A Study on Cohesive Soil Treated with Prefabr...

A Study on Cohesive Soil Treated with Prefabricated Vertical Drains using Finite Element Software

Author Name : Ms. Soumita Roy, Dr. Sibapriya Mukherjee, Dr. Abhipriya Halder

ABSTRACT

This paper highlights the implementation of PLAXIS 3D in order to conduct finite element analysis on cohesive soil that has been treated with Prefabricated Vertical Drains(PVDs) at spacings of 1m, 1.5m, 2m and 2.5m. Further comparison has been done for treated as well as untreated soil in order to investigate the effect on the settlement of the soil and the effect of smear zone on the excess pore pressure of the soil. The model has been validated using required data from the model embankment prepared by Giridhar et.al(2014) in PLAXIS 2D which is based at Krishnapatnam Ultra Mega Power Project located at Nellore, Andhra Pradesh, India. It has been observed that settlement is also studied to require more time for untreated soil compared to treated soil, with variations additionally observed with respect to the PVD spacing. Smear Zone radius has a significant contribution to the excess pore pressure, where it is noted that the smear zone radius varies directly with the excess pore pressure. The investigation can verify the functioning of Prefabricated Vertical Drains to be effective in improving the sub-soil conditions rendering it beneficial for construction purposes.

Keywords: Prefabricated Vertical Drains, Cohesive Soil, PLAXIS 3D