CANADIAN GEOTECHNICAL

JOURNAL. VOL.

7. 1970

On the effectiveness of sand drains: Discussion

G. LINDSKOG
AND B. B. BROMS
Received July 31, 1970

Casagrande and Poulos ( 1969) have made Test Area I1 had decreased in 1961 to about
a thorough and interesting study of the effec- the same value as that outside the loaded area
tiveness of sand drains on the basis of published indicating the completion of the primary conand unpublished data from a number of case solidation. The scatter of the measured values
records. Among the cases discussed by the outside the test areas is about &0.4 m for the
authors are some fullscale tests carried out by three pore pressure gauges. In Test Area IV
the Swedish Geotechnical Institute at SkC the piezometric level was still in 1969 higher
Edeby (about 25 km west of Stockholm) which than that of the surrounding soil. The difference
have been reported by Hansbo (1960). The was about 0.9 m.
measurements at Ski-Edeby are still going on
The consolidation of the clay below the
and some additional information about Test gravel fill is still continuing (1970) in both
Areas I1 and IV are presented below.
test areas. The compression of the layers loTest Areas I1 and IV have a diameter of cated between 2.5 and 7.5 m below the ground
35 m (115 ft) and are loaded by a 1.5 m surface is since April 1959, about 16 cm in
(5 ft) high gravel fill, which corresponds to a Area I1 and 23 cm in Area IV. However, the
surface pressure of 2.7 t/m2 (0.27 t.s.f.). settlement rate has decreased more rapidly in
Mandeldriven sand drains with a diameter of Test Area I1 than in Area IV. Mainly secondary
18 cm (7 in.) and spaced 1.5 m ( 5 ft) apart settlements have taken place after 1961 in
were installed in Test Area 11. In Test Area IV Area I1 and the settlement rate of the clay
no drains were used.
layer mentioned above was in 1969 about
Typical results from Test Areas I1 and IV 0.3 cm/year. At the same time the settlement
are shown in Fig. 1. The indicated overloads rate for the same layer in Area IV was about
in Fig. 1 refer to the middle of the two test 1.2 cm/year. Obviously the consolidation for
areas. The piezometric head was measured at this test fill is still in its primary state.
Hansbo (1960) calculated in his report the
the middle of the test areas and at three points
about 17 m (57 ft) outside the test areas at settlement due to primary consolidation for the
a depth of 5.0 m (16.5 ft). The compression clay layer located between the depths -2.5
shown in Fig. 1 relates to the middle of the and -7.5 m. From the compression characteristest areas and the layers which initially were tics determined from laboratory consolidation
located between 2.5 m (8.3 ft) and 7.5 m tests he calculated a settlement of 54 to 57 cm
(25 ft) below the ground surface. The pore for Test Area 11. In the calculations the effects
pressure gages in Test Area I1 were located of the disturbance caused by the driving of
halfway between two sand drains. It should be the drains have been neglected. Calculations by
noted that the measured pore pressures are Hansbo based on the remaining measured exhigher than the mean values until the excess cess pore water pressures in comparison with
pore pressures have fully dissipated between the observed settlements up to April 1959
indicated a primary consolidation settlement of
the drains.
In April 1959, when the last measurements 60 cm.
From Fig. 1 it can be seen that the observed
shown in Hansbo's report were made, the
measured piezometric level in Test Area N at settlement in the middle of Test Area I1 was
the depth of 5 m was only about 0.7 m higher about 61 cm at the beginning of 1962 when
than in Test Area 11. The difference between the excess pore water pressures had dissipated.
the mean values must, however, be larger than Thus the observed settlement is in good agree0.7 m because of the location of the pore ment with that calculated.
In Test Area IV the settlement due to pripressure gauges in Test Area I1 as mentioned
mary consolidation of the clay layer located
above.
As shown in Fig. 1 the pore pressures in between 2.5 to 7.5 m below the ground surface
Canadian Geotechnical Journal, 7, 508 (1970)

509

DISCUSSIONS

8 P8

P8

TEST AREAS

Test area Z

Test area

0 5

Scale

2Orn

Legend:

$ Piezometer

Vertical settlement meter

FIG.1. Result from full-scale loading test at Skl-Edeby.

510

CANADIAN GEOTECHMCAL

had been calculated by Hansbo as 47 to 54 cm.

On the basis of the remaining excess pore
pressure in 1969 compared with the observed
settlement the final primary settlement seems
to be about 55 cm.
The mean value of the coefficient of consolidation can be calculated from the settlement
curves. In Test Area IV the mean cv-value
seems to be about 3 x lW4cm2/s. The coefficient of consolidation decreased somewhat with
increasing consolidation. This value is higher
than those obtained from the laboratory tests
(the minimum +value was 0.4 to 0.5 X
cm2/s). Some sand or silt seams in the varved
clay have probably influenced the measured
consolidation rates for the field test.
On the basis of the test results from Test
Area I1 Hansbo calculated a c,,-value of about
1.0 to 1.2 x
cm2/s from the classical
theory and a A-value of about 0.5 X
cm2/s from his new theory. Thus the A-value
is about the same as the c,-value determined

JOURNAL. VOL. 7.

1970

by the oedometer tests.

The low calculated ch-value for Test Area I1
seems to be caused by disturbance of the clay
by the driving of the sand drains. The ch-value
is normally higher than the +value. Laboratory
tests indicate that the c,,-value for the clay at
Ski-Edeby is about four times the value of c,.
In spite of the remoulding caused by the
driving, the sand drain method is extensively
used in Sweden. In the calculation of the rerequired distance between the drains the minimum value of c, as determined by laboratory
test is used. The minimum spacing is about
1.1 to 1.2 m. The experience gained in Sweden
of the method is relatively favorable. No unsuccessful cases have been recorded.
CASAGRANDE,
L. and Pouros, S. 1969. On the effectiveness of sand drains. Can. Geotech J., 6,
pp. 287-326.
HANSBO,
S. 1960. Consolidation of clay, with special
reference to influence of vertical sand drains.
Swedish Geotech. Inst., Proc. No. 18, Stockholm.