Design and consolidation analysis of geotextile tubes for the Saemangeum project in Korea

Abstract

In planning and designing geotextile tubes, predicting the consolidation characteristics is very important to ensure that the capacity and deformation of the tubes are well regulated during construction. Design and construction parameters, such as dewatering time and permeability, must be evaluated considering the interaction of the soil and geotextile during filling and consolidation. In this study, field scale tests, such as the hanging bag test and geotextile tube demonstration tests, were performed as a geotechnical design approach in determining the equivalent soil-geotextile consolidation parameters. In the hanging bag test, seepage pressure was applied to simulate the effect of filling pressure in the actual construction site. Procedures to determine the required slurry volume, soil-geotextile consolidation parameters, tube geometry, and consolidation characteristics were introduced in this study. The procedures were proposed on the basis of the areal method, which considers the vertical and lateral movement of the tube, and the large strain consolidation theory, which considers finite strain and the change of the coefficient of consolidation. Finally, using the proposed procedures and obtained consolidation parameters, a parametric study was performed to show the applicability of the areal method and large strain consolidation theory.