Geotextiles and Geomembranes 42 (2014) 457e467

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Geotextiles and Geomembranes

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Back-analyses of flow parameters of PVD improved soft Bangkok clay

with and without vacuum preloading from settlement data and
numerical simulations
P. Voottipruex a, D.T. Bergado b, *, L.G. Lam b, T. Hino b
a
Department of Teacher Training in Civil Engineering, King Mongkut's University of Technology North Bangkok, Bangkok 10800, Thailand
b
Institute of Lowland and Marine Research, Saga University, Honjo machi 1, Saga 840-8502, Japan

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Prefabricated vertical drains (PVDs) with embankment preloading (conventional PVDs) and with
Received 4 February 2014 embankment combined with vacuum preloading (Vacuum-PVDs) are examined using the field data
Received in revised form obtained from the site of the Suvarnabhumi Airport, Thailand. The flow parameters were back-analyzed
18 July 2014
by comparison of measured and predicted or simulated data. The flow parameters were illustrated in
Accepted 22 July 2014
Available online 10 August 2014
terms of the horizontal coefficient of consolidation (Ch) and the ratio between the horizontal hydraulic
conductivity in undisturbed zone (kh) and the horizontal hydraulic conductivity in smear zone (ks) or (kh/
ks). Numerical simulations using one-dimensional FEM PVDCON software with equivalent vertical
Keywords:
Conventional PVDs
permeability, kev, to determine the appropriate Ch and kh/ks of PVDs with conventional embankment
Vacuum-PVDs preloading and with embankment combined with vacuum preloading schemes were made. Furthermore,
Flow parameters numerical simulations using axisymmetric FEM by ABAQUS software, incorporating horizontal (kh) and
Settlement vertical (kv) permeabilities, to determine the appropriate kh/ks based on back-calculated Ch of conven-
Simulation tional PVD and Vacuum-PVD schemes were also done. The Vacuum-PVD scheme indicated faster rate of
settlement than conventional PVD scheme by about 1.7e1.8 times with slight reduction of the kh/ks
ratios. For conventional PVD, it was demonstrated that the increase in kh/ks ratios reduced the simulated
rate of settlement.
© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction permeable drainage layers on ground surface. For design of this

Prefabricated vertical drains (PVDs) with embankment pre-
loading is popular and economical method of soft ground
improvement (Bergado et al., 1996a, b; Chai et al., 2001; Shen et al.,
2005; Chu and Yan, 2005; Rowe and Taechakumthorn, 2008, Abuel-
Naga et al., 2012; Ong et al., 2012; Deng et al., 2013; Cascone and
Biondi, 2013; Bari and Shahin, 2014). This method is based on the
advantage of higher horizontal hydraulic conductivity than the
vertical hydraulic conductivity. The process of this method is
draining the excess pore water out from the clay subsoil during the
process of consolidation due to the hydraulic gradients created by
the embankment or surcharge preloading. Thus, the pore water
from soil can flow easily towards the drain in the horizontal di-
rection, and then flow freely along the drain vertically towards the
* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: pnv@kmutnb.ac.th (P. Voottipruex), dbergado@gmail.com,
bergado.dennes@gmail.com (D.T. Bergado), lglam@ctu.edu.vn (L.G. Lam), hino@ilt.
saga-u.ac.jp (T. Hino).
method, the surcharge load shall be equal to or greater than the
maximum past pressures of the clay subsoils. However, some dis-
advantages of this method are long consolidation time, limited
embankment height and instability problem of the surcharge
embankment. The vacuum consolidation was first applied by
Kjellmann (1952) to reduce the consolidation period. The applica-
tion of PVDs with embankment and vacuum preloading has been
used and studied up to the present (Holtz, 1975; Choa, 1989;
Cognon et al., 1994; Bergado et al., 1998; Tang and Shang, 2000;
Mohamedelhassan and Shang, 2002; Indraratna et al., 2004,
2005, 2009, 2010; Chai et al., 2001, 2003, 2005a, b, 2006a, b,
2007, 2008, 2013; Bergado et al., 1996a, b, 2006; Rujikiatkamjorn
et al., 2007, 2008; Saowapakpiboon et al., 2008a, b, 2010, 2011;
Indraratna et al., 2012). The advantage of vacuum preloading
application is reducing the pore pressure and maintaining constant
total stress instead of increasing the total stress. Thus, the effective
stress increases due to the reduction of pore pressure (less atmo-
spheric) in the soil mass. The net effect is an additional surcharge
ensuring early attainment of the required settlement and an

