Consolidation Considering Clogging Effect under Uneven Strain Assumption

Abstract

In land reclamation projects, the vacuum preloading method has been widely used to strengthen dredged fills by removing water. However, during the improvement process, clogging inevitably occurs in the drains and soils, hindering water drainage and causing inhomogeneous consolidation results. Therefore, it is essential to evaluate the effect of clogging on the consolidation behavior of dredged slurry at different radii. In this study, analytical solutions are derived under an uneven strain assumption to calculate the consolidation in the clogging zone and the normal zone, with time-dependent discharge capacity and clogging in the soil considered. Results calculated by the proposed solutions indicated that the clogging effect slows down the development of consolidation, reduces the final consolidation degree, and increases the difference between consolidations at different radii. It is found that the influence of the clogging effect's varies with the speed of the discharge capacity decay, the value of the initial discharge capacity of the drain, the permeability, and the radius of the clogging zone. Finally, a practical application of the proposed solution is discussed, and the proposed solution is suggested for the calculation of consolidation when treating high-water-content slurry.