Ground Improvement Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers

Volume 164 Issue GI2 Ground Improvement 164 May 2011 Issue GI2
Pages 65–72 doi: 10.1680/grim.900022
Compressibility behaviour of preloaded Paper 900022
highly plastic clays Received 26/06/2009 Accepted 15/01/2010
Published online 06/01/2011
Bindu and Vinod Keywords: materials technology/strength and testing of materials

ICE Publishing: All rights reserved

Compressibility behaviour of
preloaded highly plastic clays
j
1 J. Bindu MTech j
2 P. Vinod PhD
Senior Lecturer in Civil Engineering, College of Engineering, Assistant Professor in Civil Engineering, College of Engineering,
Trivandrum, India Trivandrum, India

j
1 j
2

Preloading is a proven technique for improving the shear strength and reducing the compressibility of clays. This
paper presents the results of laboratory oedometer tests, undertaken to explore in detail the changes in
compressibility characteristics of a remoulded, highly plastic organic marine clay upon preloading. The test results
indicate that the application of preload pressure as small as one-sixteenth of the footing pressure would cause a
reduction in post-construction settlement by about 40%. Using the findings of the present study, a mathematical
model was developed to predict the magnitude of preload pressure to be applied to achieve a specific reduction in
consolidation settlement such that the residual settlement would be within acceptable performance limits.
Experimental results also suggest that the relationship between the deformation (expressed as a percentage of soil
thickness) and the applied pressure for preloaded highly plastic clays could be treated as a rectangular hyperbola
and hence the behaviour could be characterised by a two-parameter model that was dependent on the magnitude of
the preload pressure. Expressions were also developed for the satisfactory prediction of these parameters to calculate
the post-construction settlements.

1. Introduction the construction of a runway at Stockholm-Arlanda airport over

The use of the preloading technique is a relatively inexpensive an area of 250 000 m2 containing clay and organic deposits
but effective method for improving poor foundation soils. Tem- caused a relative compression of 22–29% (Eriksson et al., 2000).
porary surcharge loading makes it possible to eliminate, in Laboratory test results, substantiated by relatively large settle-
advance of the construction of structures or pavements, subsoil ments measured under instrumented test embankments, indicated
settlement that would otherwise occur subsequent to completion that preloading is an effective technique in eliminating the
of construction (Johnson, 1970). Different criteria are used to primary consolidation settlement and in reducing the secondary
monitor and evaluate improvement of soil by preloading but the compression (Al-Shamrani, 2004).
attained average degree of consolidation from settlement records
is considered the most widely used criterion (Hansbo, 1981). This study investigated the effectiveness of the preloading tech-
Preloading is frequently used in combination with the installation nique in reducing post-construction settlement of Kuttanad clay,
of vertical drains; the purpose of the latter is merely to reduce the which is a highly plastic, normally consolidated organic marine
time required for foundation stabilisation (Jamiolkowski et al., clay. A series of conventional one-dimensional consolidation tests
1983). Prefabricated vertical drains have been used successfully were done on remoulded soil samples in order to quantify the
in many soil improvement and land reclamation projects in Asia degree of improvement due to preloading. The planning of
and the rest of the world (Arulrajah et al., 2004; Chu et al., preloading programmes requires reliable estimation of the amount
2006). Almost every conceivable type of soil including organic of surcharge necessary to achieve the required settlement prior to
and inorganic silts and clays and peaty soils have been improved actual construction.
by the preloading technique.
There have been many cases wherein post-construction settle-
The results of the full-scale study have proved the effectiveness ments have continued after completion of surcharge preloaded
of preloading along with prefabricated vertical drains for the embankments (Lefebvre, 1986). Prediction of settlement of
improvement of soft Bangkok clay (Bergado et al., 2002). preloaded soft soil is important not only for the design of
Vertical drainage in combination with preloading when used for preloading system but also for monitoring field settlements as