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.geotexmem.2014.07.004
0266-1144/© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
458 P. Voottipruex et al. / Geotextiles and Geomembranes 42 (2014) 457e467

increased shear strength resulting in increased embankment Table 1

stability. The compressibility consolidation parameters.

Type Unit weight Compressibility POP Cv_theory

2. Field settlements from conventional PVD and [kN/m3] (kPa) [m2/yr]
RR CR Ca
VacuumePVD schemes
Top layer, 18.50 0.035 0.350 0.014 45 e
weathered clay
Both conventional PVD and Vacuum-PVD schemes were utilized Very soft clay1 13.80 0.050 0.500 0.020 37 0.79
for improvement in the soft clay foundations of Third Runways and Very soft clay2 14.00 0.042 0.420 0.017 59 0.79
Aprons, respectively, in the Suvarnabhumi International Airport, Soft clay 15.00 0.040 0.400 0.016 100 0.79
Soft to medium 15.70 0.030 0.300 0.012 110 0.79
Thailand as shown in Fig. 1 as reported by COFRA (1996). The soil clay
profile at the site can be divided into 8 sublayers as tabulated in Stiff clay1 18.50 0.008 0.080 0.003 300 e
Table 1. The groundwater level was found at about 0.50 m depth. Stiff clay2 19.00 0.008 0.080 0.003 500 e
The compressibility parameters at the site are summarized in Stiff clay3 20.40 0.000 0.000 0.000 500 e
Table 1. The soil profiles within the site are relatively uniform over
the area with some small variations in the soil thickness. The typical
soil properties along with soil parameters are summarized in Fig. 2 recorded from July 2005 to July 2006. The locations of boreholes
taken from Bergado et al. (2002). BH1, BH2 and BH3 are also indicated in Fig. 1.
In the conventional PVD scheme, the PVDs were installed to For the Vacuum-PVD scheme, the PVDs were also installed to
10 m depth with a spacing of 0.85 m and arranged in a triangular 10 m depth with a spacing of 0.85 m and arranged in a triangular
pattern. This method had the embankment height in 3.8 m with pattern. The instrumentation equipments were installed to monitor
loading in 2 stages. Typically, a 2:1 side slope was used for the low the field behavior. For the Vacuum-PVD scheme, similar monitoring
embankment with height less than 2.5 m. However, a 4:1 side slope equipments were installed. The locations of the inclinometers, pi-
was adopted for the high embankment to reduce the effects of ezometers and the settlement plates are shown in Fig. 4. The
slope erosion due to rainfall. The high embankment is usually following boundary conditions were used in the design of Vacuum-
constructed along with counterweight berms for stability. Several PVD scheme: installation time of drains of 2 months, maximum
types of monitoring instruments were used, including settlement pumping time of 8 months, vacuum pressure of
60 kPa at 5 m
plates, settlement benchmark, deep settlement gages, piezometers, depth, depth or length of PVD of 10 m below ground surface and
inclinometers and observation wells as shown in Fig. 3. The field 60% consolidation requirement based on the final settlement from
collected data of conventional PVD scheme were collected from Asaoka (1978). The embankment was 2.8 m high with unit weight
four areas comprising of SP-W5-001T, SP-W5-031T, SP-W5-021T of 18 kN/m3. The embankment was constructed in two phases,
and SP-W5-023T, respectively, located on the Third Runway of namely: Phase 1 (1.5 m height, day 0) and Phase 2 (1.3 m height, day
Suvarnabhumi Airport Project (see Fig. 1). These data were 14). The field data of Vacuum-PVD scheme were collected from four

