• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• 제24권2호
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• pp.129-141
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• 2021

The vacuum preloading method has been used in many countries for soil improvement and land reclamation. However, the treatment time is long and the improvement effect is poor for the straight-line vacuum preloading method. To alleviate such problems, a novel combined air booster and straight-line vacuum preloading method for shallow ground treatment is proposed in this study. Two types of traditional vacuum preloading and combined air booster and straight-line vacuum preloading tests were conducted and monitored in the field. In both tests, the depth of prefabricated vertical drains (PVDs) is 4.5m, the distance between PVDs is 0.8m, and the vacuum preloading time is 60 days. The prominent difference between the two methods is when the preloading time is 45 days, the injection pressure of 250 kPa is adopted for combined air booster and straight-line vacuum preloading test to inject air into the ground. Based on the monitoring data, this paper systematically studied the mechanical parameters, hydraulic conductivity, pore water pressure, settlement and subsoil bearing capacity, as determined by the vane shear strength, to demonstrate that the air-pressurizing system can improve the consolidation. The consolidation time decreased by 15 days, the pore water pressure decreased to 60.49%, and the settlement and vane shear strengths increased by 45.31% and 6.29%, respectively, at the surface. These results demonstrate the validity of the combined air booster and straight-line vacuum preloading method. Compared with the traditional vacuum preloading, the combined air booster and straight-line vacuum preloading method has better reinforcement effect. In addition, an estimation method for evaluating the average degree of consolidation and an empirical formula for evaluating the subsoil bearing capacity are proposed to assist in engineering decision making.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• 제19권5호
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• pp.447-462
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• 2019

The vacuum preloading method has been used in many countries for ground improvement and land reclamation works. A sand cushion is required as a horizontal drainage channel for conventional vacuum preloading. In terms of the dredged-fill foundation soil, the treatment effect of the conventional vacuum preloading method is poor, particularly in Tianjin, China, where a shortage of sand exists. To solve this problem, straight-line vacuum preloading without sand is widely adopted in engineering practice to improve the foundation soil. Based on the engineering properties of dredged fill in Lingang City, Tianjin, this paper presents field instrumentation in five sections and analyzes the effect of a prefabricated vertical drain (PVD) layout and a vacuum pumping method on the soft soil ground treatment. Through the arrangement of pore water pressure gauges, settlement marks and vane shear tests, the settlement, pore water pressure and subsoil bearing capacity are analyzed to evaluate the effect of the ground treatment. This study demonstrates that straight-line vacuum preloading without sand can be suitable for areas with a high water content. Furthermore, the consolidation settlement and consolidation degree system is developed based on the grey model to predict the consolidation settlement and consolidation degree under vacuum preloading; the validity of the system is also verified.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• 제6권4호
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• pp.377-389
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• 2014

The vacuum consolidation method which was proposed by Kjellman in 1952 has been studied extensively and used successfully since early 1980 throughout the world, especially in East and Southeast Asia. Despite the increased successful use, different opinions still exist, especially in connection to distribution of vacuum with depth and time in vertical drains and in soil during preloading of soft ground. Porewater pressure measurements from actual cases of field vacuum and vacuum-fill preloading as well as laboratory studies have been examined. It is concluded that (a) a vacuum magnitude equal to that in the drainage blanket remains constant with depth and time within the vertical drains, (b) as expected, vacuum does not develop at the same rate within the soil at different depths; however, under ideal conditions vacuum is expected to become constant with depth in soil after the end of primary consolidation, and (c) there exists a possibility of internal leakage in vacuum intensity at some sublayers of a soft clay and silt deposit. A case history of vacuum loading with sufficient subsurface information is analyzed using the ILLICON procedure.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• 제13권2호
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• pp.319-331
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• 2017

