built-in programming language FISH (short for FLACish), which gives this ability to user to write specific functions for more complex models, and even implement a new constitutive model when required. FISH offers a unique capability to FLAC users who wish to tailor analyses to suit specific needs. In this research a full detailed ground profile improved by prefabricated vertical drains with an embankment is modeled considering the smear zone. For this purpose, a two-dimensional plane strain model has been employed. To reduce the time of solving process, half of the embankment was simulated. To model the prefabricated vertical drain, a zero excess pore pressure condition has been applied along the PVD line. The smear zone was simulated applying undisturbed soil mechanical properties (modified Cam-Clay) but with a reduced coefficient of permeability. The ratio between horizontal and vertical coefficient of permeability in the smear zone is assumed to be 1. The programming language FISH is applied to develop the code in a way to have following capabilities; (i) the advantage of entering embankment, drains and subsoil profile specifications as input data; (ii) automatic mesh generation and solving process based on the input data; (iii) the possibility to refine the mesh by to get to the optimum state in terms of accuracy and efficiency; and (iv) the option to enter the coordinates of desired points to generate and plot any future history graph. These factors converted the code to an ideal one for parametric study and sensitive analysis purposes. Figure.1 shows a sample of generated meshes for an embankment applying the developed code.

The International Conference on Advances in Geotechnical Engineering (ICAGE 2011), 7th - 9th November, 2011, Perth, Australia

l1
l2

l3
Layer 1 Layer 2

hd
Layer 3

ht

Smear zone

Vertical drain

Layer 4

sd

rs

li

(a)

(b)

Figure 1. (a) A sample of generated finite-element mesh employing the developed code; (b) The pattern of meshes in the smear zone and undisturbed region (rs= smear zone extent; Ii= intact zone extent; ht= height of soil profile; and hd= length of the vertical drain).

4.

Case Study

To verify the developed model, a fully instrumented trial embankment, which was constructed in 1992 and monitored by the Queensland Department of Main Roads (QDMR)[10], has been simulated. The embankment was located at the Sunshine Motorway route. According to the site investigations, the subsoil consists of highly compressible, saturated marine clays of high sensitivity. A working platform of 0.65 thick was placed on top for construction traffic access. PVDs were installed to a depth of 11m. The details of embankment and the subsoil profile are illustrated in Figure 2. For verification purpose, the section with the drain spacing of 2 m is selected. The specifications of prefabricated vertical drains are tabulated in Table 2.
CL
0.85 m 0.85 m 0.5 m 0.65 m P1 P2

8.5 m gt=19 kN/m 3 Vertical Drain 5m 5m

Layer 1 2.5 m Working Platform

11 m
2m

Layer 2 2.5 m

Layer 3 Layer 4

6m

Dense Sand

Figure 2. Cross section of trial embankment (including the selected instrumentation) and the subsoil profile Table 2.Specifications of applied prefabricated vertical drains
PVD Type NylexFlodrain Size 10 4 mm Drain spacing 2m PVD length 11 m Mandrel Radius 0.0315 m 2

The International Conference on Advances in Geotechnical Engineering (ICAGE 2011), 7th - 9th November, 2011, Perth, Australia

To conduct the numerical analysis the modified Cam-Clay model has been applied using the reported soil parameters by QDMR [11] and Sathananthan et al.[6]. The soil beneath the surface and crust considered as lightly and normally consolidated, respectively, assuming the over consolidation ratio as of 1.6. Based on the oedometer test results on vertical and horizontal samples, the horizontal permeability (k h) is approximately 2 times the vertical permeability (k v) for all soil layers. In this paper, for numerical simulation, two-dimensional plane strain model has been used. Therefore, to achieve to the realistic results, the equivalent plane strain permeability in the intact zone (k hp) was estimated using the proposed equation by Indraratna and Redana [2]. The applied properties of the subsoil layers are given in Tables 3 and 4. Table 3. Applied Properties for Modified Cam-Clay (after Sathananthan et al. [6])
Layer 1 2 3 Soil type Silty clay Soft Silty clay Silty clay M 1.20 1.20 1.18 0.494 2.016 0.532 0.0494 0.2016 0.0532 0.3 0.3 0.3 e0 1.6 2.2 1.8 s 16.4 13.7 15.9 OCR 1.6 1.6 1.6 khp 9.72 0.34 0.42 kh/ kv 2 2 2

Table 4. Applied Properties for Sand Layer (after Sathananthan et al. [6])
Layer 4 Soil type Dense Sand (kPa) 13.5 (deg) 35 (MPa) 7.5 0.3

5.

Results and Discussion

For model verification, the construction history of trial embankment, which is shown in Figure 3 was used and the time-settlement graph was plotted for point P1 over the construction time. Point P1 is located on the embankment centerline at the embankment and subsoil interface line which is illustrated in Figure 2.
3

Embankment Height (m)

2.5 2 1.5

1 0.5 0 0 10 20 30 40 Time (days) 50 60 70

Figure 3. Construction history of the embankment Results of numerical simulation using FLAC are compared with the field data and the performed numerical analysis (PLAXIS) by Sathananthan et al. [6] as reported in Figure 4. It can be observed that the FLAC settlement curve considering rs/rm=2 & kh/ks=2 is in a good agreement with the field records. In some points, FLAC results are closer to the field data in comparison with reported FEM results.

