SURCHARGE

Many construction projects are located on weak compressible cohesive soils ( seaside, river banks, valleys.. ) .The
common characteristics of these soils ( natural alluvial soils as well as reclaimed areas ) is an excessive settlement
( consolidation ) when a load is applied and stability failure problem due to weak shear strength.
Because the strength of an alluvial soil increases and its compressibility decreases with the decrease of its water
content, one of the most successful and most widely applied method to consolidate cohesive soils is the preloading
technique by surcharge embankment (anticipation of the future settlements before construction by applying in
advance the equivalent load of the future structure).

Nevertheless, cohesive soils present a very poor permeability and it can take several years if not century for the
water trapped inside these soils to reach the surface. That is why preloading is therefore frequently used in
conjunction with the installation of Menard Vertical Drains on typical grip pattern of 0.8 x 0.8m to 2.0 x 2.0m which
considerably the drainage path (distance the water has to travel to reach the 0 pressure line) and the consolidation
time accordingly.
Menard Vertical drain is a tubular type drain (5 cm diameter) made of PVC or PP wrapped up by a special filter.
Unlike other type of drains (sand, packed, board, flat,...) which have a very limited discharge capacity (the quantity of
water the drain can evacuate per second), Menard Drains thanks to their large drainage section have no such

limitations (also called well-resistance).

As a result, Menard Drains are highly efficient at depth over 10m allowing a widening of the grids and thus reducing
dramatically the quantity of drains necessary to reach a given consolidation ratio within a given amount of time.

As a result, Menard Vertical drains are highly effective in great depth (over 15m) where well-resistance limits the
efficiency of paper drains and sand drains for example.

Menard Vertical Drains are prefabricated tubular PVC drains of 50 mm diameter.

Thanks to their large available drainage section, they are not subject to the so-called well-resistance at the contrary of
other types of drains existing on the market (paper, board, sand...).
As results, our drains prove economically attractive for depth over 10m as they allow widening the grid compared to
other methods. All our drains are 100% made in South Korea at our two plants. Menard Vertical Drains are patented
for South Korean market.

Menard Vertical Drains are installed in soft soil by a displacement method. A casing attached to a drain mast is driven
down to the required depth. At the extremity of the drain, a specially-designed shoe plays the role of anchor for the
drain while the casing is driven up.