65
Ground Improvement Compressibility behaviour of preloaded
Volume 164 Issue GI2 highly plastic clays
Bindu and Vinod

construction progresses, and thus permitting any significant top. Both the porous stones used were in damped condition to
variation to be immediately accounted for before the construction avoid absorption of water from the sample. Filter papers were
is too advanced. Sridharan and Gurtug (2005) have developed a positioned on the top and bottom of the soil specimen to prevent
two-parameter model to characterise the compressibility behav- finer particles from being forced into the pores of the porous
iour of remoulded clays which has resulted in a more accurate stones. The consolidation cell was mounted and positioned on a
prediction of settlement of foundations. The validity of the above loading frame and a vertical deformation dial gauge capable of
method to predict the settlement of preloaded highly plastic clays reading to an accuracy of at least 0.01% of specimen height was
was also explored. properly fixed in position. The cell was inundated with distilled
water and a seating pressure of 6.25 kPa was applied. After
2. Materials and methods reaching equilibrium, conventional oedometer tests were per-
Ten soils from Kuttanad region in the State of Kerala, India were formed on all the ten soil samples up to a maximum pressure of
chosen for the present investigation. The typical soil of this 400 kPa. The possibility of the maximum in situ effective vertical
region is soft black or grey marine clay with very high natural pressure due to the overburden and any proposed construction
water content values. The subsoil essentially consists of mon- being greater than 400 kPa does not practically exist for this
tmorillonite organic complex (Moum et al., 1973) and has posed highly plastic Kuttanad soil. Dial gauge readings were taken and
an array of problems to geotechnical engineers due to its high graphs of void ratio were plotted against logarithm of effective
compressibility and low shear strength. The suitability of the pressure to obtain the compression index (Cc ).
preloading technique in reducing the compressibility of Kuttanad
clays was investigated through oedometer tests in the present Consolidation tests as discussed above were performed on
study. samples of preloaded clays as well in order to investigate the
changes in compressibility characteristics brought about by
All the soils were tested for their Atterberg limits as per ASTM preloading. Preloading was simulated in the laboratory by means
D 4318-00 (ASTM, 2000a) and grain size distribution character- of consolidation apparatus. Four identical samples of each of the
istics according to ASTM D 1140-00 (ASTM, 2000b) (Table 1). ten soils were subjected to preload pressures of magnitude 25, 50,
100 and 200 kPa. Preload pressures were applied in stages with
In order to study the compressibility behaviour, conventional the load increment ratio kept equal to 1. Soil specimens in the
odeometer tests were carried out on remoulded clay samples. The oedometer ring were allowed to consolidate under applied preload
samples were tested in standard fixed-ring consolidometers using pressures and the dial gauge readings were observed until the
brass rings which were 60 mm diameter and 20 mm high. The difference between consecutive readings became less than
inside of the rings was lubricated with silicone grease to 0.002 mm/h. Preload was then carefully removed from the load
minimise side friction between the ring and the soil specimen. frame without disturbing the specimen in the ring. Samples were
The soil specimens were hand remoulded in the consolidation kept as such until the difference between consecutive dial gauge
ring at their respective natural water contents. Extreme care was readings became less than 0.002 mm/h to allow the samples to
taken to prevent any air entrapment in the sample. The ring and swell back upon removal of preload. This was followed by routine
the specimen were placed centrally on the bottom porous stone consolidation tests to obtain an in-depth understanding of the
and upper porous stone, and then the loading cap was placed on compressibility characteristics of preloaded clays. Settlement

Soil designation Natural water Specific gravity, Liquid limit, Plastic limit, Shrinkage limit, Clay size: Compression
content, wn : % G wL : % wP : % wS : % % index, Cc

S1 101.6 2.74 119.4 45.7 22.0 33.0 0.593

S2 64.7 2.71 70.8 36.0 14.9 38.0 0.515
S3 169.3 2.75 221.0 40.8 23.7 42.0 1.151
S4 165.6 2.50 170.0 32.7 18.5 37.0 0.922
S5 151.3 2.49 176.5 49.5 15.3 48.0 0.995
S6 168.1 2.60 174.4 34.5 22.8 40.0 1.044
S7 170.0 2.58 174.0 42.2 18.6 44.0 0.900
S8 174.6 2.72 243.9 38.7 18.3 47.0 1.400
S9 184.3 2.72 276.3 40.8 21.0 45.0 1.475
S 10 126.7 2.53 128.1 50.9 21.1 51.0 0.691