Fig. 1. The Midfield Satellite Aprons and Third Runway of Suvarnabhumi International Airport, Thailand showing the test areas.
 P. Voottipruex et al. / Geotextiles and Geomembranes 42 (2014) 457e467 459

Fig. 2. Soil parameters of SBIA Project (Bergado et al., 2002).

areas comprising of EW04-ZB03, EW04-ZB07, MSA-ZB36 and MSA- 2 2 kh

ZB42, respectively, located in the Aprons of Suvarnabhumi Airport
Project (see Fig. 1).
The comparison of settlements using conventional PVD and
Vacuum-PVD schemes are plotted with time from Figs. 5 and 6. The
PVDs with combined embankment and vacuum preloading clearly
indicated faster rate of settlements. The reduction of time to reach
the 90% degree of consolidation using embankment combined with
vacuum preloading was 1.7e1.8 times than the conventional PVDs
due to the higher horizontal coefficient of consolidation due to
vacuum preloading.
3. Settlement predictions of conventional PVD and
VacuumePVD schemes
The final settlements were calculated from the Asaoka (1978)
observational method based on the monitored data from the
field. The horizontal coefficient of consolidation, Ch, was also back-
calculated at different periods depending on the time of PVDs
installation when the preloading period started.
The values of Ch were back-calculated using the equations from
Hansbo (1979) for radial consolidation with PVD improvement as
follows:



8Th
Uh ¼ 1
exp
F
F ¼ FðnÞ þ Fs þ Fr
Fr ¼ pL (5)
3 qw
where De is the diameter of the equivalent soil cylinder, dw is the
equivalent diameter of the drain, kh is the coefficient of horizontal
permeability, ks is the horizontal permeability of the smear zone, ds
is the diameter of the smear zone, z is the distance from the
drainage end of the drain, L is designated as half the length of the
PVD for double drainage and as the length of the drain for single
drainage, qw is the discharge capacity of the drain at hydraulic
gradient of 1 (one). The diameter of the smear zone, ds, is desig-
nated as twice the equivalent diameter of the mandrel, dm. The
discharge capacity, qw, was designated as Awkw, where Aw and kw
are the cross-section and longitudinal permeability of the drain,
respectively. The time factor, Th, for horizontal drainage can be
calculated using:
Ch t
Th ¼ (6)
D2e
where Ch is the coefficient of horizontal consolidation and t is the
time elapsed after the application of the load. Sensitivity analyses
were made by varying the values of Ch and kh/ks.
4. Numerical simulations of settlements
(1)
In PVDCON, the finite element formulation considers the effects
of PVDs by modifying the one-dimensional continuity equation of
(2) consolidation as follows (Hansbo, 1981; Chai and Miura, 2000).

where Uh is the degree of consolidation for horizontal drainage; Th kv v2 ðu
pvac Þ 8kh ðu
pvac Þ v3 v
is the time factor for horizontal drainage. The values of F(n), Fs and
þ ¼0 (7)
gw vz2 gw D2e F vt
Fr are given by the following equations:

 where gw is the unit weight of water, z is depth, t is time, 3 v is
De 3
FðnÞ ¼ ln
(3) volumetric strain, u is excess pore water pressure, pvac is the final
dw 4
vacuum pressures, kv is hydraulic conductivity in vertical direction


 and kh is hydraulic conductivity in horizontal direction.
kh ds For FEM simulation with improved zone by using equivalent
Fs ¼
1 ln (4)
ks dw vertical permeability, kev, which was proposed by Chai et al. (2001).
460 P. Voottipruex et al. / Geotextiles and Geomembranes 42 (2014) 457e467

33 33

Sand Blanket Surcharge Fill

Surface Settlement Monument
Dummy
Instrumentation
>30 Platform Level

0
-2
Deep
Settlement
Gauge -5 -5

Inclinometer
-8
Electrical
Piezometer -10 -10
- 12

-15
- 16 Unit : metre

-20 -20 (min.) -20 (min.) -20

PVD

-25
AIT Type Piezometer -25
Legends:

-30 Electrical Piezometer Observation Well Inclinometer

-30
Deep Settlement Gauge Surface Settlement Monument

-35 AIT Type Piezometer Surface Settlement Plate

-35
Fig. 3. Conventional PVD preloading scheme cross-section and monitoring instruments.

