Finite element analysis of reclaimed soil foundation consolidated by surcharge preloading combined with vacuum preloading

The reclaimed soil foundation is consolidated, and its vacuum preloading consolidation process is very complex, so are the boundary and initial conditions. Through the analysis of the formation of the reclaimed soil foundation and its consolidation process, the initial pore water pressure and the delivery of negative vacuum pressure in the PVDs are studied. The negative vacuum pressure is applied in the sand layer and the PVDs elements. The nonlinearity constitutive relation (Duncan-Chang’s model) is incorporated into the Biot’s consolidation theory program. Considering different load conditions, initial conditions and boundary conditions, a general-purpose program is compiled to analyze the behavior of the soft clay consolidation by use of the plain strain FEM. The program can both calculate the vacuum preloading and the surcharge preloading combined with the vacuum preloading. Two actual projects are calculated using this program. Comparison with the field measurements indicates that the proposed method reflects the developing trend of settlement and pore water pressure of the projects.