Accelerating the Consolidation of Soft Clay Soil Using Pervious Concrete Pile

Abstract

Primary functions of permeable granular piles such as sand drains and stone columns are increasing the time rate of consolidation, improving bearing capacity, and reducing settlement. However, the permeable granular piles improve the time rate of consolidation, and their performance depends on the confinement provided by the surrounding soil, which restricts their applicability in very soft soils. In this regard, an innovative pervious concrete pile has been introduced to reduce the confinement effects. Pervious concrete piles are a combination of already established PVD and stone column techniques. In this study, the performance of the pervious concrete pile in terms of improving the consolidation behavior of soft soil is compared with the sand drain and stone column. To attain the objective of this study, a few numbers of design mixes have been made and tested to arrive at a proportion with optimum permeability and the compressive strength for the pervious concrete pile. Initially, consolidation tests were performed for a soil sample (without any drains) to determine the consolidation behavior of the soil sample. A series of radial consolidation tests on soil samples introduced with sand drain, stone column, and pervious concrete piles were also performed to assess the effectiveness of all the methods. From the experimental test results, the pervious concrete pile shows an enhanced performance in accelerating the time rate of consolidation of the soft soil over conventional sand drains and stone columns.