Fig. 4. Vacuum-PVD preloading scheme cross-section and monitoring instruments.

 P. Voottipruex et al. / Geotextiles and Geomembranes 42 (2014) 457e467 461

Time, t (day)
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
0

PVDs Improvement (SP-W5-021T)

200
Vacuum-PVDs Improvement (MSA-ZB36)
400
Settlement, S (mm)

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600
Fig. 7. Multi-layer model for settlement analysis using PVDCON program.
1800

2000
4.1. Settlement simulation using PVDCON program
Fig. 5. Comparison of settlement of PVDs improvement schemes with and without
vacuum pressure at locations MSA-ZB36 and SP-W5-021T, respectively.
For simulations using PVDCON software for conventional PVD
and Vacuum-PVD schemes, the subsoil was divided into 5 layers as
The equivalent vertical permeability, kev, was derived by converted shown in Fig. 7 and it consists of a 2.0 m thick weathered clay
the expressions of Carillo (1942) and Hansbo (1981) into one- layer overlying a 3.0 m very soft clay layer, a 5.0 m soft clay layer
dimensional drainage. The equivalent vertical permeability is and a 3.0 m soft to medium clay layer, respectively. Underneath
given as follows: the soft to medium clay layer of 3.0 m thickness, a 2.0 m thick
medium clay layer can be found. The soil parameters using in
! PVDCON program consist of 9 parameters, namely: total unit
2:5l2 kh weight (gt), natural water content (wn), maximum past pressure
kev ¼ 1þ kv (8)
mD2e kv 0
(svm), compression ratio (CR), recompression ratio (RR), critical
state frictional constant (M), overconsolidation ratio (OCR), coef-
where ficient of vertical consolidation (Cv) and coefficient of horizontal
consolidation (Ch), respectively, as tabulated in Table 2. The design
kh, kv ¼ permeability of undisturbed soil in horizontal and ver- parameters of both conventional PVD and Vacuum-PVD schemes
tical direction, respectively. for settlement analyses are tabulated in Table 3. In the field con-
l ¼ drainage length of PVD improved zone. dition, the simulation used the equivalent vertical permeability,
m ¼ factor of PVD geometry as expression of Hansbo (1981). kev, obtained from solution of Chai et al. (2001) for PVDs with
embankment surcharge and PVDs with embankment surcharge
n  k 3 p2l2 kh with vacuum preloading as shown in Fig. 7. The equivalent vertical
m ¼ ln þ h lnðsÞ
þ (9) permeability, kev, was applied in the simulation to represent both
s ks 4 3qw
vertical and radial flow. The vertical permeability, kv, is tabulated
where the parameters have been defined previously. in Table 4.

Time, t (day) Table 2

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 Input data of general soil parameters at SBIA in PVDCON software.
0 0
Depth gt (kN/m3) wn svm CR RR M OCR Cv Ch
PVDs Improvement (SP-W5-023T) (m) (%) (kN/m2) (m2/yr) (m2/yr)
200
Vacuum-PVDs Improvement (MSA-ZB42)
0e2 18.50 70 45 0.35 0.035 1.2 3.31 1.095 2e3Cv
400 2e5 13.80 110 37 0.50 0.050 0.9 1.1e1.5 1.022 2e3Cv
5e10 14.00 100 59 0.42 0.042 1.0 1.1e1.5 1.606 2e3Cv
Settlement, S (mm)

600
10e13 15.00 75 100 0.40 0.040 1.2 1.59 1.314 2e3Cv
13e15 15.70 60 110 0.30 0.030 1.2 1.43 1.314 2e3Cv
800

1000

Table 3
1200
Parameters related to conventional and Vacuum-PVD schemes for settlement
1400 analyses.

