Effect of sand on the vacuum consolidation of dredged slurry

Vacuum preloading is often used to improve the geotechnical properties of dredged slurry. Although the performance of this method has improved with rapidly developing technology, soil columns usually formed on the drainage boundary induce the decrease of permeability around the boundary, thereby limiting the further development of this method. To address this issue, this paper proposes a method for pretreating the slurry combined with sand prior to vacuum consolidation. This method partially replaces the fine particles with sand to reduce the formation of soil columns. Two groups of vacuum preloading tests were performed to investigate the effect of sand content and sand grain size on the vacuum consolidation of dredged slurry. The test results revealed that for a given sand grain size, increasing the sand content of the sand–slurry mixture increased the pore water drainage and accelerated the dissipation of pore water pressure, thereby increasing the vane shear strength. In contrast, for a constant sand content, the samples containing coarse sand exhibited increased pore water drainage and accelerated dissipation of pore water pressure, thereby increasing the vane shear strength of the soil.     

Effect of the pressurized duration on improving dredged slurry with air booster vacuum preloading

Abstract

Compared with traditional vacuum preloading, air booster vacuum preloading is more effective at strengthening dredged slurry and improving the consolidation process. Although many engineering practices have shown that the pressurized duration has a significant effect on the reinforcement effect, there is no standard available for determining the pressurized duration. In this study, five dredged slurry samples were tested to examine the effect of different pressurized durations on the consolidation. An extensive monitoring system was used to measure the vacuum pressure, pore water pressure, settlement, and water discharge during the test, while the water content and shear strength were measured after the test. The collected monitoring data were comprehensively analyzed to evaluate the reinforcement effect. The results revealed that the pressurization system can be used to reinforce deep dredged slurry and make the whole soil layer more homogeneous. If the pressurized duration is too short, the dissipation of pore water pressure is too little to achieve the pressurization effect. If the pressurized duration is too long, too much gas will be in the soil and enter the vacuum system, which will significantly reduce the vacuum pressure and thus the reinforcement effect. Based on these findings, the optimal pressurized duration was obtained.     

Improved air-booster vacuum preloading method for newly dredged fills: Laboratory model study

Abstract

Newly dredged fills feature a high moisture content and a high floating mud content. Based on the conventional vacuum preloading (CVP) method, this article presents a new method of air-booster vacuum preloading (AVP) to reinforce newly dredged fills for different air-booster periods (45, 60 and 90?min). Compared with other methods, this new method features no sand cushion and adopts a self-developed air-booster pipe and a water–air separation device. A series of laboratory model tests were performed to explore the effect of the improved AVP method for the enhancement of newly dredged fills. A comparison of variables monitored during reinforcement (vacuum pressure, surface settlement, water discharge and pore-water pressure) and after reinforcement (water content, vane shear strength, SEM and MIP) indicates that the reinforcement effect of the AVP method is superior to that of the CVP method; the former can effectively alleviate the problem of prefabricated vertical drain (PVD) clogging, greatly reducing engineering costs and significantly shortening construction periods.     

Effect of pressurization positions on the consolidation of dredged slurry in air-booster vacuum preloading method

Abstract

Air booster vacuum preloading method is a useful method for strengthening dredged slurry. Though this method is improved effectively with the rapidly developed technology, the problem of inadequate reinforcement in deep layers of soil is still in existence. In view of the fact that the pressurizing system can effectively enhance the reinforcement effect. Therefore, this paper discusses the reinforcement effect of a new pressurizing system that put the booster pipeline at the bottom of soil. Meanwhile, another problem is found that the booster pipeline type was single at present, the action effect of different kind of booster pipeline is still uncertain. In this paper, laboratory experiments are performed to investigate the influence of two kinds of pressurization position and two types of booster pipeline on the treatment of five dredged slurry samples. The test results showed that though the vertical pressurizing system can be good to reinforce the middle soil layers, but the bottom pressurizing system can make the whole soil layer more homogeneous. Furthermore, the difference of the two kinds of booster pipeline on the reinforcement effect of soil is not significant. These results provide good guidance for practical application of air booster vacuum preloading in land reclamation project.     

