Geotec Hanoi 2011- ISBN 978 - 604 - 82 - 000 - 8

Application of Vacuum Consolidation for Aratozawa Irrigation

Reservoir Construction

Kamata Tomoya
Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries, Sendai, Japan.E-mail: tomoya_kamata@kinki.maff.go.jp

Kiyoharu Takeya
Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries, Sendai, Japan.E-mail: kiyoharu_takeya@tohoku.maff.go.jp

Kato Koichi
Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries, Sendai, Japan.E-mail: koichi_kato@tohoku.maff.go.jp

Teerachaikulpanich Nipon
Maruyama Industry Co., Ltd., Fujimi, Japan. E-mail: nipon@maruyama-ind.com

Keywords: vacuum consolidation, soil improvement, settlement, soft clay, pore water pressure, field observation

ABSTRACT: Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Tohoku Region of Japan commenced the irrigation
reservoir construction after the major inland earthquake triggered a landslide at Aratozawa dam resulting in the
decrease of reservoir capacity. The ground condition consists of a soft clay layer up to 15 meters deep with
intermediated sand layers. Cut-off wall was constructed on peripheral area. Vacuum Consolidation was utilized for
ground improvement work. Total improvement area was about 161,815 m2 and divided into 48 blocks. The vacuum
pressures under airtight sheet were above 70 kPa along consolidation settlement. The pore water pressure reduction
inthe bottom clay layer under the intermediated sand layer was at high level. The consolidation time and settlement
induced by vacuum consolidation fulfilled the primary design criteria of construction project.

1. INTRODUCTION
The Aratozawa dam is a rockfill dam used for flood
control, irrigation and hydro-electric power generation
located in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. The height and
length of dam are 74.4 m high and 413.7 m respectively
with water reserved capacity of 14,130,000 m3. On June
14, 2008, a major inland earthquake (MJ7.2, MW6.9)
struck in Mid-Tohoku region. This earthquake was
named the 2008 Iwate-Miyagi-Nairiku earthquake by Figure 1before landslide (left) & after landslide (right)
Japan Meteorological Agency. Landslides triggered by
this earthquake cause the reduction of reservoir capacity
about 56,000 m3. Therefore, Ministry of Agriculture,
Forestry and Fisheries commences the irrigation
reservoir project to compensate the water volume of
Aratozawa dam for irrigation purpose. The project is Aratozawa Dam
located in the dam downstream as shown in Fig. 2. The About 17 km
reservoir length and width are 616 and 228 m
respectively with the water capacity about 59,000 m3.
The construction area is the paddy field that is a soft
ground. Ground improvement work is required in order
to promote the settlement, enhance the soil strength and Project Site
minimize the future settlement. This paper describes the
ground condition, ground improvement work by Figure 2 Location map
vacuum consolidation method, and filed data
observation of construction project.

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2. GROUND CONDITION 0 0 0

Soil investigation was carried out by means of a 2 B-1 2 B-2 2 B-3

rotary drilling. The borehole locations are shown in Fig. 4 4 4

3. Profile of standard penetration tests are shown in Fig. 6 6 6

4. The undisturbed samples were collected for soil

Depth (m)
8 8 8

property determination in laboratory. Fig. 5 shows the 10 10 10

soil properties. Moreover, the electric cone penetration 12 12 12

test (CPTu) 90 locations were performed at50 m grid 14 14 14

interval to obtain the additionalsoil data for soil profile 16 16 16

interpretation. 18 18 18
0 10 20 30 40 0 10 20 30 40
The ground profile based on boring data and CPTu 0 10 20 30 40

data are shown in Fig. 6 Only 3 sections were selected N-Value N-Value N-Value

0 0 0
to illustrate in this paper which are Line B-1 to B-2,
Line B-3 to B4and Line B-5 to B6. 2
B-4
2
B-5
2
B-6

It can be seen that the soft ground is about 15 m 4 4 4

deep with clay and sand interbed. The soils are 6 6 6

Depth (m)
classified as high plasticity clay (CH), organic clay 8 8 8

(OH), elastic silt (MH), and Sand. 10 10 10

The compressible soils are divined into three parts; 12 12 12

upper clay, organic clay and lower clay while the upper 14 14 14

clay and lower clay have the similar soil properties in 16 16 16

unit weight between 1.4 to 1.6 t/m3, and specific gravity 18

0 10 20 30 40
18
0 10 20 30 40
18
0 10 20 30 40
between 2.55 to 2.65) but slightly different in natural N-Value N-Value N-Value
water content between 60 to100% and 50 to 90%, void Figure 4 Profile of SPT
ratio between 1.7 to 2.8 and 1.6 to 2.5, compression
index between 0.6 to1.6 and 0.5 to 1.0 whileundrained
shear strengths are about 13 kPa and 25 kPa
γt t/m3
respectively. Moreover, organic clay shows specific wn % Gs
0 100 200 300 400 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2.0
gravity between 2.1 to 2.4, unit weight between 1.1 to 0 0 0
2.0 2.2 2.4 2.6 2.8

