Proceedings of Indian Geotechnical Conference

December 22-24,2013, Roorkee

BACK PREDICTION OF RADIAL CO-EFFICIENT OF CONSOLIDATION OF

CLAY SOIL BASED ON REAL TIME MONITORING OF PVD
M. Vinoth, L&T Construction, Buildings and Factories, Chennai 89, E mail:vinothmani@lntecc.com
M. Bhanuchitra, L&T Construction, Buildings and Factories, Chennai 89, E mail:bhanuchitra@lntecc.com
ABSTRACT: A depot for rail bogie maintenance of Chennai Metro Rail Ltd. is under construction in Chennai,
India covering an area of about 270,000m2. The sub-soil strata comprise a layer of soft clay at depth of7 to 18 m
below existing ground level which is expected to undergo long term consolidation settlement due to the loads from
filling and rail operations. Hence Ground improvement using Prefabricated Vertical Drains (PVD) with surcharge
was undertaken to accelerate the consolidation over the entire depot area. For the PVD design, the crucial factor i.e.
the ratio of coefficient of consolidation in horizontal direction (Ch) to coefficient of consolidation in vertical
direction (Cv) was taken as 4. With this design assumption it was expected that 3 months with 2m surcharge was
required for achieving the required consolidation. Total number of 289 plate settlement markers was installed and
readings were taken on a regular basis, from the field observations it was observed that almost 70% of
consolidation has happened within about a months time showing the high radial co-efficient of consolidation of
clay. Back calculation from the field revealed that (Ch/Cv) ratio was around 9 against our earlier assumption of 4. It
can be concluded that (Ch/Cv) ratio is the crucial factor in PVD design.

INTRODUCTION
A depot for rail bogie maintenance of Chennai
Metro Rail Ltd. is under construction at
Koyambedu in Chennai, India. The depot covers an
area of about 270,000 m2. The Natural Ground
Level (NGL) within the depot is on an average at
level of +9.0 m above Mean Sea Level (MSL). The
formed floor level of the depot is proposed to be at
+10.0 MSL. The soil profile in the depot shows the
presence of soft silty clay at a depth of 7 m to 18 m
from the NGL. Because of the loading due to the
fill soil (form NGL to +10.0 MSL) throughout the
depot and track loading, the soft clay layer is
expected to undergo consolidation, leading to time
dependent settlement in future. Hence it was
proposed to accelerate the consolidation by
Prefabricated Vertical Drains (PVD) and
surcharge. This paper discusses on the importance
of (Ch/Cv) ratio in the PVD design based on field
monitoring and also the learnings from the study.
SUMMARY OF DESIGN DETAILS
Sub-soil profile for the depot area is shown in the
Table 1.The PVDs were installed up to a depth of
refusal tothe mandrel penetration, which is
approximately equivalent to an SPT N valueof
20. Triangular pattern of installation was followed

because it provides more uniform consolidation

between drains than the equivalent square pattern.
Table 1 Generalised Soil Profile
Depth from
Type of layer
EGL (m)
Medium sand
0.0 7.0
Silty clay
7.0 18.0
Hard clay
18.0 24.0
Dense sand
24.0 30.0

Avg.
SPT N
13
5
20
50

Predicted consolidation settlement for the 11m

thick soft clay layer is 249mm. PVD was designed
with 1.5m spacing, surcharge for 2m and time
period of three months. Coefficient of
consolidation in vertical direction (Cv) was taken as
1.64m2/yr and the coefficient of consolidation in
horizontal direction (Ch) was taken as four times of
the Cv value based on the special lab test conducted
in the IITM lab [1].Detailed PVD design and
settlement calculation are given in case study on
the use of PVDs for ground improvement for the
depot area of Chennai Metro Rail (2012, [2]).
INSTRUMENTATION AND MONITORING
To capture the actual behaviour at the site
instrumentation was planned. As mentioned earlier
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Vinoth,M. & Bhanuchitra, M.

that entire depot site covers an area of 270,000m2,

this huge area is divided into three stages and inturn divided into small grids of dimension (50 m
50 m). One plate settlement marker was installed
for every 900 m2. Total number of plate settlement
markers installed in site was289.
The execution of the ground improvement work
involved preparation of the existing ground,
placement of Engineer fill soil to raise ground level
to +10.0 MSL throughout the depot area, over
which 150 mm coarse grained gravelly soil
drainage layer was laid for facilitating drainage of
water collected by the PVDs. The PVDs were
installed using a mandrel that provided minimum
subsoil disturbances. PVDs were installed upto the
bottom of the soft clay layer. Plate settlement
gauges were bedded 1 m below the natural ground
to measure the actual settlement of the natural
ground surface. Layout of the settlement marker is
shown in the Fig.1.
Monitoring of the ground Settlement was
continued until consolidation was completed. The
readings from the instrumentations were observed
on daily basis for the initial couple of weeks, and
twice in week thereafter. For each stage five
settlement markers were selected and plots of
surcharge loading height and corresponding
settlement are shown in Fig. 2-4.
In the Fig. 2-4 the top portion shows the filling and
the removal of the surcharge with time. In the
bottom portion of the Fig. 2-4 the actual settlement
with time for the corresponding surcharge height is
plotted. From the Fig. 2-4 it can be seen that
observed settlement was slightly lesser than the
predicted settlement. This may be because of
varies reasons like the top 6m sand layer acting as
a crust preventing from the transfer of load to the
bottom soft silty clay layer, the soft clay layer may
be over consolidated clay with Over Consolidation
Ratio (OCR) greater than 1.Hence, it has to be
dealt separately and not included in the present
scope of the paper.
BACK CALCULATION OF (Ch/Cv) RATIO
Important / crucial factor involved in PVD design
is (Ch/Cv) ratio which was taken as 4 on

Fig.1Plate Settlement marker Layout.

conservative based on the special lab test
conducted in IITM. Settlements where monitored
in the field to capture the actual field response and
ultimately to find out the actual (Ch/Cv) ratio. For
back calculating the (Ch/Cv) ratio parameters like
vertical coefficient of consolidation, horizontal
coefficient of consolidation, PVD- properties,
spacing and pattern, surcharge and depth of clay
layer are constant the only variable available is the
time. Hence effective time period required for
consolidation was obtained from the plots plotted
between time and settlement.Effective time period
is considered as the duration between from the start
of settlement and to the initial point on the curve
from where settlement flattens out.