Table 1. Properties of the soils used in the present study

66
Ground Improvement Compressibility behaviour of preloaded
Volume 164 Issue GI2 highly plastic clays
Bindu and Vinod

under each of the applied pressures was noted for all the horizontal, indicating the non-swelling behaviour of these highly
preloaded samples. The percentage reduction in settlement of the plastic clays.
preloaded samples, which is obviously a function of the soil type,
the preload pressure and the applied pressure, was also computed. To analyse the changes in compressibility due to preloading,
conventional e–log p curves were also plotted for identical
samples subjected to different preload pressures ( pc ). Typical
3. Results and discussion curves are shown in Figure 2. It can be seen that preloading
Figure 1(a) and (b) present the void ratio plotted against the reduced the initial void ratio to a considerable extent and greater
effective pressure (e–log p) for the ten soils tested. It can be seen reduction in compressibility was achieved at higher preload
that the e–log p curves for the remoulded samples tested are pressures. These curves clearly highlight the effectiveness of the
approximately straight lines, particularly at higher effective preloading technique in reducing post-construction settlement.
pressures and hence the compression index can be taken, for all
practical purposes, as a constant. The compression indices of the
3.1. Prediction of preload pressure for specified
tested samples are presented in Table 1. The extremely high
reduction in settlement
values of compression index in comparison with the values
In order to compare the settlement of specimens (for any given
reported in the literature (e.g. Burland, 1990; Nagaraj et al.,
value of applied pressure) subjected to various preload pressures,
1994) are noteworthy. The data on compression index values
the results of one-dimensional consolidation tests (e.g. Figure 2)
reported in the literature for remoulded fine-grained soil lie in the
were replotted with ˜H/Hi (˜H is the total deformation under
range 0.120 to 0.910. Six out of the ten highly plastic samples
effective pressure, p and Hi is the initial thickness of the sample)
tested in the present study were found to have compression index
on the y axis and effective pressures on the x axis. Figure 3 shows
values greater than the highest value reported in the literature.
the characteristic curves for the soil S5. The effectiveness of the
The preloading technique is of great importance for such a highly
preloading technique in reducing the compressibility of highly
plastic soil. The reloading portion of most of the curves is almost
plastic clays can be better understood from this figure. The
4·0 change in thickness of the preloaded sample was found to be
3·6 insignificant for applied pressures of magnitude less than or equal
3·2 to the preload pressure. For instance, for the sample preloaded to
2·8 100 kPa, the change in thickness for applied pressures up to about
Void ratio, e

2·4 100 kPa was insignificant as could be observed from the figure.
2·0 Furthermore, the numerical value of the initial thickness Hi used
1·6 S1 for the computation of ˜H/Hi %, presented in Figure 3 is
1·2 S2 obviously not the same for the samples subjected to different
0·8 S3 preload pressures. In particular, the initial thickness shows a
S4 significant decrease for the preload pressure of magnitude
0·4
S5 200 kPa. All these observations possibly lead to the inclination of
0·0
1 10 100 1000 the curve being different during the first loading steps.
Pressure, p: kPa
(a)
4·2

3·8
2·6
3·4 Soil designation: S5
Void ratio, e

3·0 2·2 pc ⫽ 0 kPa

Void ratio, e

2·6 pc ⫽ 25 kPa
pc ⫽ 50 kPa
2·2 S6 1·8 pc ⫽ 100 kPa
S7 pc ⫽ 200 kPa
1·8
S8
1·4
1·4 S9
S10
1·0
1 10 100 1000 1·0
Pressure, p: kPa 10 100 1000
(b) Pressure, p: kPa

