Effects of electrode configuration on electro-osmotic consolidation

摘要

Electro-osmotic consolidation is an effective technique to treat soft soil with low hydraulic conductivity. In practice, the electrode may be installed in different configurations. In order to study the effects of electrode configuration, four main electrode configurations are concluded from the previous work on laboratory experiments and field tests. Subsequently, a 3D numerical model coupling the seepage field, the stress and strain field and the electrical field is employed to analyze the effects of electrode configuration and electrode space. The results indicated that the triangular configuration and the square configuration with one cathode surrounded by eight anodes could achieve larger average surface settlement and smaller differential settlement. The influence of electrode space was mainly observed on the differential settlement and the results illustrated that the smallest differential settlement could be achieved by keeping the representative element regular in the triangular configuration and the square configuration with one cathode surrounded by eight anodes.