This vacuum preloading combined with polyacrylamide (PAM) flocculation was proposed to separating solid-liquid in waste slurry and to improving bearing capacity of soft soil ground. By using waste slurry taken from drilled shaft construction site in Shanghai, China, a series of settling column tests with four typical flocculants and one normal for waste slurry were carried out for comparative analysis. The optimal amounts for each flocculant were obtained from the column tests. Then, model tests on vacuum preloading with anionic polyacrylamide (APAM) flocculation and without flocculants were carried out. The out of water and the settlement of slurry surface ground were monitored during the model tests, and the changes in water content, particle-size and pore-size distributions in different positions after the model tests were measured and discussed. It is found that water content of the waste slurry without APAM flocculation changed from 204 to 195% by 24 hours standing and 15 hours vacuum preloading, while the water content of the waste slurry with APAM flocculation was declined from 163 to 96% by 24 hours standing, and was further reduced into 37% by 136 hours vacuum preloading, which shows that the combined method is feasible and effective.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• 제17권6호
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• pp.543-551
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• 2019

In China, serious environmental problems are induced by the extremely soft construction waste slurries in many urban areas, and there is no appropriate method to treat it presently. In this paper, four model tests were conducted to investigate the efficiency of waste slurry treatment by combining three conditioning agents which can change characteristics of the slurries with a traditional vacuum preloading method. The tests of size analysis of particle aggregate were conducted to investigate the influence of different conditioning agents on the size distributions of particle aggregate. During the model test, the discharged water volumes were monitored. The pore-size distribution and void ratio of the waste slurries after the vacuum preloading were measured by mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP). It is found that 1) During the natural precipitation, volume of water out of the organic agent is higher than that of the mixed agent, but it is smaller than that of the mixed agent in the vacuum preloading stage; 2) the mixed agent has a higher total volume of water out than the organic agent and the inorganic agent after test, while the organic agent and the inorganic agent have little difference with respect to the drainage effect. The results demonstrate that the combination of mixed conditioning agent and vacuum preloading for the solid-liquid separation in waste slurry has a satisfactory effect and can be applied in engineering practice.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• 제6권5호
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• pp.419-436
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• 2014

Soil improvement by preloading with PVD in combination with vacuum is helpful when a considerable load is required to meet the desired rate of settlement in a relative short time. To facilitate the vacuum propagation, vertical drains are usually employed in conjunction. This ground improvement method is more and more applied in the Mekong delta of Vietnam to meet the needs of fast infrastructure development. This paper reports on a pilot test that was carried out to investigate the effect of ground improvement by vacuum and PVD on the rate of consolidation at the site of Saigon International Terminals Vietnam (SITV) in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province, Viet Nam. Three main aspects of the test will be presented, and namely, instrumentation and field monitoring program, calculation of consolidation settlement and back-analysis of soil properties to see the difference before and after ground improvement.

• 한국지반공학회지:지반
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• 제12권5호
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• pp.79-88
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• 1996

진공압밀공법은 성토재하압밀공법과는 달리 성토재료가 불필요하며, 급격한 재하에 의한 전단 파괴에 대한 위험이 없다는 공법원리상의 장점을 지니고 있으나, 시공상의 어려움으로 국내외적으로 활발하게 적용되지는 않았다. 그러나 최근들어 진공막 설치기술 및 강력한 진공펌프등의 등장으로 시공기술이 발전되면서 진공압밀공법은 미국, 유럽, 일주등지에서 적극적으로 활용되기 시작했고, 국내에서도 광양, 김해등지의 연약지반에 개량공법으로 적용된바 있다. 일반적으로 진공에 의한 부압을 가상성토하중으로 환산하고 이를 압밀이론에 적용하여 진공압밀시의 지반 거동을 예측하고 있다. 그러나 진공압을 가상성토하중으로 모델링할 경우 진공압밀공법적용시 지반내 전응력변화없이 유효응력만이 증가하는 현상을 적절히 모델링 할 수 없다. 즉 진공압에 대한 가상성토하중 모델링은 지반거동에 중요한 영향을 미치는 응력 경로를 실제와는 달리 고려하게 된다. 진공압 가상성토하중 모델링(model 1)의 적합성을 검토하기 위하여, 김해지역의 하수처리장 부지조성을 위하여 진공압밀공법이 적용된 지반에 대한 예측을 수행하였다. 일반적으로 Model 1은 진공압밀하에서의 지반침하에 대하여서는 합리적으로 예측할 수 있으나 진공부압 을 가상성토하중으로 가정하기 때문에 과잉간극수압의 크기 및 소산양상을 예측하는데는 적용 할 수 없다는 단점이 있다. 본 연구에서는 진공압밀하에서의 실제와 같이 지반의 응력경로를 고려할 수 있도록, 진공에 의한 부압을 지표면 수압의 경계 치로서 모델링(model 2)하는 해석기법을 제안하였다. 현장계측치와 비교결과, Model 2는 압밀 침하량 및 침하시간뿐 아니라 과잉 간극 수압의 크기 및 소산양상 등 진공압밀하에서의 실 지반거동이 매우 유사하게 예측되었다.