1.2 t/m3, natural water content between 200 to 300%), 2 2 2

void ratio between 4 to 7, compression index between 4 4 4

1.6 to 3.8, and undrained shear strength about 10kPa.
6 6 6
Depth (m)

8 8 8

10 10 10

12 12 12

14 14 14

B-1
16 16 16
B-2
Cu (kPa) e0 Cc
B-3
B-4
0 10 20 30 40 50 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 0 1 2 3 4 B-5
0 0 0 B-6

2 2 2

4 4 4

6 6 6
Depth (m)

8 8 8

Borehole 10 10 10

Figure 3 Borehole location 12 12 12

14 14 14

16 16 16

Figure 5 Profile of soil properties

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as a conventional membrane type system. However, this

system is equippedwith air-water separator tank
embedded under membrane to avoid the loss of vacuum
pressure after consolidation settlementdue to the water
head difference between vacuum pump and
improvement area. (Imai,2005)

4. CONSTRUCTION
Key of the project success is a ground improvement
work. Vacuum consolidation was selected aiming to
promote the settlement about 1 m as well as to bea
surcharge load under the retaining wall. Fig. 8 shows
-- the irrigation reservoir section.
The intermediated sand layer was considered to be a
major problem for vacuum consolidation method due to
the leakage of vacuum pressure through sand layer.
Cut-off wall surrounding the improvement area is the
alternative countermeasure. The ground improvement
construction details are summarized and describedin
following subsection.

-3 -

Figure 7 CVC system schematic

--
Figure 6 Cross section of soil profile

3. VACUUM CONSOLIDATION METHOD

Retaining wall
Vacuum consolidation method was firstly
introduced by Kjellman (1952). Presently, it can be
Embankment Reservior
majorly classified as membrane and membrane-less 1:3
type. In addition, each vacuum consolidation specialist Sandmat (t=0.5 m)

has a different in thedetailed design, material, Original GL

After consolidation G L
equipment and construction technique directly relating Consolidation settlement

to the performance of vacuum consolidation. The Cement treatment

Soft clay layer
vacuum consolidation method utilized in this project Cut of wall (DJM-φ 1.0 m)

was the membrane type developed in Japan named as Sand layer

Compact Vacuum Consolidation (CVC).
CVC system schematic is illustrated in Fig. 7. Figure 8 Section of irrigation reservoir construction
Major components are including with vertical drain,
horizontal drain, and perforated drainage pipe as similar
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4.1 CUT-OFF WALL

Cut-off wall was constructed by means of dry jet
mixing method (DJM). The diameter of DJM was 1 m
with 0.3 m lapping range. Average of DJM length and
total lengthwere 16.2 m (14.4~18.1m) and 1,802 m.
Coefficient of permeability less than 1.0x10-4 cm/s
is the designed criteria. After trial mixing with cement
100, 200, 300 kg/m3with 3 types of cement both
laboratory and filed test, it was found that the cement
ratio of 100 kg/m3 could satisfy the design criteria and
was applied in the project.

4.2 VERTICAL DRAIN INSTALLATION

Geotextile was laid on the original ground and
Figure 9 PVD installation
constructed the working platform 0.5 m thick by sand
for a machine working ability. The installation of
vertical drain was 80 cm interval in square grid pattern.
Total 254,269 nos were completed in 2.5 months.
Vertical drain width and thickness are 10 cm and 7 mm
respectively. The installation depths are defined based
on soil profile obtained by CPTu data. The tip of
vertical drain was stopped1 m above the firm layer. The
average installation depth is 13.7 m (7.7~15.8 m).Field
instruments such as piezometer, differential settlement
gauge were installed after finished vertical drain
installation.