The International Conference on Advances in Geotechnical Engineering (ICAGE 2011), 7th - 9th November, 2011, Perth, Australia

100

Settlement (mm)

200
rs/rm=2

300

400

Field Data FEM-PLAXIS [6] FEM-FLAC (Kh/Ks=2) FEM-FLAC (Kh/Ks=3) FEM-FLAC (Kh/Ks=4) FEM-FLAC (Kh/Ks=5)

500

600 0 10 20 30 Time (Day) 40 50 60

Figure4.Settlement at point P1 Furthermore, a parametric study has been conducted varying the permeability ratio (kh/ks) from 2 to 5 considering a constant value of 2 for rs/rm to investigate the importance of smear zones permeability on consolidation time. It is observed that by increasing the smear zone permeability ratio from 2 to 5, the predicted settlement after 60 days is decreased by approximately 30%. It can be predicted that there would be a significant difference for the required time to achieve 90% of consolidation. However, in this study kh/ksis assumed as 2, but it can be observed that numerical analysis does not match with the field data at this ratio for lower height of the embankment and the first 45 days of preloading process. According to Figure 4,smear zone permeability ratio is not a key factor in the first stage of embankment construction which lasted 30 days. By increasing the height of the embankment from 1.15 to 2.85, the variations in permeability ratio (kh/ks) play a more significant role on settlement curve. As it can be observed, the settlement results considering kh/ks=4 are closer to the field data from day 30 to 38. The settlement curve based on kh/ks=3 shows better matching results from day 38 to 45 and for the last 15 days, the permeability ratio of 2 achieves to the best results. As the conclusion, it can be estimated that the smear zone permeability ratio is not a constant number during the consolidation process and more investigations should be conducted to find out the smear zone characteristics to have the optimum preloading design for soft soil improvement purposes.

6.

Conclusions

In this study, a two-dimensional plane strain model has been developed applying FLAC 2D code to investigate the smearing effect in vertical drains assisted preloading in soft soils. The FISH subroutine employed to have an appropriate code to conduct the parametric study. A real trial embankment has been selected to verify the developed numerical analysis. The extracted settlement-time graph demonstrated that the numerical results are in a good agreement with the field data. To illustrate the effect of smear zone permeability on settlement-time graph, the permeability ratio (k h/ks) has been changed between 2 and 5. The back calculated smear zone permeability ratio to match the settlement within 45 days and 60 days are 2 and 3, respectively. Therefore, it recommended to practicing engineers to back calculate the smear zone properties through a field trial, as the assumptive parameters may result in unrealistic predictions.

7.

Acknowledgement

This research has been conducted under the auspices of the Australian Research Council (ARC) and Menard-Bachy Pty Ltd. Authors acknowledge and appreciate their financial support.

The International Conference on Advances in Geotechnical Engineering (ICAGE 2011), 7th - 9th November, 2011, Perth, Australia

8.

References

1. Bergadoa, D.T., K. Mukherjeea, M.C. Alfaroa, and A.S. Balasubramaniam, Prediction of vertical-banddrain performance by the finite-element method., Geotextiles and Geomembranes, 12(6),1993,pp. 567-586. 2. Indraratna, B. and I.W. Redana, Numerical modeling of vertical drains with smear and well resistance installed in soft clay., Can. Geotech. J., 37(1),2000, pp. 132-145. 3. Hawlader, B.C. and B. Muhunthan, Numerical study of the factors affecting the consolidation of clay with vertical drains., Geotextiles and Geomembranes, 20(4), 2002, pp. 213-239. 4. Borges, J.L., Three-dimensional analysis of embankments on soft soils incorporating vertical drains by finite element method., Computers and Geotechnics, 31(8), 2004, pp. 665-676. 5. Rujikiatkamjorn, C., B. Indraratna, and C. Jian, Numerical modelling of soft soil stabilized by vertical drains, combining surcharge and vacuum preloading for a storage yard., Canadian Geotechnical Journal, 44, 2007, pp. 326-342. 6. Sathananthan, I., B. Indraratna, and C. Rujikiatkamjorn, Evaluation of Smear Zone Extent Surrounding Mandrel Driven Vertical Drains Using the Cavity Expansion Theory., International Journal of Geomechanics, 8(6), 2008, pp. 355-365. 7. Kelln, C., J. Sharma, D.J. Hughes, and Graham, Finite element analysis of an embankment on a soft estuarine deposit using an elastic-viscoplastic soil model., Canadian Geotechnical Journal, 46(3), 2009, pp. 357-368. 8. Yildiz, A. and M. Karstunen, Three-dimensional analyses of PVD-improved soft soils, in Geotechnics of Soft Soils - Focus on Ground Improvement., K. Leoni, Editor. Taylor & Francis Group, London, 2009, pp. 197-203. 9. Saowapakpiboon, J., D.T. Bergado, P. Voottipruex, L.G. Lam, and K. Nakakuma, PVD improvement combined with surcharge and vacuum preloading including simulations. , Geotextiles and Geomembranes, 29(1), 2011, pp. 74-82. 10.Queensland Department of Main Roads,Sunshine Motorway stage 2-Interim report on the performance of the trial embankment area 2A (Ch 28490-28640)., Materials and Geotechnical Services Branch,1992, R1802. 11.Queensland Department of Main Roads, Sunshine Motorway stage 2-Area 2 geotechnical investigation., Materials and Geotechnical Services Branch, 1991, R1765.