Figure 1. Void ratio plotted against logarithm of effective Figure 2. Void ratio plotted against logarithm of effective
pressure for highly plastic clays: (a) S 1 to S 5; (b) S 6 to S 10 pressure before and after preloading

67
Ground Improvement Compressibility behaviour of preloaded
Volume 164 Issue GI2 highly plastic clays
Bindu and Vinod

60
Soil designation: S5 ratio of predicted to observed values of percentage reduction in
50 settlement were also estimated and were 1.006 and 0.052, respec-
tively.
40
∆H/Hi: %

3.2 Prediction of settlement of preloaded highly plastic

30 clays: a possible alternative approach
pc ⫽ 0 kPa Sridharan and Gurtug (2005) have demonstrated that compressi-
20
pc ⫽ 25 kPa bility characteristics of normally consolidated as well as over-
pc ⫽ 50 kPa consolidated clays could be better represented by two parameters
10 pc ⫽ 100 kPa
a and b, which are, respectively, the intercept and slope of the
pc ⫽ 200 kPa
0 linear portion of the relationship between p/(˜H/Hi ) and p. In the
0 100 200 300 400 500 case of preloaded Kuttanad clays, it was interesting to note that
Pressure, p: kPa when the y axis was shifted towards the curves through corre-
sponding preload pressures, the shape of each curve in Figure 3
Figure 3. ˜H/Hi % plotted against logarithm of effective pressure
appeared to be a rectangular hyperbola. Hence, they can be
before and after preloading
represented in terms of p/(˜H/Hi ) plotted against p such that a
linear relationship is obtained beyond the respective preload
pressures (Figure 6). The compressibility characteristics of pre-
loaded highly plastic clays can now be represented by the
For each of the applied pressures, the percentage reduction in intercept a and slope b. Sridharan and Gurtug (2005) have
settlement was calculated with respect to samples, which were proposed the following expression for settlement (S) due to
not preloaded (Table 2). For a given value of preload pressure, change in pressure from p1 to p2 :
the percentage reduction in settlement decreased as the magnitude
 
of the applied pressure increased. The percentage reduction in 2: S ¼ H að p2
p1 Þ=ð a þ bp1 Þð a þ bp2 Þ
settlement was therefore a function of both preload pressure and
applied pressure. Figure 4 shows the percentage reduction in
settlement plotted against the ratio of applied pressure to preload where H is the thickness of the compressible stratum and p1 is
pressure for all the samples tested. It is interesting to note that the existing overburden pressure at the centre of the compressible
about 40% of the post-construction settlement can be eliminated layer. Table 3 shows the values of a and b of the soils used in the
by a very small preload pressure, about 6.25% (one-sixteenth) of present study. Variation in the value of preload pressure from 25
the applied pressure. Further, about 65 and 79% reductions in to 100 kPa results in an about two- to three-fold increase in the
settlement were found to materialise for applied pressure/preload value of the parameter a whereas the value of the parameter b
pressure ratios of 4 and 2, respectively. Thus for the highly plastic decreases by about 8.6 to 52.2%. The compressibility parameters
soils used in this study, which were not expected to be subjected of preloaded highly plastic clays, therefore, seem to be heavily
to a pressure greater than 400 kPa, a preload pressure less than or dependent on the magnitude of preload pressure. The effect of
equal to 200 kPa was found to be sufficient enough to yield overconsolidation is inherent in the parameters a and b. The
satisfactory results. This was the reason why tests were not determination of a and b by carrying out the consolidation test on
performed with preload pressures greater than 200 kPa. It can preloaded samples is time consuming and hence correlations were
also be seen that the data points fall within a narrow range and also tried to predict the values of these parameters in terms of
hence can be represented by a regression model. Regression preload pressure (pc ) which resulted in the following equations:
analysis carried out to express the percentage reduction in
settlement as a function of the ratio (r) of applied pressure to 3: a ¼ 37:376 p0716
c
preload pressure resulted in the following equation having a
satisfactory value of correlation coefficient (0.981):