4.3 CVC CONSTRUCTION

Compact Vacuum Consolidation (CVC) areas were
divided into 48 blocks as shown in Fig. 14 (1BL ≈ 42m Figure 10Perforated drainage pipe and Horizontal drain
x 80m, 3400m2). Firstly, perforated pipe, water hose, setting condition
and separator tank were installed. The horizontal
drainswere aligned and connected to vertical drains and
perforate pipes. Then, protection sheet and airtight
sheer were covered the area and following with edge
revetment work. Finally, vacuum machine and power
source for vacuum operation.
Vacuum operation firstly started from the outside
area wherethe embankment surcharge load is required
following by inside area. The embankment construction
rate was 30 cm/day. The total thickness of surcharge
embankment was 5.2 m.

4.4 FILED INSTRUMENT

CVC monitoring itemsconsist with settlement
sensor x 2 nos for surface settlement observation,
vacuum gauge at pump x 1 nos for vacuum machine Figure 11 Protection and Airtight sheet arrangement
inspection, vacuum sensor under airtight sheet x 2 nos
for airtight condition inspection, electrical piezometer x
3 nos for pore water pressure observation,
temperaturesensor x 1 nos for drained water
temperature observation, flow meter x 1 nos for
discharge rate and volume observation.

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5. FIELD MONITORING DATA

Figure 12Overview project site photo
Figure 13Vacuum consolidation area
Fig. 14 shows the location of CVC block. To
present the filed monitoring data,the data of 27BL
shown in Fig. 15was selected to describe as follows.
The average vacuum pressure at pump was
maintained about 82 kPa while the average vacuum
pressure under airtight sheet was about 72 kPa.
Pore water pressures before start vacuum operation
were gradually decreased due to the effect of vacuum
pressure nearby area and rapidly decreased after
vacuum pump of 27BL started and returned to
hydrostatic pressure after terminated the vacuum
operation.
The surface settlement represents overall ground
settlement while the pore water pressure represents the
water dissipation at specific location. It can be
identified that the dissipation rate at GL -10 m and GL -
12 m insidethe intermediated sand and lower
compressible soil were similar and faster than upper
compressible soil at GL -4m. Therefore, the attention
should be paid at the upper compressible soil in order to
decide to terminate the vacuumoperation.
The temperature of drained water seems to
gradually increasewith air temperature changing from
spring to summer. The average temperature of drained
water was 26°C. Total drainage volume was about
13,000 m3.

6BL 12BL 18BL 24BL 30BL 36BL 42BL 48BL 6. PERFORMANCE

5BL 11BL 17BL 23BL 29BL 35BL 41BL 47BL
The performance of vacuum consolidation from 48
4BL 10BL 16BL 22BL 28BL 34BL 40BL 46BL blockscan be presented and evaluated based onvacuum
3BL 9BL 15BL 21BL 27BL 33BL 39BL 45BL pressure, settlement, pore water pressure data, and post
2BL 8BL 14BL 20BL 26BL 32BL 38BL 44BL soil investigation as follows.
1BL 7BL 13BL 19BL 25BL 31BL 37BL 43BL
6.1 VACUUM PRESSURE
 To South To North 
Vacuum pressuresof 48 blocks are shown in Fig.
Figure 14 CVC block location
16.The maximum vacuum pressure at pump varied
from 82 to 98 kPa and average vacuum pressure at
pump were varied from 74 to 90 kPa. Moreover, the
maximum vacuum pressure under airtight sheet were
varied from 75 to 91 kPa and average vacuum under
airtight sheet were varied from 70 to 82 kPa.
The overall average vacuum pressure under airtight
sheet was less than the average vacuum pressure at
pump about 8%.

Figure 15 27BL monitoring data
6.2 SETTLEMENT
Total settlements are shown in Fig. 17 for the area
subjected to only vacuum load and vacuum load
combined with embankment surcharge load. The
average settlementsare 118 cm and 160 cm
respectively. From Fig. 18, it can be seen that vacuum
consolidation successfully induced the settlement about
1 m to meet the primary purpose of construction.

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100

6.3 PORE WATER PRESSURE 90

Vacuum pressure (kPa)