Item Unit Values

1600
Drain type: conventional PVD
1800 Equivalent diameter of the drain, dw ¼ (b þ t)/2 mm 51.5
Diameter of the equivalent soil cylinder, De ¼ 1.05S m 0.8925
2000
Smear zone diameter, ds ¼ 2dm mm 191.5
Hydraulic conductivity ratio, kh/ks 2e10
Fig. 6. Comparison of settlement of PVD improvement schemes with and without
Discharge capacity, qw m3/yr 100
vacuum pressure at locations MSA-ZB42 and SP-W5-023T, respectively.
462 P. Voottipruex et al. / Geotextiles and Geomembranes 42 (2014) 457e467

Table 4
Simulation parameters of soft Bangkok clay.

Layer H (m) e0 g (kN/m3) kv (m/day) Cv (m2/day) k n l M ecs

1 2 1.35 18.5 7.02E
05 0.0030 0.036 0.3 0.357 0.9 2.11

2 3 2.52 13.8 5.05E
05 0.0022 0.076 0.3 0.764 0.9 4.90
3 5 2.44 14.0 5.05E
05 0.0022 0.063 0.3 0.627 0.95 4.73
4 3 11.8 15.0 8.42E
05 0.0036 0.049 0.3 0.486 1.1 3.76
5 2 1.46 15.7 8.42E
05 0.0036 0.032 0.3 0.321 1.1 2.86

4.2. Settlement simulations using ABAQUS software
ABAQUS software was applied in an axisymmetric FEM software
based on Biot consolidation theory that can be employed to
simulate the 2D drain analysis (Hibbitt et al., 2006) The axisym-
metric FEM simulation of PVDs with embankment preloading and
PVDs with embankment combined with vacuum preloading
schemes were generated as shown in Figs. 8 and 9, respectively. A
drainage element in finite element mesh was specified to simulate
the drainage of vertical drain. Through the input of a specific cross
sectional area, Aw, and discharge capacity, qw, or permeability of kw
for the drainage element, the well resistance can be introduced to
the analysis. The axisymmetric mesh was specified with horizontal
(kh) and vertical (kv) permeability. For the simulation model, water
drained radially to the drain and to the top by vertical drainage. The
simulation parameters are tabulated in Table 4. The horizontal
permeability was assumed to be twice the vertical permeability.
The Modified Cam Clay model and CAX8RP (8-node biquadratic
displacement, bilinear pore pressure) element in 2D plane strain
were used in the simulation. Moreover, in a three-dimensional and

Fig. 8. Axisymmetric FEM simulation with separate kv and kh for conventional PVD scheme using ABAQUS software.

Fig. 9. Axisymmetric FEM simulation with separate kv and kh for Vacuum-PVD scheme using ABAQUS software.
 P. Voottipruex et al. / Geotextiles and Geomembranes 42 (2014) 457e467 463

Time, t (day) Table 5

The flow parameters from back-calculation of field data with conventional PVD and
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 Vacuum-PVD schemes.
0
Type Ch (m2/yr) kh/ks

200 Measured data Conventional PVDs (SP-W5-001T) 2.62 9.2

Predicted curve Conventional PVDs (SP-W5-031T) 2.37 10
Conventional PVDs (SP-W5-021T) 2.58 8.4
400
Conventional PVDs (SP-W5-023T) 2.39 10
Settlement, S (mm)

SP-W5-021T: Vacuum-PVDs (EW03-ZB01) 3.89 5.1

600 Vacuum-PVDs (EW03-ZB05) 5.43 5.9
2
Ch = 2.58 m /yr Vacuum-PVDs (MSA-ZB36) 3.56 7.3
800 kh /ks = 8.4 Vacuum-PVDs (MSA-ZB42) 4.83 10