• 한국정밀공학회지
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• 제30권12호
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• pp.1327-1333
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• 2013

Air bearings are widely used in precision stages because of low friction and high motion accuracy, however, they suffer from low stiffness in comparison with rolling bearings or hydrostatic bearings. So, several preloading methods using weight, magnet and vacuum force, and opposing pads have been used to increase the stiffness of the air bearings. In this paper, pressure distributions of the vacuum preloaded porous air bearings are calculated using the proposed method. And then, the load capacity and stiffness are analyzed. For the vacuum preloaded air bearings, the stiffness is increased owing to reduced bearing clearance by vacuum force. The simulation results indicate that variation of vacuum pressure with clearance in the vacuum pocket gives rise to low stiffness, so the vacuum pocket should be designed for pressure to be constantly maintained regardless of the bearing clearance by means of large effective pumping speed.

• Tribology and Lubricants
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• 제22권2호
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• pp.93-98
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• 2006

The numerical analysis of the negative pressure porous gas bearings is presented. The pressure distribution is calculated using the finite difference method. The Reynolds equation and Darcy's equation are solved simultaneously. The air bearing stiffness and damping are evaluated using the perturbation method. Rectangular uniform grid is employed to model the bearing. The vacuum preloading is considered. The pressure in the vacuum pocket is assumed to be a constant negative pressure. The total load, stiffness, damping and flow rate are calculated fur several geometrical configurations and several values of negative pressure. It is found that too large vacuum pocket can result in negative total force.

• 한국지반신소재학회논문집
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• 제21권1호
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• pp.11-21
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• 2022

본 연구에서는 개별진공압밀공법과 침투압밀공법의 단점을 보완하여 새로운 연약지반 개량공법인 개별진공 침투압밀공법을 개발하여 수치해석을 통해 지반 공학적 거동을 예측하였다. 개별진공 침투압밀공법을 적용할 경우, 대수층이 개량 대상층 중간 또는 하단에 위치하여 피압 대수층인 경우 침하 촉진 및 발생 침하량 증대 효과가 높았다. 대수층에서의 양수량은 일정 수준 이상 되면 침하 거동에 영향을 미치지 않는 것으로 나타났다. 성토체 내측이나 외측 등 다양한 위치에서 진공 양수정을 설치하여도 침하 및 수평 변위 차이는 미미하였다. 개별진공압밀과 병행하는 경우, 진공압이 적용되는 초기 침하는 진공압의 크기에 영향을 받았지만, 최종 침하량은 진공압의 영향이 미미한 것으로 예측되었다. 또한, 두 공법을 동시에 진행하는 것이 침하속도가 가장 빠르고, 내향 변위도 큰 것으로 예측하였다. 본 연구에서 개발한 공법은 매우 빠른 시점에 목표 침하량에 도달할 수 있으므로 연직배수재 배치 간격을 늘릴 수 있어 경제성을 확보할 수 있는 것으로 확인되었다.