港口疏浚泥在海涂围垦工程中资源化利用研究

针对巴艚渔港和华润浙江苍南发电厂工程产生的大量疏浚量,提出疏浚量在江南海涂围垦工程资源化利用方案.通过对巴艚渔港工程地质条件和粒度成分分析,并进行疏浚泥落淤试验,提出了疏浚泥吹填软基真空预压联合堆载加固实施方案,并利用有限元技术对真空预压联合堆载处理软基进行沉降计算,结果表明:本工程疏浚泥可以在海涂围垦工程中资源化利用...     

Improvement of very soft ground by a high-efficiency vacuum preloading method: A case study

This paper describes a full-scale test on a very soft clay ground around 70,000?m², which is conducted in Huizhou of Guangdong Province, China, to present a new method of vacuum preloading method. A novel moisture separator was developed, which can automatically regulate the vacuum pressure variation by changing the volume of the gas inside it. A large quantity of water drained by the proposed moisture separators can be directly used as a surcharge loading, which would shorten the ground improvement time and save costs as well. Three levels of silt-prevention prefabricated vertical drains were used in the treating process to accelerate the consolidation. In addition, the vacuum preloading method also included an effective radial drainage device which would strengthen the dredged soft clay fill in a deep layer. In the in situ test, tens of piezometers and settlement plates were installed to measure the variations of excess pore water pressures and settlement of two stages of observation points at different positions in the ground. The results show that the largest average consolidation settlement was 314.1?cm and made a saving of more than 66% in power consumption compared with traditional method. It demonstrates that this adopted method is an efficient, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly method for improving sites with low bearing capacity and high compressibility soils.     

Geotechnical properties of dredged marine sediments treated at high water/cement ratio

Cement and lime are widely employed in soil and sediment treatment for an improvement of geotechnical properties, such as an increase in mechanical strength which enables beneficial use in various geotechnical applications. In this study, fine organic-rich dredged harbour sediments of 120% relative water content were treated with dry cement at contents varying between 2% and 10% of bulk sediment wet weight. Tests based on assessments of one-dimensional compression and Atterberg limits were performed on untreated and cement-treated sediments for various curing periods, as well as grain-size, SEM and X-ray diffraction analyses. The results confirm that increasing the cement content improves the geotechnical properties of these harbour sediments. Already in the early phase of curing (first 3 days of curing), particle size increases while sediment plasticity decreases. Changes in the compressibility behaviour include an increase in apparent preconsolidation pressure, in the compression index C _c and in the primary consolidation coefficient C _v, and a decrease in the secondary compression index . This means that the new materials are characterized by a behaviour intermediate between that of fine and that of coarser soils.     

Effects of lime treatment on the geotechnical properties of dredged mud

Abstract

The preloading method has been widely applied in land reclamation as a green and economical approach to ground improvement. To improve the consolidation behavior, the addition of lime generally improves soil performance. In this article, a modified oedometer equipped with a tactile pressure sensor and a bender–extender element is employed. The effects of lime treatment on the geotechnical properties of dredged mud are investigated; these properties include the coefficient of the earth pressure at rest (K₀), settlement, drainage behavior, and evolution of the elastic wave velocity. The results reveal that the addition of lime not only influences the specimen’s deformation behavior but also influences its shear strength during and after loading. Combined with the evolution of the elastic wave velocity, the microstructural evolution of the specimen could be described and explained. It is concluded that a compressional wave is more sensitive to the change in the specimen’s void ratio and saturation. For K₀, initially (<25?kPa), the higher the lime content is, the greater the K₀ fluctuation is. Afterwards, the higher the lime content is, the smaller the K₀ fluctuation is, and finally K₀ slowly approaches approximately 0.2.     

