• Land and Housing Review
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.163-170
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• 2011

Individual Vacuum Pressure Method (IVPM) is a soft ground improvement technique, in which a vacuum pressure can be directly applied to the vertical drain board to promote consolidation and to strengthen the soft ground. This method does not require surcharge loads, different to embankment or pre-loading method. In this study, the ground improvement efficiency of Individual Vacuum Pressure Method was estimated when suction pressure increases step by step(-20, -40, -60, -80kPa) with different periods. During Individual Vacuum Pressure Method process, surface settlement and pore pressure were monitored, and cone resistance as well as water content were also measured after the completion of Individual Vacuum Pressure Method treatment. From the results, optimum duration of each step of vacuum pressure was determined, and the settlement was calculated using FEM numerical analysis.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.11-21
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• 2022

In this study, the individual vacuum seepage consolidation method, a new soft ground improvement method, was developed to supplement the conventional suction drain method (individual vacuum preloading method) and the geotechnical behavior was predicted through numerical analysis. If the individual vacuum seepage consolidation method applied, the effect of accelerating settlement and increasing the amount of settlement was high when the aquifer was located in the middle or at the bottom of the layer to the target improvement layer. It was found that the pumping amount in the aquifer does not affect the settlement behavior when it exceeds a certain level. Even vacuum pumping wells were installed in various locations, such as inside or outside of the embankment, the difference in settlement and horizontal displacement was insignificant. In addition, it was predicted that the settlement rate was the fastest and the horizontal displacement (inward) was large when both methods were carried out at the same time. Since this method can reach the target settlement amount very quickly, it was confirmed that it is possible to increase the spacing of vertical drain, thereby securing economic feasibility.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.27-37
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• 2021

An individual vacuum consolidation system has gained a popularity for a ground improvement of soft clayey soil. Finite element anaylses have been performed to simulate the individual vacuum consolidation system using a Plaxis 2D. The modelling procedures of the vacuum consolidation system are presented with the results of an unit-cell analysis. In addition, a case study was carried out to assess the applicability of the Plaxis 2D for simulating the consolidation behavior of soft ground subjected to the individual vacuum pressure.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.28 no.11
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• pp.41-52
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• 2012

Suction drain method can directly apply vacuum pressure to the soft ground through vertical drains so it can make hardening zones around them. These hardening zones make steeply lower the discharge efficiency of the pore water with decreasing permeability. This paper considered a stepped vacuum pressure to minimize a hardening zone which is one of the important parameters that can decrease discharge efficiency. A series of laboratory tests were conducted in order to examine the effect of the hardening zones and to evaluate their effects to the ground improvements with varying durations which applied stepped vacuum pressures(-20kPa, -40kPa, -60kPa and -80kPa) with Busan marine clay. According to strength(CPT), water content test and theoretical investigation indicate a size of the hardening zone within 7cm and the decreasing ratio of permeability about 2.0~4.0. Also, the total settlements are larger for the stepped vacuum pressure than the instant vacuum loading. The application time with vacuum pressure is determined considering the geotechnical properties of the interested clays. Results of numerical analysis show that consolidation behavior is appropriate to measurement for considering hardening zones.