Effects of vertical drains on settlement and load carrying capacity of a footing on soft soil

摘要

Effectiveness of providing vertical drains on the settlement and load carrying capacity of a footing on soft consolidating soil is investigated. Numerical model based on finite element method is used to formulate the consolidation problem. Axi-symmetric three-dimensional problem for the flow of water in soil mass is converted into an equivalent plane strain model. Modified Cam-Clay model is used to represent the behavior of soil. The settlement and pore pressure predicted by various matching approaches to model the vertical drains in plane strain analysis is also compared. It is concluded from the study that the settlement of the footing after construction reduces and the load carrying capacity of the soil increases due to installation of vertical drains.