Improvement of estuarine marine clays for coastal reclamation using vacuum-applied consolidation method

Consolidation occurs in estuarine marine clays for coastal reclamation by dissipation of the excess pore pressure, which is induced by increasing the total overburden stress during conventional mechanical surcharging. The excess pore pressure can be decreased usually by the use of several construction methods such as sand drain and paper drain. Besides the drain methods, vacuum can also be used in the soil mass to consolidate the estuarine marine clays by decreasing the pore pressure as well as increasing the effective stress.The study on vacuum consolidation is devoted so far mainly for laboratory model tests or numerical analysis in Korea. Recently, an instrumentation system was applied to manage the vacuum-applied consolidation on a field, in which a sewage disposal plant was constructed. While vacuum was applied, the behaviors of estuarine marine clays such as the settlement, lateral deformation and pore water pressure have been investigated precisely. The behavior of estuarine marine clays during vacuum-applied consolidation shows some difference from the behavior of estuarine marine clays in the case of conventional preloading. A principal difference is that the lateral deformation corresponding to settlement is smaller than before vacuum application even though the surcharge height has been increased.     

Case Studies of PSDDF for Phased Placement of Dredged Soils

Use of Terzaghi's one-dimensional consolidation theory is not suitable for consolidation of highly deformable soft clays such as dredged soils. To model this condition, it is necessary to consider non-linear finite strain consolidation behavior, i.e., changes in compressibility and permeability with increasing stress. A one-dimensional non-linear finite strain numerical model, Primary Consolidation, Secondary Compression, and Desiccation of Dredged Fill (PSDDF), has been used to predict the stress-dependent settlement of fine-grained dredged materials. In this paper, two case studies of using PSDDF are discussed to illustrate the applicability and accuracy of PSDDF. The first case study involves PSDDF simulations of laboratory-phased placement of a marine clay dredged from Busan, Korea. PSDDF results are in good agreement with the corresponding results of the laboratory large strain consolidation tests. The other involves estimating the service life of the Craney Island Dredged Material Management Area near Norfolk, Virginia, in the United States. The excellent agreement between measured and calculated values shows that PSDDF is a reliable tool for predicting settlement of dredged material.     

Experimental study on settling velocity of soil particles in dredged slurry

Studying sedimentation and consolidation of dredged slurry has significant implications to the design of storage yard and subsequent ground improvement. In this study, settling velocity of soil particles in dredged slurry during sedimentation and consolidation processes was investigated using an improved multilayer extraction sampling (MES) method. A series of sedimentation column tests were performed on dredged slurry with three different initial water contents. Distributions of volume of soil particles and density of dredged slurry were first obtained by the MES method, settling velocity of soil particles was then calculated by volume flux function approach. It was found that the density and velocity inflection points can be used to distinguish the settling zone and the consolidation zone. The experimental results reveal that the velocity of soil particles was quite low and monotonically decreased with sedimentation height at low initial water content throughout the whole test period, whereas it was increased at 0–1 hours and almost remained constant at 1–7 hours in the settling zone at high initial water content. The effects of initial water content on sedimentation and consolidation mode of dredged slurry and the settling velocity of soil particles were discussed. The relationship between settling velocity of soil particles and particle diameter was also studied. It is indicated that the measured velocity of soil particles was much lower than that calculated by the Stokes equation, and it was related to 0.4881–0.5906 order of particle diameter at 0–1 hours and 0.1117–0.1825 order of particle diameter at 1–7 hours for the test slurries.     

Simple consolidation method for dredger fill treatment using plastic vertical drains with vacuum

Abstract

Vacuum preloading with plastic vertical drains has been applied widely to accelerating consolidation of dredger fills. As a result of nonlinear variations in permeability and compression during the process of dredger fill consolidation, an axisymmetric consolidation method for dredger fill treatment using PVD with vacuum is proposed with varied R_u. The effects of C_c/C_k and the loading ratio on the proposed method are discussed. It is found that the difference between the traditional method and proposed method is obvious in the case of large loading ratio (such as dredger fill treated with vacuum preloading). The degree of consolidation in the early phase of consolidation obtained using the proposed method was less than that obtained using the traditional method and the degree of consolidation in the later phase of consolidation obtained using the modified expression was larger than that obtained using the traditional method, as C_c/C_k?<?1. However, opposite trends were observed when C_c/C_k?>?1, the proposed method was closer to the actual situation. The applicability of the proposed method was verified by laboratory and field tests. For the consolidation of dredger fill with high water content, we recommend the adoption of the proposed method for calculating the degree of consolidation.     

