Effect of Improvement and Application of Composite Prefabricated Vertical Drain Method in Marine Soft Ground: A Case Study

Abstract

One of the commonly used techniques to improve marine soft ground is the drainage consolidation method by plastic board drains (PBDs). But some complex marine soft ground will cause construction inconvenience of PBDs in certain areas of these sites, thus affecting the improvement effect. An alternative possible approach to overcoming these deficiencies may be the combination of PBDs and sand wick drains (SWDs) (i.e., composite prefabricated vertical drains (CPVDs)) as vertical drainage channels in the same site. In order to verify the suitability and performance of this method in marine soft ground improvement, a case study was performed based on the field monitoring and construction of the marine soft ground of an intercity express railway project in China. The construction procedure using the CPVD system, the field monitoring instrumentation scheme, and the design of fill surcharge level were described, and the field monitoring data were presented. The settlement characteristics, dissipation features of pore water pressure, and the horizontal movement pattern were assessed. In addition, predictions of ultimate settlement, postconstruction settlement, and consolidation degree were discussed by applying a modified hyperbolic model. The results show that the marine ground improved by the CPVD system is suitable for the construction of intercity express railway and high-speed railway. The improvement construction period of complex marine soft ground will be greatly shortened by the proposed parallel construction programme. This work will provide technical supports and application reference for the improvement of the similar marine soft ground.