1000
MSA-ZB36 and MSA-ZB42, respectively. The back-calculated Ch
1200
values of MSA-ZB36 and MSA-ZB42 were 3.56 and 4.83 m2/yr,
1400 respectively, with corresponding kh/ks values of 7.3 and 10. The final
settlements predicted from Asaoka (1978) method of MSA-ZB36
1600 and MSA-ZB42, were 1473.71 and 1725.56 mm, respectively.
Comparing the observed data and predicted data, the predicted
Fig. 10. Comparison of simulated and measured data from field observation with curve agreed well with the observed values of conventional PVD
conventional PVD scheme at SP-W5-021T.

two-dimensional multi-drain finite element analyses (ABAQUS),

Time, t (day)
the predicted results from equivalent 2D (plane strain) and 3D
analyses were similar (Rujikiatkamjorn et al., 2008; Indraratna 0 50 100 150 200 250 300
et al., 2009). 0
Measured data
200
5. Back-calculation of flow and compressibility parameters Predicted curve
using ABAQUS software 400
MSA-ZB36:
Settlement, S (mm)

For conventional PVD scheme, Figs. 10 and 11 show the com- 600 Ch = 3.56 m2 /yr
parison of the observed data and simulated or predicted data at in- kh /ks = 7.3
800
situ of SP-W5-021T and SP-W5-023T, respectively. The back-
calculated Ch values of SP-W5-021T and SP-W5-023T were 2.58
1000
and 2.89 m2/yr, respectively, with corresponding kh/ks values of 8.4
and 10. The final settlements predicted from Asaoka (1978) method 1200
of SP-W5-021T and SP-W5-023T were 1473.71 and 1725.56 mm,
respectively. The rest of the data are tabulated in Table 5. Thus, the 1400
average back-calculated Ch value was 2.49 m2/yr with average back-
calculated kh/ks value of 9.4. 1600
For Vacuum-PVD scheme, Figs. 12 and 13 show the comparison Fig. 12. Comparison of simulated and measured data from field observation with
of the observed data and simulated or predicted data at in-situ of Vacuum-PVD scheme at MSA-ZB36.

Time, t (day) Time, t (day)

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 0 50 100 150 200 250 300
0 0
Measured data 200 Measured data
200
Predicted curve Predicted curve
400 400
Settlement, S (mm)

SP-W5-023T:
Settlement, S (mm)

600 MSA-ZB42:
600 Ch = 2.39 m /yr
2
Ch = 4.83 m2 /yr
kh /ks = 10 800
800 kh /ks = 10
1000
1000
1200
1200
1400
1400 1600

1600 1800
Fig. 11. Comparison of simulated and measured data from field observation with Fig. 13. Comparison of simulated and measured data from field observation with
conventional PVD scheme at SP-W5-023T. Vacuum-PVD scheme at MSA-ZB42.
464 P. Voottipruex et al. / Geotextiles and Geomembranes 42 (2014) 457e467

Table 6
Comparison of Ch and kh/ks values of Vacuum-PVD scheme in percent compared to
conventional PVD scheme.

Item Vacuum-PVDs improvement Average

EW03-ZB01 EW03-ZB05 MSA-ZB36 MSA-ZB42

Increase 48.47 129.11 37.98 102.09 77.91

in Ch (%)
Decrease 44.56 41.00 13.09 e 24.46
in kh/ks (%)