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Back prediction of radial co-efficient of consolidation of clay soil based on real time monitoring of PVD

Settlement occurred during effective time period in

settlement marker number 56 =105mm
Percentage of settlement occurred during effective
time period =
(1)
=
91.30% > 90%
So from Eq. 1, it can be concluded that the
required degree of consolidation is also achieved in
the effective time period itself.

Fig.2Settlement vs. Time Plot for Stage-1 for the

corresponding Surcharge height.

Fig.4Settlement vs. Time Plot for Stage-3 for the

corresponding Surcharge height.

Fig.3Settlement vs. Time Plot for Stage-2 for the

corresponding Surcharge height.
From the Fig. 2-4, it can be seen that most of the
settlement occurs in the initial period of surcharge.
Let us consider the plate settlement marker number
56 in Fig. 2, settlement occurs rapidly for the initial
two weeks then flattens out. So our effective time
period for plate settlement marker number 56 is
around 16 days. To find out the degree of
consolidation that the soil has undergone in this
effective period following calculationis shown,
Maximum settlement observed in settlement
marker number 56
=
110mm

In similar way for other plate settlement markers

effective time period was calculated and verified
whether the required degree of consolidation
(90%) is also achieved within that effective time
period. The average effective time period obtained
from all the plots was 45 days. This is half of the
assumed design period (90 days). This clearly
shows that soil is having higher ratio of coefficient of consolidation in horizontal direction to
that of vertical direction than the assumed (Ch/Cv)
ratio.
With the effective time period obtained from the
field results, (Ch/Cv) ratio was back calculated and
the calculations are shown below,
The input parameters considered for the design is
shown in Table.2.

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Vinoth,M. & Bhanuchitra, M.

Table 2: Input parameters considered in PVD

design
Parameter
Value
Vertical Coeff. of consolidation (Cv)
1.64 m2/yr
Horizontal Coeff. of consolidation
X Cv
(Ch)
Thickness
of clay layer
11 m
Ultimate consolidation settlement
249 mm
Effective time period
45 days
Width of PVD
100 mm
Thickness of PVD
4 mm
*X
To be determined.
Steps involved in back predicting the (Ch/Cv)
ratio[3& 4] is shown below,
Step 1: Determination of vertical consolidation
Time factor, for normal consolidation
(Tv) =

C t
Tv v
2
d

(2)

Vertical Degree of consolidation pertaining to this

time factor, (Uv) =

4Tv

(3)

Step 2:Determination of Radial consolidation

For triangular pattern of installation of PVDs,
Diameter of equivalent soil cylinder (de) = 1.05s
(where, s = spacing of PVDs)
Since the effective time period has been reduced by
half and (Ch/Cv) ratio is inversely proportional to
the time period. It is assumed that (Ch/Cv) ratio has
increased by two times.
Therefore, Ch =
8Cv
(4)
Time factor for radial consolidation,
(Tr) =

Tr

Cht
2
de

(5)

Radial degree of consolidation pertaining to the

time factor,
Ur =1- exp[-8 Tr / F(n)],
(6)

effective time greater than the required degree of

consolidation was achieved. So the assumed
(Ch/Cv) ratio of 8 is lesser than the actual field
condition. Hence, the design was repeated with
(Ch/Cv) ratio of 9. The design step was repeated
from Eq. 4 to Eq. 8. The obtained degree of
consolidation for (Ch/Cv) ratio of 9 was 91.52%
which is greater than the required degree of
consolidation (90%) and almost matching with the
field data.
CONCLUSION
From this case study the following conclusions
were deduced on the design and behaviour of
ground improvement system with PVDs.
1. Coefficient of consolidation in horizontal
direction (Ch) is very crucial in the PVD design
and hence it has to be determined precisely.
2. Field
monitoring
through
proper
instrumentation is very much essential for the
study on the actual field consolidation.
REFERENCES
1. Sridhar, G. and Robinson, R.G. (2011),
Determination of radial coefficient of
consolidation using log t method, International
Journal
of
Geotechnical
Engineering,
(2011),383-391.
2. Vinoth, M., Varalakshmi, L., Murugesan, S.
and Robinson, R.G., case study on the use of
PVDs for ground improvement for the depot
area of Chennai metro rail, Indian Geotechnical
Conference, (2012), 269-272.
3. Federal highway administration, prefabricated
vertical drains, engineering guide linesVol.1.
4. IS 15284: Part 2: (2004), Design and
construction of ground improvement
guidelines Pre consolidation using vertical
drains.

Where ,
F(n)=n2 / (n2 -1)*log e (n) (3n2 -1)/4n2(7)
Total Degree of Consolidation,
U = 1- (1- Uv)(1- Ur) = 88.90 %
(8)
It is less than the required degree of consolidation
(90%). From field results we know that with this
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