% reduction in settlement ¼ 4: b ¼ 3:653 p
0174

c

1:
0:05r 3 þ 1:51r 2
14:46r þ 101:82

These predictive models have correlation coefficients of 0.990
and 0.972 (for Equations 3 and 4, respectively). The ratio of
Figure 5 shows the predicted and observed values of percentage predicted to observed values of a and b have been evaluated and
reduction in settlement for all the ten soils tested. It can be seen the mean and standard deviation of these ratios are 1.009 and
that the variation was within 20% (except for just one among the 0.139 for a and 1.033 and 0.289 for b. The above values of
200 data points) and hence can be considered to be acceptable in correlation coefficient, mean and standard deviation can be
engineering applications. The mean and standard deviation of the considered to be quite acceptable in engineering applications.

68
Ground Improvement Compressibility behaviour of preloaded
Volume 164 Issue GI2 highly plastic clays
Bindu and Vinod

Soil Preload pressure, Percentage reduction in settlement

designation pc : kPa
p ¼ 25 kPa p ¼ 50 kPa p ¼ 100 kPa p ¼ 200 kPa p ¼ 400 kPa

S1 25 89.260 69.493 57.863 48.605 43.538

50 97.097 85.665 71.516 61.468 54.220
100 95.519 92.330 84.700 73.762 64.721
200 97.365 96.575 93.029 84.908 74.871
S2 25 94.320 74.194 62.963 54.425 48.229
50 96.885 89.124 75.545 65.856 58.229
100 96.813 96.135 88.161 77.326 67.188
200 96.987 96.868 94.245 89.021 76.868
S3 25 94.462 78.754 66.846 58.004 51.952
50 97.773 93.237 79.638 69.076 61.498
100 99.898 99.866 90.697 80.352 71.593
200 99.929 99.874 99.526 93.140 82.531
S4 25 97.128 78.751 67.963 59.367 52.954
50 99.118 91.343 78.741 69.484 61.974
100 98.601 98.084 90.520 78.971 70.906
200 99.825 99.133 97.629 88.402 80.034
S5 25 91.712 75.044 63.062 55.043 48.416
50 97.918 90.984 76.183 66.211 58.511
100 99.122 95.984 88.290 77.425 68.419
200 97.358 97.139 95.901 89.762 78.765
S6 25 91.037 73.735 61.115 53.260 46.530
50 94.748 89.663 74.453 65.511 56.973
100 96.017 93.766 87.730 77.335 68.559
200 97.208 96.419 94.783 89.079 79.431
S7 25 91.037 73.735 61.115 53.260 46.530
50 96.345 89.663 74.453 65.511 56.973
100 96.017 93.766 87.730 77.335 68.559
200 97.208 96.419 94.783 89.079 79.431
S8 25 96.974 72.265 58.067 48.444 41.509
50 99.906 93.597 75.287 63.612 54.285
100 99.914 95.585 92.342 78.732 67.417
200 99.891 97.026 96.684 92.404 80.222
S9 25 94.513 73.544 59.888 50.471 44.046
50 97.146 92.367 74.982 63.131 55.597
100 97.292 95.618 89.557 76.242 67.137
200 97.327 97.656 97.021 89.576 78.676
S10 25 95.441 79.275 67.659 59.096 52.333
50 97.941 92.411 79.811 68.803 61.756
100 97.842 94.175 90.453 79.045 70.794
200 99.276 97.376 94.934 89.246 80.379

Table 2. Reduction in settlement of highly plastic clays due to

preloading

Through the use of Equations 3 and 4, it becomes easier to 4. Conclusions

characterise the compressibility behaviour of preloaded highly Laboratory oedometer tests were performed to investigate the
plastic Kuttanad clays and the settlement can be readily obtained effect of preloading on the compressibility behaviour of a highly
from Equation 2. plastic, normally consolidated organic clay soil. All of the results

69
Ground Improvement Compressibility behaviour of preloaded
Volume 164 Issue GI2 highly plastic clays
Bindu and Vinod

120
presented have scale effects and, hence, can be considered to be
Percentage reduction in settlement