A new method of combination of electroosmosis,vacuum and surcharge preloading for soft ground improvement

As a rapid and effective ground improvement method is urgently required for the booming land reclamation in China＇s coastal area, this study proposes a new combined method of electroosmosis, vacuum preloading and surcharge preloading. A new type of electrical prefabricated vertical drain （ePVD） and a new electroosmotic drainage system are suggested to allow the application of the new method. This combined method is then field-tested and compared with the conventional vacuum combined with surcharge preloading method. The monitoring and foundation test results show that the new method induces a settlement 20% larger than that of the conventional vacuum combined with surcharge preloading method in the same treatment period, and saves approximately half of the treatment time compared with the vacuum combined with surcharge preloading method according to the finite element prediction of the settlement. The proposed method also increases the vane shear strength of the soil significantly. The bearing capacity of the ground improved by use of the new proposed method raises 118%. In comparison, there is only a 75% rise when using the vacuum combined with surcharge preloading method during the same reinforcement period. All results indicate that the proposed combined method is effective and suitable for reinforcing the soft clay ground. Besides, the voltage applied between the anode and cathode increases exponentially versus treatment time when the output current of power supplies is kept constant. Most of the voltage potential in electroosmosis is lost at electrodes, leaving smaller than 50% of the voltage to be effectively transmitted into the soil.     

Newly developed technique and analysis solution to accelerate consolidation of ultrasoft soil

Plastic vertical drainage is widely used in vacuum preloading for soft soil treatment. However, plastic vertical drainage has a number of disadvantages such as it only provides drainage paths in vertical directions and the distribution of soil strength is not uniform. A new technique, prefabricated vertical–horizontal drainage, was developed in this study to shorten the consolidation time of ultrasoft soil. Using one vertical drainage tube and four horizontal drainage tubes, prefabricated vertical–horizontal drainage provides drainage paths not only in vertical but also in horizontal directions. An analytical solution was derived to calculate the degree of soil consolidation when using the prefabricated vertical–horizontal drainage technique. Field tests were conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of prefabricated vertical–horizontal drainage and to verify the proposed analytical solution. It was found that consolidation time of soft clays using prefabricated vertical–horizontal drainage was 50% lower than plastic vertical drainage. Moreover, the average undrained shear strength of soil treated by the prefabricated vertical–horizontal drainage technique was approximately 30% larger than that treated by the plastic vertical drainage technique. The degree of soil consolidation estimated from the proposed analytical solution showed good agreement with field measurements. This implies that the proposed analytical solution can be used to directly estimate the degree of consolidation when the soil is treated by prefabricated vertical–horizontal drainage.     

Assessment of Consolidation Behavior of Golden Horn Marine Dredged Material

Polluted sea bottom sediments from Golden Horn in Istanbul have been dredged and stored on land at a disposal site. Reclamation of the disposal site was highly dependent on prediction of self-weight consolidation behavior of the dredged material, which is analyzed numerically using software which employs a nonlinear finite strain solution algorithm (Fox and Berles 1997). The material parameters needed for the numerical model are determined using a seepage-induced consolidation testing system and prediction of the numerical model is tested against experimental observations in a slurry consolidation model tank. The numerical modeling of the field behavior at the disposal site could be successfully accomplished using sediment property data from the seepage-induced consolidation test.     

