• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2000.03b
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• pp.583-590
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• 2000

The installation of vertical drains by using a mandrel causes significant disturbance of the subsoil. Thus a smear zone may be developed with reduced permeability and increased compressibility. In this paper the extent of smear zone developing ground disturbance with the installation of mandrels are analysed by field smear zone test. The extent and the consolidation characteristics of smear zones around the mandrels is compared with the shape, the size of mandrel and penetration speed and is evaluated from the field smear test results. (circular, sqare, rectangle and oval type)

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 1999.10a
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• pp.81-86
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• 1999

The installation of vertical drains by means of a mandrel causes significant remolding of the subsoil, especially in the immediate vicinity of the mandrel. Thus, a zone of smear will be developed with reduced permeability and increased compressibility. This paper is mainly concerned with a field study to investigate the effect of smear due to vertical drain installation. In the present study, a field smear test was conducted to assess the extent of the smear zone around the vertical drain. The extent of the smear zone around a vertical drain was evaluated from the CPT results. CPT test was carried out to some distance around the mandrel installation. The test results revealed that a smear zone was estimated to be 3.6~5.3 times of the mandrel diameter.

• Journal of Industrial Technology
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• v.29 no.A
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• pp.127-134
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• 2009

In this paper, an numerical approach is performed to investigate the effects of smear zone, occurred by penetrating vertical drains, on consolidation behavior of soft clay deposits. Such a numerical analysis is applied to the field condition to confirm its applicability. Parametric numerical analyses is carried out to study influencing factors such as permeability in smear zone, boundary of smear zone and discharge capacity of vertical drains on the consolidation of soil. As results of analyses, for the given conditions of soil, degree of consolidation is getting faster with increase of permeability of vertical drain. Degree of consolidation is delayed with decrease of permeability of smear zone. As the ratio of drain width to smear zone increases, the degree of consolidation decreases. Proposed values of influencing factors by previous researchers is found to be reliable from results of numerical analyses with Cam-clay model.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.105-131
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• 2014

In this paper, the effects of variability of smear zone characteristics induced by installation of prefabricated vertical drains on the preloading design are investigated employing analytical and numerical approaches. Conventional radial consolidation theory has been adopted to conduct analytical parametric studies considering variations of smear zone permeability and extent. FLAC 2D finite difference software has been employed to conduct the numerical simulations. The finite difference analyses have been verified using three case studies including two embankments and a large-scale laboratory consolidometer with a central geosynthetic vertical drain. A comprehensive numerical parametric study is conducted to investigate the influence of smear zone permeability and extent on the model predictions. Furthermore, the construction of the trial embankment is recommended as a reliable solution to estimate accurate smear zone properties and minimise the post construction settlement. A back-calculation procedure is employed to determine the minimum required waiting time after construction of the trial embankment to predict the smear zone characteristics precisely. Results of this study indicate that the accurate smear zone permeability and extent can be back-calculated when 30% degree of consolidation is obtained after construction of the trial embankment.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.35-40
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• 2007

The vertical drain method recently being used in Korea is divided into the sand drain method, the pack drain method, the paper drain method, and the PBD method according to the drainage. However, these methods generate the disturbed zone called the smear zone when the drainage is penetrated into the in-situ ground. The characteristics of the smear zone generated cause the problems that the coefficient of permeability decreases and the consolidation time becomes longer than expected in the design. Although the size of the smear zone is a very important factor directly influencing the degree of consolidation, in the existing studies, the general value for the size of the smear zone proposed has been used in the design. However, the size of the smear zone proposed by the existing studies cause a loss of economical efficiency because of the inaccuracy of the design. Hence, in this study, the characteristics on the size of the smear zone were analyzed by carrying out the three dimensional numerical analysis and the method to determine the conversion size of the smear zone considering the change of the coefficient of permeability was proposed in order to consider the change of the coefficient of permeability in the actual design.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2008.10a
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• pp.1136-1143
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• 2008

The Vertical Drains(Sand Drains, Pack Drain, PBD) is used for Vertical Drains Method in domestic. Each of the drains is selected after it consider a field condition and efficiency of drain. A discharge capacity is very important factor, which to estimate a efficiency. And the smear Zone where disturbance area of in-suit by installation of Vertical Drains is important factor to select a drains. In this study, the complex discharge capacity test was operated for discharge capacity comparison of the Wing Drain and PBD. And a model test was operated to apprehend smear zone of the Wing Drain and PBD. From these tests, it was apprehended an engineering characteristic of vertical drain. The results of the complex discharge capacity test, a discharge capacity fell below $20cm^3/sec$ to $1cm^3/sec$ in more than overburden load $2.5kg/cm^2$. The Wing Drain maintained a over $40cm^3/sec$ in more than overburden load $2.5kg/cm^2$ and minimum discharge capacity $8cm^3/sec$. The results of the smear zone test, a influence bounds of smear zone was more larger in case of the Wing Drain(rectangle) than the PBD. But when a discharge capacity of Wing Drain is considered, it was concluded which smear zone bounds difference was effected in comparison with PBD. I think that it minimized a mandrel section to minimize a smear zone effect range