100 S1 only qualitative in nature. Large-scale field tests are required to

S2 quantify the compressibility characteristics for a given set of values
80 S3 of variables considered in the present study. However, it is believed
S4 that the laboratory oedometer tests could provide an insight into
60 S5
the effectiveness of preloading technique for the highly plastic
S6
S7 Kuttanad clays. Based on the findings of the present experimental
40
S8 investigation, the following specific conclusions can be drawn.
S9
20
S10 The preloading technique was very effective in improving the
0 compressibility behaviour of the soils tested. Even a small
0 5 10 15 20 preload pressure as low as one-sixteenth of the applied pressure
Applied pressure/preload pressure
may probably result in reduction in post-construction settlement
by about 40%. A qualitative estimate of the magnitude of preload
Figure 4. Variation of percentage reduction in settlement of
pressure to be applied to eliminate specific settlement can be
highly plastic clays with ratio of applied pressure to preload
obtained from the following equation, which is very useful in
pressure
planning the preloading system:

% reduction in settlement ¼
120

0:05r 3 þ 1:51r 2
14:46r þ 101:82
Percentage reduction in settement

S1 ⫾20%
100 S2
S3
80 S4 where r is the ratio of applied pressure to preload pressure. The
(predicted)

S5 applicability of Equation 1 is limited to preload pressure of

60 S6
S7 magnitude 200 kPa. Further, it may be possible to express the
40 S8 compressibility behaviour of preloaded highly plastic clays by
S9 two parameters, namely the intercept a and the slope of the linear
S10 portion b of the relationship between p/(˜H/Hi ) and p. The
20
parameters a and b could be expressed as functions of the preload
0 pressure (pc ) as follows:
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Percentage reduction in settlement (observed)
a ¼ 37:376 p0716
c and b ¼ 3:653 p
0174
c
Figure 5. Predicted and observed values of percentage reduction
in settlement

5. Recommendations
The following simple procedure may be adopted for applying the
1600 y ⫽ 1·501x ⫹ 868·1 findings of the present study to practical problems. Normally
Soil designation: S5
R2 ⫽ 1 consolidated highly plastic soil may undergo large settlements
1400
pc ⫽ 0 kPa y ⫽ 1·769x ⫹ 522·1 under structural loadings which can be computed based on
1200 pc ⫽ 25 kPa R 2 ⫽ 0·997 thickness of compressible layer, compression index of soil and
p/(∆H/Hi): kPa/%

1000 pc ⫽ 50 kPa y ⫽ 1·885x ⫹ 330·1 the loading intensity (applied pressure). Depending on the per-
pc ⫽ 100 kPa R 2 ⫽ 0·997 centage of settlement to be achieved prior to actual construction,
800
the magnitude of preload pressure to be applied can be obtained
600 from Equation 1. Alternatively, the compressibility behaviour of
400 y ⫽ 1·856x ⫹ 43·44 the highly plastic clay, for a given value of preload pressure, can
R 2 ⫽ 0·991 be characterised by the two parameters a and b using Equations 3
200
and 4. Now, settlement under the structural loading can be
0 computed from Equation 2.
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450
Applied pressure, p: kPa
The method of prediction of settlement described herein may
Figure 6. p/(˜H/Hi ) plotted against applied pressure for highly have shortcomings in predicting the actual field settlements due
plastic clays to the fact that the experimental samples are relatively small and
they are more homogeneous. The properties of Kuttanad clays are

70
Ground Improvement Compressibility behaviour of preloaded
Volume 164 Issue GI2 highly plastic clays
Bindu and Vinod

Soil Preload Compressibility parameters methods of prediction, the findings of the present study are
designation pressure, expected to be of great help in planning the preloading
pc : kPa a: kPa b programme.