Study of the Shear Strength of Sediments in Main Sedimentation Stages

The shear strength properties of sediments are relevant to many practical problems, including those related to predicting the bearing capacity of the man-made crust lying over dredged disposal sites and those associated with estimating the erosion resistance and the bearing capacity of sediments. In this study, an experimental apparatus and method is developed for sedimentation. This apparatus consists of a settling column, pore measurement apparatus, shear vane apparatus, and multilayer extraction sampling apparatus. The change regulation of interface height, density, excess pore pressure, peak undrained shear strength, residual undrained shear strength, and sensitivity varies before and after the excess pore pressure dissipates to zero in the self-weight consolidation stage. The higher the water content, the greater the particle segregation degree. Particles are mainly segregated in the settling stage, and they are not segregated further in the self-weight consolidation stage. Before excess pore pressure dissipates to zero in the self-weight consolidation stage, shear strength is related to water content, effective stress, and the formed structure of sediments. After excess pore pressure dissipates to zero, peak undrained shear strength is mainly associated with the structure (thixotropy) of sediments. Residual undrained shear strength increases because of the slight decrease in water content. The mechanisms of thixotropy can be expressed as the increase in the original and curing cohesions of sediments with time as determined from microscopic aspects.     

Laboratory and Field Observations for Golden Horn Marine Clay

Istanbul, the largest city in Turkey and one of the major metropolitan areas in the world, cleaned one of its environmentally polluted areas—Golden Horn—by dredging 5 million m³ of the bottom sediments and pumping the resulting sludge to a storage area behind a dam built at an abandoned rock quarry site in Alibey district. The reclamation of the land that formed over the storage area of Golden Horn dredged material is socially and economically very desirable. In this paper, results from experimental studies that are focused on determining the shear strength behavior of the dredge material and undisturbed soil are presented. Slurry consolidometer test, large model tests and small model tests are used to consolidate the dredged soil samples from Halic to simulate the natural consolidation behavior of these soils. Shear strength parameters are determined by laboratory vane tests; unconfined compression tests; undrained-unconsolidated (UU) and consolidated-undrained (CU) triaxial tests on samples that are obtained through in situ undisturbed samples and laboratory model tank and slurry consolidation. Moreover, the effects of fly ash and lime additives on the undrained shear strength were determined by mixing the materials with the dredged clay from Golden Horn during the model experiments conducted in the laboratory. Based on these findings, equations are proposed that govern the relationships between undrained shear strength and water content value.     

现代黄河水下三角洲软土沉积物工程地质特性

现代黄河水下三角洲沉积体系中存有许多对工程不利的软土夹层和透镜体，它们主要是由高含水、高孔隙性的粘土质粉砂和粉砂质粘土组成，由于形成时的快速沉积和波浪作用等因素，使其具有明显的欠固结性，且其固结程度随深度变化呈无规律状．另外，因为软土中粘粒含量较高，颗粒问的水胶联结和静电引力与分子引力联结，而使其具有明显的触变性，从而使其较低的强度在受到破坏后也难以恢复．     

Influence of vacuum preloading on vertical bearing capacities of piles installed on coastal soft soil

Abstract

Land reclamation has increased significantly in the eastern coastal areas of China. The increased exploitation of offshore resources has made cast-in-situ piles more preferable in these regions. However, precise prediction of axial forces and shaft resistances of piles is particularly difficult because geological conditions are complex after the foundation is treated by vacuum preloading. In this study, two groups of cast-in-situ piles, each of which consisted of two piles installed in soft soil in Oufei Project, Wenzhou, China, were compared by conducting tests using the slow static loading method to evaluate the influence of applying vacuum preloading to deal with soft soil foundation on the vertical bearing capacities of the piles. Two piles were located in an untreated area, while the other two were located in a vacuum preloading treating area. All the piles had the same length and diameter. In addition, the axial forces and shaft resistances of piles were calculated based on the measured strains. The field tests revealed that the ultimate bearing capacities and shaft resistances of test piles were significantly improved compared to those of the piles in untreated area. The experimental results presented in this study are expected to be highly beneficial for practical engineering.