Analytical study on suppression effect of pore water pressure and displacement of surrounding ground by vacuum consolidation method

Using the vacuum consolidation method, a soft ground is consolidated without the shear deformation of the ground, and the combination of this method along with embankment loading enables the stable construction of the embankment and the suppression of the displacement of the surrounding ground. In this study, numerical analyses are conducted to investigate the effect of the construction speed of an embankment and the period of vacuum consolidation preceding the embankment construction on the stability of the foundation ground and the displacement of the surrounding ground during the embankment construction. The analytical object is a 10-m-high embankment, and it is assumed that the embankment is constructed with the vacuum consolidation method to stabilize the foundation ground. The results indicate that it is more effective to reduce the construction speed of the embankment than to provide a preceding period of vacuum consolidation in order to obtain the effect of suppressing the pore water pressure. On the other hand, the preceding period of vacuum consolidation effectively suppresses the displacement of the surrounding ground.