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Effect of Smear Zone Characteristics on PVD-Improved Soft Soils Using Field Data and Numerical Simulations

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Abstract

This study presents the performance of improved soft soil with prefabricated vertical drains by considering smear zone characteristics in the Mahshahr preloading project as a case study. An observational approach was used to predict the ultimate settlement (Sult), and then the numerical simulations were carried out using ABAQUS software with equivalent vertical permeability (kve), to determine the effects of the smear zone properties (ds/dw and kh/ks). To this end, the sensitivity analysis in terms of settlement and excess pore pressure was conducted by considering different combinations of the smear zone properties, and the back-analysis procedure was used to estimate the best properties of the smear zone. The obtained results demonstrated that the smear zone properties significantly affected the settlement rate and the degree of consolidation. Hence, with increasing ds/dw, the difference between simulated settlement curves increased, and reducing kh/ks led to more dissipation of the excess pore pressure and an increase in the settlement rate. Furthermore, the best estimation of smear zone properties was predicted using the back-calculation that led to the good agreement of numerical simulation results compared to the measured data.

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Data Availability

The datasets generated or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Abbreviations

d m :

Diameter of the mandrel

d s :

Diameter of the smear zone

d w :

Equivalent diameter of the drain

D e :

Equivalent diameter of the unit cell

e 0 :

Initial void ratio

E :

Young’s modulus

E t :

Accumulative error

k h :

Permeability coefficient of undisturbed soil in the horizontal direction

k v :

Permeability coefficient of undisturbed soil in the vertical direction

k s :

Permeability coefficient of the smear zone in the horizontal direction

k ve :

Equivalent vertical permeability

l :

Drainage length

LL:

Liquid limit

m :

Permeability ratio

Μ :

Slope of failure line

n :

Number of the observation point

N :

Total number of observation points

O 90 :

Opening size

\(P_{{\text{c}}}^{\prime }\) :

Preconsolidation pressure

PL:

Plastic limit

q w :

Discharge capacity of PVD

s :

Extent ratio

S n :

Settlement at time tn

S t :

Field settlement

S t s :

Simulated settlement

S ult :

Ultimate settlement estimated by Asaoka’s method

t :

Thickness of PVD

U :

Degree of consolidation

w :

Width of a band-shaped PVD

β 0 :

Intercept in Asaoka’s method plot

β 1 :

Slope in Asaoka’s method plot

γ sat :

Saturated unit weight

Δt :

Time interval

κ :

Slope of the unloading–reloading line

λ :

Slope of the normal consolidation line

μ :

Factor of the PVD geometry

ν :

Poisson’s ratio

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil Engineering, Central Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

    Mohammad Maleki

  2. Department of Civil Engineering, Zanjan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Zanjan, Iran

    Hamid Alielahi

  3. Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Road, Housing and Urban Development Research Center, Tehran, Iran

    Iraj Rahmani

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  1. Mohammad Maleki
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Correspondence to Hamid Alielahi.

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Maleki, M., Alielahi, H. & Rahmani, I. Effect of Smear Zone Characteristics on PVD-Improved Soft Soils Using Field Data and Numerical Simulations. Indian Geotech J 52, 1391–1409 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40098-022-00645-9

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