Electrical piezometers were installed between PVDs 80

inside the upper compressible layer, intermediated sand

70
layer, and lower compressible layer in order to observe
pore water pressure induced by vacuum pressure. The 60 Ave. vacuum pressure at pump
Ave. vacuum pressure under sheet
minimum pore water pressures during vacuum
operation are shown in Fig. 19. The initial ground water 50
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48

level before vacuum operation was about -1.5 m. The CVC block
average pore water pressure decreasein the upper
Figure 16 Vacuum pressure of 48 blocks
compressible layer, intermediated sand layer and lower
compressible layer were 57, 69 and 69 kPa respectively. 0
When compare these values to the average vacuum
pressure under airtight sheet in 6.1,It can be concluded 50

that vacuum pressure distribution was effective from

100

Settlement (cm)
top to bottom layer. It should be noted that the
reduction of pore water pressure in the upper 150

compressible layer is smaller than the lower layer at the

200
same time measurement due to the different of water
dissipation rate as discussed in 5. 250
Vacuum load+Embankment load
Vacuum load only
Also, the reduction of pore water pressure in
300
intermediated sand layer and lower compressible layer
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
were closely. As the results, it can be concluded that the CVC BLOCK
airtight condition of improvement area is satisfied in
overall due to no major loss of vacuum pressure Figure 17 Settlement of 48 blocks
distribution from intermediated and to lower clay layer.

6.3 POST SOIL INVESTIGATION

Soil investigation after terminated vacuum
operation was carried out where the ground only
subjected to vacuum load (B-3, B-4 in Fig.3) and
vacuum load combined with embankment surcharge
load (B-1, B-5 in Fig. 3).
Natural water content, void ratio, undrained shear Figure 18 Settlement contour
strength and consolidation yield stress in comparison
are illustrated in Fig. 20.
Pore water pressure (kPa)
For the location subjected to vacuum load only, -50 0 50 100 150
natural water content decreased from 300 to 200% for 0
GWL at -1.50 m
organic clay and 100% to 75% for lower clay. Void 2

ratio decreased about 6.5 to 4.5 for organic clay and 2.4 4 upper layer
intermediated layer
to 1.7 for lower clay. Undrained shear strength 6 lower layer
Depth (m)

increased from 10 to 40 kPa for organic clay and from 8

15 to 35 kPa for lower clay. Consolidation yield stress 10
increased about 55 kPa for organic clay and 70 kPa for 12
lower clay. 14
For the area subject to vacuum load and 16
∆U=-80 ∆U=-60 ∆U=-40 ∆U=-20 ∆U=0
embankment load,natural water content decreased from 18
180 to 130% for organic clay and 80 to 60% for lower
clay. Void ratio decreased from 5.0 to 3.5 for organic Figure 19 Minimum pore water pressure
clay and 2.2 to 1.6 for lower clay. Undrained shear
strength increased from 10 to 50 kPa for organic clay
and 30 to 55 for bottom clay. Consolidation yield stress
increased about 170 kPa for organic clay and 100 kPa
for lower clay.

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wn % e0 Cu (kPa) p'c (kPa)

50 100 150 200 250 300 350 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 0 50 100 150 200 250
0 0 0 0

2 2 2 2

4 4 4 4

6 6 6 6
Depth (m)

8 8 8 8

10 10 10 10

B-3 (pre)
12 12 12 12
B-4 (pre)
B-3 (post)
14 B-4 (post) 14 14 14

16 16 16 16

(a) Vacuum load only

wn % e0 Cu (kPa) p'c (kPa)

50 100 150 200 250 300 350 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 0 50 100 150 200 250
0 0 0 0

2 2 2 2

4 4 4 4

6 6 6 6
Depth (m)

8 8 8 8

10 10 10 10

B-1 (pre)
12 12 12 12
B-5 (pre)
B-1 (post)
14 B-5 (post) 14 14 14

16 16 16 16

(b) Vacuum load + Embankment load

Figure 20 Comparison of soil properties

7. CONCLUSION
Vacuum consolidation membrane type with air-
water separation system was utilized to promote the
consolidation settlement for Aratozawa irrigation
reservoir construction covering area about 160,000 m2.
Ground condition at project site consists clay and sand
interbed up to 15 m. As the results, vacuum pressures
under airtight sheet were maintained above 70 kPa
along consolidation settlement. Pore water pressure
reduction at the bottom clay layer below the
intermediated sand layer was high as similar as in the
intermediated sand. This can confirm a good airtight
condition of improvement area.The consolidation time
and settlement induced by vacuum consolidation
werewell satisfied the purpose of project construction.

8. REFERENCES
Imai.G, (2005). For the further development of
"vacuuminduced consolidation method"-present
understandings of its principle andapplications”,
Journal of geotechnicalengineering, No.898/6,pp.1-
16,Japan society of civil engineers
Kjellman, W. (1952). Consolidation of clayey soils by
atmospheric pressure.In Proceeding of the Conference on
Soil Stabilization, Boston, Mass., June 1952.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge,
Mass,pp. 258-263
Vacuum Consolidation Technology Association,
(2004). Compact Vacuum Consolidation Technical
Document.

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