prefabricated vertical drain

Design Spreadsheet

Users Guide
(2011)
1. Introduction

pvdDS is a exclusive design tool which helps the Engineer in the design of prefabricated vertical
drains. The wild range of choices what pvdDS offer helps to investigate several scenarios where
from the optimal solution could be chosen by the User. The core of the program is based on the
equations derived by Hansbo (1981), Terzaghi (1942), Olson (1977), Carillio (1943) and
Onoue(1988).

2. Basic system requirements

pvdDS is a Microsoft Excel marco enabled spreadsheet which can be used with these versions:

2003 Office Excel 2003 (version 11)

2007 Office Excel 2007 (version 12)
2010 Excel 2010 (version 14)

Please contact with the developer of the program if pvsDS is used in a different operation system.

3. Getting started

pvdDS does not require any kind of installation. Once the program has been downloaded and
opened with Microsoft Excel it is ready to be used.

Important: the User must enable the Marcos, otherwise the program would not run properly!
4. The interface

As pvdDS is a locked spreadsheet the User could only enter values in the sheet called Interface
and only in white cells, which ensures that the program code stays unchanged until the use of the
spreadsheet. The interface was design to be as user friendly as possible. The introduction of the
panels and buttons in the interface are described below.
4.1. Input panels

Soil parameter input panel

The User can enter the different soil parameters from up to five boreholes into this panel, more
specifically the thickness of the layer, the horizontal permeability of the soil (kc) and the
compressibility modulus of the soil (M). To avoid getting inappropriate results at the end of
the calculation be aware of the units and enter all of the values in the unit shown next to the
cell! If the User does not have five samples leave the cells blank as the program ignores empty
cells.

When the Multi Layered button is not active only the row corresponding to the top layer is visible.
Ticking the Multi Layered option button makes the rest of the cells visible and allows the User to
accommodate the program for multi layered systems.

Layout panel
The layout panel provides the
opportunity to choose from the two
arrangement used in practice aid by
visual representation. The distance
between the drains and the area of the
site can be entered in this panel
numerically and the drainage
conditions can be concretised in here
as well.
PVD panel
The User could choose the appropriate prefabricated vertical drain from the list provided which
contains the products of Colbondrain, Mebradrain and Techdrain. If another type of pvd is to be
used the properties of the drain could be entered into the cells on the right by choosing USER
DEFINE from the list.

Cost panel
The values required for the approximate cost calculation could be added in here such as material
cost, installation cost, equipment mobilisation cost. When vacuum preloading is to be used until
the construction a unit cost of the operation should be enrolled otherwise that cell could be left
blank. The units are in British Pound but the program is suitable to deal with other currencies.

4.2. Design control panels

Optim and Risk panel

The optimisation of the horizontal permeability could be done by using this panel. The User could
pick from four choices;

Minimum: the smallest kc value is used out of

the five samples in each layer

Average: the average of the kc values is used

during the calculation

Normal Distribution: the risk on kc values is

to be picked when kc gathered from boreholes
are assumed to follow normal distribution

Beta Distribution: the risk on kc values is to

be picked when kc gathered from boreholes are
assumed to follow beta distribution

Effect panel
This panel provides the User to specify the values corresponding to the effect of smear such as the
zone of smear, and the reduction factor in the permeability of the soil in the smear zone. The
duration of the construction and the ratio between the horizontal and vertical permeability of the
soil should be entered into the related cells.
Calculate panel
Ticking out Smear or Well Resistance ignores the effect of smear or well resistance on the
consolidation process. Clicking on Calculate starts the computation and the results will be
displayed in seconds.

4.3. Display panels

Display
The consolidation curve corresponding to the input values is displayed on in this window. On the
horizontal axis time is shown in a logarithmic scale while on the vertical axis the average degree of
consolidation is labelled.

Output panels
The results of the calculations are displayed in two parts. Analytical results about the dewatering
process where a set of time data corresponding to a certain degree of consolidation are displayed in
the panel called CONSOLIDATION. COST SUMMARY outlines the rough cost expectancy of the
construction. When the site requires continuous maintenance such as vacuum preloading the
overall cost could be monitored at different stages of the consolidation process by picking a
percentage with the scroll button. When the cell corresponding to operation cost in the Cost panel
is left blank the scroll button is not in operation.