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.13 no.8
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• pp.85-94
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• 2012

Evaluation of the smear effect caused by mandrel penetration into soft ground for a vertical drain installation is very important to predict the consolidation time of soft ground improvement. 30 kinds of laboratory model tests considering in situ conditions were conducted to investigate the formation of a smear zone and the decrease of coefficient of permeability in the disturbed zone. Three types(C(clay):M(silt)=1:1, 0.5:0.5, and 0:1) of reconstituted samples were used for 3 dimensional smear zone test. An experimental study was performed focusing on length of mandrel penetration, mandrel shape and size, earth pressure, and ground condition(unit weight and grain size distributions). Laboratory test results show that the length of mandrel penetration is the most critical factor for the formation of smear zone. As a result, the ratio between diameter of the smear zone($d_s$) and that of mandrel($d_m$) at field using long mandrel becomes larger than conventional $d_s/d_m$. The ratio between $d_s$ and $d_m$ ranges from 1.89 and 2.48 with the sample at C:M=1:0. It was also found that the $d_s/d_m$ value with the round shape of the mandrel is smaller than that of diamond one. The value of $d_s/d_m$ decreased with larger mandrel size, lower unit weight, and higher earth pressure. However, higher silt content led to increase of $d_s/d_m$. The ratio between coefficient of horizontal permeability in the smear zone($k_{hs}$) and that of undisturbed zone($k_{ho}$) ranged from 0.70 to 0.85. The test results imply that factors and values affecting $k_{hs}/k_{ho}$ show similar tendency with $d_s/d_m$.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2009.03a
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• pp.720-728
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• 2009

This thesis is results of numerical analyses about test results of discharge capacity apparatus using penetration method. Applicability of numerical approach with FEM technique, using Cam-clay model, was confirmed by analyzing the results of standard consolidation test before analyzing test results of discharge capacity apparatus using penetration method. Thus, input parameters for the model was convinced to be appropriate. For numerical analyses about test results of discharge capacity apparatus using penetration method, identical initial and loading conditions during tests were applied to simulate test results correctly. Effects of ground disturbance resulted from installment of vertical drains on the behaviors of consolidation were also simulated. Applicability of numerical approach was investigated by comparing test results with numerical ones. As results of them, both of consolidation settlement were found to be in good agreements so that its applicability was confirmed. As results of numerical estimation, degree of consolidation with the condition of considering smear zone was found to be delayed, compared with results without smear zone. On the other hands, parametric numerical analyses of changing parameters related to smear zone such as permeability and size of smear zone and permeability of vertical drain were also carried out.

• 한국방재학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2007.02a
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• pp.542-545
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• 2007

The vertical drain method generate the disturbed zone, because the drainage should be penetrated into the in-situ ground. The characteristics of the smear zone generated cause the problems that the coefficient of permeability decreases and the consolidation time anticipated in the design is not properly shortened. In this study, in order to understand such influence, the laboratory test were carried out so as to reasonably determine the coefficient of consolidation in silt. For that procedure, mandrel of a diversity were penetrated into the soil tube with silt, and then the variation of pore water pressure was measured with the pore pressure meter, Then, the range of smear effect on silt was estimated with monitoring data through the laboratory test, and also analyzed with inputting the coefficient of consolidation into the theoretical equation.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.207-216
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• 2003

To evaluate the smear zone caused by the drain installation, 10 piezometers were installed in the typical soft ground in the western coastal area of Korea. The dynamic pore water pressure developed during the drain installation was monitored using piezometers installed at a distance of 10cm, 20cm, 30cm, 40cm and 50cm from the location of the drain. The decay of pore pressure with time after pushing piezometers to depths of 5 meters and 7 meters during the drain installation was monitored to assess flow and consolidation characteristics of the soil after disturbance of the soil due to the drain installation. The drain installation results in shear strain and displacement of the soil and it decreases the permeability of the soil. Hence, the comparison between dissipation of the pore water pressure process in 10 pieszometers before as well as after installation of the drain indicated the diameter of disturbance zone and smear zone, which is related to the cross-sectional dimension of the mandrel. In addition, Cone-pressuremeter(CPM) tests were performed to obtain rigidity index of the soil for an interpretation of the dissipation processes. It has been evaluated by in-situ tests that the smear zone is from 3.0 to 3.6 times of the cross-sectional dimension of the mandrel. The hydraulic conductivity expressed in terms of the coefficient of consolidation after the drain installation was calculated from 3 to 8 times decrease evaluated by Teh & Houlsby equation and CPM test results.