and Vacuum-PVD schemes. The values of the Ch and kh/ks for

conventional PVDs and Vacuum-PVDs are tabulated in Table 5.
The percent increase in Ch and percent decrease in kh/ks of
improvement with Vacuum-PVD compared to conventional PVD
schemes are summarized in Table 6. The average percent
increase in Ch of improvement with Vacuum-PVD scheme
compared to conventional PVD scheme was 77.91% with the
average reduction in kh/ks was 24.47%. Thus, the application of
vacuum pressure can increase the horizontal coefficient of
consolidation, Ch because applying vacuum pressure generated
negative pore water pressure along the drain which resulted in
faster rate of settlement compared to conventional PVD scheme.
Fig. 16. Comparison of measured and simulated settlements by PVDCON software with
conventional PVD scheme at SP-W5-021T.
6. Simulated settlements and sensitivity analyses by PVDCON
software
For settlement simulations of soft ground improvement with
conventional PVD and Vacuum-PVD schemes using the PVDCON
software, the results showed that the simulated settlement values
were in good agreement with the observed field data because the
settlements simulated by PVDCON software neglected elastic
settlements.
The sensitivity analyses of simulated settlement of improve-
ment with conventional PVD and Vacuum-PVD schemes were
demonstrated by neglecting elastic settlement and the simulated
settlements from sensitivity analysis using PVDCON software are
shown in Figs. 14e18. For sensitivity analyses using PVDCON soft-
ware by varying OCR, kh/ks and the ratio of Ch/Cv using PVDCON
software, the results are as follows:

(1) When varying OCR values (Figs. 14e16), the simulated set-
tlements show that increasing values of OCR can reduce the
simulated settlements as expected. It is noted that the OCR
values are difficult to predict in the subsiding environment of
soft Bangkok clay.
(2) The ratio of horizontal permeability at undisturbed zone to
horizontal permeability at smear zone (kh/ks) affected the
Fig. 14. Comparison of measured and simulated settlements by PVDCON software with simulated settlement, increasing kh/ks, can reduce the pre-
conventional PVD scheme at SP-W5-001T. dicted rate of settlement as demonstrated in Figs. 14e16.

Fig. 15. Comparison of measured and simulated settlements by PVDCON software with Fig. 17. Comparison of measured and simulated settlements by PVDCON software with
conventional PVD scheme at SP-W5-031T. Vacuum-PVD scheme at MSA-ZB36.
 P. Voottipruex et al. / Geotextiles and Geomembranes 42 (2014) 457e467 465

Table 8
The appropriate kh/ks from ABAQUS FEM simulation of field data with
conventional PVD and Vacuum-PVD schemes by using back-calculated
C h.

Type kh/ks

Conventional PVDs (SP-W5-001T) 10

Conventional PVDs (SP-W5-031T) 9
Conventional PVDs (SP-W5-021T) 6
Conventional PVDs (SP-W5-023T) 10
Vacuum-PVDs (EW03-ZB01) 7
Vacuum-PVDs (EW03-ZB05) 7
Vacuum-PVDs (MSA-ZB36) 7
Vacuum-PVDs (MSA-ZB42) 10