5. Change the view

The view of the window in Excel could be changed in the menu or with Ctrl+SCROLL UP/
SCROLL DOWN with the mouse.

Close view Overview view

6. Save and Print
The results calculated by pvdDS could be saved for further investigation. It could be done by
saving the spreadsheet by choosing File>>Save As. The consolidation curve could be printed
together with the values displayed on the interface by clicking on the print icon.

7. Possible errors, warnings

During the use of the program the User could be faced with the following error message which is
due to plotting the consolidation curve in a logarithmic scale. To tackle this problem simply click
OK and the curve will be plotted correctly.

Error message could be displayed in separate cells especially in the cost panel in a form of ######,
but usually is not due to the fault of the program. A possible solution for this problem is changing
the view of the window, as the value is too big to be displayed in overview view. If the error
message is still displayed close the program and reopen it, or contact the developer of pvdDS.
8. More information
More information is available about the program, and about the theory of consolidation on the
website of the program. For any specific questions of the program please email the developer of
pvdDS.

www.wix.com/madarbalint/pvdds

pvddesignspreadsheet@gmail.com

mad.balint@gmail.com
9. Worked example
pvdDs is to be used to estimate the required time and cost to reach 85% average degree of
consolidation with vacuum preloading at a site with 300000 m2 plan area. Techdrain TD3520F
drains are placed in triangular pattern with 1 meter spacing. The properties of the samples gained
by drilling boreholes are summarized in the table below. The duration if the construction is 25 days
and the effect of well resistance and smear with a smear zone of 2 times the radius of the
equivalent drain diameter and with the reduction factor in the permeability of 2,5 are taken into
account

Borehole-1 Borehole-2 Borehole-3

+ 0,00 m + 0,00 m + 0,00 m
kc= 9 x 10-8 m/s kc= 2 x 10-7 m/s kc= 6 x 10-8 m/s
CLAY mv= 0,25 m2/MN CLAY mv=0,25 m2/MN CLAY mv= 0,28 m2/MN

-12,30 m -11,60 m -11,60 m

SILTY kc= 4 x 10-7 m/s SILTY kc= 1 x 10-7 m/s SILTY kc= 3 x 10-7 m/s
CLAY mv= 0,20 m2/MN CLAY mv= 0,20 m2/MN CLAY mv= 0,20 m2/MN

-19,30 m -20,10 m -20,10 m

1. Transform all the kc and mv values to m/year and MN/m2.

2. Tick Multi Layered button in
3. Enter the soil parameters into the relevant cells in the Soil parameter input panel
4. Set the layout TRIANGULAR, enter 1 meter to spacing, 300000 m2 to area and set
DOUBLE DRAINED in the Layout panel
5. Choose Techdrain TD3520F from the list provided in pvd panel
6. Add in 2 and 2,5 as the zone of smear and kc/kc in the effect panel, and enter 25 days as the
time of construction.
7. Set the cost of the construction shown on the figure below

8. Leave Smear and Well Resistance ticked in

The difference what the use of optim and risk panel makes on the results is demonstrated in
this worked example with the following four scenarios

9.a, Choose MINIMUM and press Calculate

9.b, Choose AVERAGE and press Calculate
9.c, Choose NORMAL DISTRIBUTION and set the Risk at 40% and press Calculate
9.d, Choose BETA DISTRIBUTION and set the Risk at 40% and press Calculate
10. Set the degree of consolidation to 85% in the output panels to get the overall cost.

Degree of MINIMUM AVERAGE NORMAL DIST., 40% BETA DIST.,

Consolidation RISK 40% RISK
Uavg Time [years] Time [years] Time [years] Time [years]
0% 0,000 0,000 0,000 0,000
10% 0,082 0,057 0,057 0,053
20% 0,140 0,082 0,080 0,075
30% 0,209 0,113 0,110 0,100
40% 0,286 0,149 0,146 0,130
50% 0,379 0,191 0,188 0,165
55% 0,432 0,218 0,212 0,187
60% 0,488 0,245 0,237 0,209
65% 0,559 0,278 0,269 0,235
70% 0,636 0,314 0,308 0,268
75% 0,733 0,359 0,352 0,305
80% 0,854 0,415 0,406 0,351
85% 1,004 0,492 0,472 0,413
90% 1,226 0,595 0,578 0,502
95% 1,600 0,776 0,759 0,655

Overall cost 65,914,754 65,867,471 65,865,649 65,860,167