(2) The back-calculated Ch values for PVDs at locations of SP-W5-

Fig. 18. Comparison of measured and simulated settlements by PVDCON software with
Vacuum-PVD scheme at MSA-ZB42.
(3) The ratio of horizontal coefficient of consolidation to vertical
coefficient of consolidation (Ch/Cv) also effected the simu-
lated settlements. The higher the ratio of Ch/Cv, the higher
rate of simulated settlement.
For conventional PVD scheme, the appropriate OCR was found
to be 1.3e1.5 with kh/ks of 8e10 and Ch ¼ 2Cv where Cv ¼ 1.58 m2/yr
as shown in Figs. 14e16. Moreover, for a certain OCR value, the
values of kh/ks tended to increase with time which resulted in the
decrease in the rate of settlements. For Vacuum-PVD scheme, the
appropriate OCR was found to be 1.2e1.3 with kh/ks of 2e10 and
Ch ¼ 3Cv where Cv ¼ 1.58 m2/yr as shown in Figs. 17 and 18.
Furthermore, for a certain OCR value, the values of kh/ks slightly
decrease with time and the consequent increase in the rate of
settlements. The flow parameters from PVDCON software simula-
tion of field data with PVDs and Vacuum-PVDs are tabulated in
Table 7. Thus, the addition of vacuum pressure to PVD increased the
coefficient of horizontal consolidation, Ch as expected. The other
parameters may not be affected that much. The summaries of
values for both conventional and Vacuum-PVD schemes are tabu-
lated in Table 8 for convenience and clarity.
7. Conclusions
Based on the data and results of the analyses, the following
conclusions can be made:
(1) The PVD with combined embankment and vacuum pre-
loading scheme indicated faster rate of settlement than PVDs
with embankment in the same total pressure by about
1.7e1.8 times.
Acknowledgments
001T, SP-W5-031T, SP-W5-021T and SP-W5-023T were 2.62,
2.37, 2.58 and 2.39 m2/yr, respectively, with corresponding
kh/ks values of 9.2, 10, 8.4 and 10.
(3) The back-calculated Ch values for Vacuum-PVDs of EW03-
ZB01, EW03-ZB05, MSA-ZB36 and MSA-ZB42 were 3.89,
5.43, 3.56 and 4.83 m2/yr, respectively, with corresponding
kh/ks values of 9.2, 10, 8.4 and 10.
(4) The average percent increase in Ch Vacuum-PVD scheme
compared to conventional PVD scheme was 77.91% with the
average reduction in kh/ks of 24.46%.
(5) Increasing OCR can reduce the magnitude of simulated set-
tlements. Moreover, the ratio of horizontal permeability at
undisturbed zone to horizontal permeability at smear zone
(kh/ks) affected the simulated settlements. Increasing the
ratio of kh/ks, can reduce the rate of simulated settlement.
(6) The ratio of horizontal coefficient of consolidation to vertical
coefficient of consolidation (Ch/Cv) also effected the simu-
lated settlement. The higher the Ch/Cv ratio, the higher rate of
simulated settlement.
(7) The appropriate OCR was found to be 1.3e1.5 with kh/ks of
8e10 and Ch ¼ 2Cv for conventional PVD scheme where
Cv ¼ 1.58 m2/yr.
(8) The appropriate OCR was found to be 1.2e1.3 with kh/ks of
2e10 and Ch ¼ 3Cv for Vacuum-PVDs scheme where
Cv ¼ 1.58 m2/yr.
(9) The appropriate kh/ks was found to be 6e10 from FEM
simulation by using the back-calculated Ch for conventional
PVD scheme. In addition, for a certain OCR value, the kh/ks
ratio increased with time which indicated the reduction of
the settlement rate.
(10) The appropriate kh/ks was found to be 7e10 from FEM
simulation by using back-calculated Ch for Vacuum-PVD
scheme. Moreover, for a certain OCR value, the kh/ks ratio
slightly decreased which indicated the slight increase of
settlement rate.

Table 7 The authors wish to acknowledge the Royal Thai Government

The flow parameters from PVDCON software prediction of field data with conven-
(RTG) and Maruyama Industry Co., Ltd. for their financial support in
tional PVD and Vacuum-PVD schemes.
this research.
Type Ch (m2/yr) kh/ks

Conventional PVDs (SP-W5-001T) Ch ¼ 2Cv 8e10 Appendix

Conventional PVDs (SP-W5-031T) Ch ¼ 2Cv 8e10
Conventional PVDs (SP-W5-021T) Ch ¼ 2Cv 8e10
The method used for calculating the values of Ch and kh/ks
Conventional PVDs (SP-W5-023T) Ch ¼ 2Cv 8e10
Vacuum-PVDs (EW03-ZB01) Ch ¼ 3Cv 4e6
Vacuum-PVDs (EW03-ZB05) Ch ¼ 3Cv 2e4 The back-calculation for calculating the values of kh/ks and Ch is
Vacuum-PVDs (MSA-ZB36) Ch ¼ 3Cv 8e10 illustrated:
Vacuum-PVDs (MSA-ZB42) Ch ¼ 3Cv 6e10

Note: Cv ¼ 1.58 m2/yr. 1. Find the final settlement Sf, from the method of Asaoka (1978).
466 P. Voottipruex et al. / Geotextiles and Geomembranes 42 (2014) 457e467

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