S1 0 70.13 2.65 Acknowledgement

25 450.35 2.88 The authors express their gratitude to the Kerala State Council for
50 718.48 2.87 Science, Technology and Environment (KSCSTE), Government
100 1243.3 2.59 of Kerala, India, for funding this study, which is part of the
S2 0 48.86 2.08 sponsored research project on ‘Studies on Improving the Engi-
25 373.27 2.21 neering behaviour of Kuttanad clays using Preloading Technique’.
50 594.82 2.12
100 1094.90 1.50 REFERENCES
S3 0 38.11 1.8 Al-Shamrani MA (2004) Application of rectangular hyperbolic
25 347.93 1.82 method to settlement predictions of Sabkha soils.
50 571.63 1.64 Geotechnical and Geological Engineering 22(4): 563–587.
100 956.19 1.40 Arulrajah A, Nikraz H and Bo MW (2004) Factors affecting field
S4 0 41.8 2.01 instrumentation assessment of marine clay treated with
25 409.10 2.19 prefabricated vertical drains. Geotextiles and Geomembrane
50 631.15 2.11 22(5): 415–437.
100 992.36 1.97 ASTM (2000a) D 4318: Standard Test Method for Liquid Limit,
S5 0 43.44 1.86 Plastic Limit, and Plasticity Index of Soils. Annual Book of
25 330.12 1.89 ASTM Standards, Vol. 04.08. ASTM, West Conshohocken,
50 522.12 1.77 PA, USA.
100 868.17 1.50 ASTM (2000b) D 1140: Standard Test Method for Amount of
S6 0 51.43 2.07 Material in Soils Finer than the No 200 Sieve. Annual Book
25 374.60 2.13 of ASTM Standards, Vol. 04.08. ASTM, West Conshohocken,
50 589.23 2.05 PA, USA.
100 1036.10 1.83 Bergado DT, Balasubramaniam AS, Fannin RJ and Holtz RD
S7 0 51.43 2.07 (2002) Prefabricated vertical drains in soft Bangkok clay: a
25 374.60 2.13 case study of the new Bankok International Airport project.
50 589.23 2.05 Canadian Geotechnical Journal 39(2): 304–315.
100 1036.10 1.83 Burland JB (1990) On the compressibility and shear strength of
S8 0 56.83 1.8 natural clays. Géotechnique 40(3): 329–378.
25 353.42 1.59 Chu J, Bo MW and Choa V (2006) Improvement of ultra soft soil
50 591.53 1.38 using prefabricated vertical drains. Geotextiles and
100 1132.20 0.76 Geomembranes 24(6): 339–348.
S9 0 47.92 1.69 Eriksson U, Hansbo S and Torstensson BA (2000) Soil
25 313.03 1.52 improvement at Stockholm-Arlanda Airport. Ground
50 478.92 1.40 Improvement 4(2): 73–80.
100 751.92 1.26 Hansbo S (1981) Consolidation of fine grained soils by
S10 0 47.97 2.24 prefabricated drains. Proceedings of the 10th International
25 492.48 2.45 Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering,
50 792.20 2.28 Stockholm. 3, 677–682.
100 1204.60 2.24 Jamiolkowski M, Lancelotta R and Wolski W (1983)
Precompression and speeding up consolidation, Specialty
Table 3. Compressibility parameters of preloaded highly plastic session, General report. Proceedings of the 8th European
clays Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering,
Helsinki. A. A. Balkema, Rotterdam, 1201–1210.
Johnson SJ (1970) Foundation precompression with vertical sand
drains. Journal of Soil Mechanics and Foundation Division,
ASCE 96(SM 1): 145–173.
so heterogeneous that it is impossible to obtain the compressi- Lefebvre G (1986) Discussion – Post construction settlement of
bility behaviour that is applicable to field deposits. Hence, an expressway built on peat by precompression. Canadian
monitoring of the field settlement during and after preloading is Geotechnical Journal 23(3): 402–403.
highly essential; but in the absence of more reliable and accurate Moum J, Chatty NR and Ayyar TSR (1973) A natural 17Å

71
Ground Improvement Compressibility behaviour of preloaded
Volume 164 Issue GI2 highly plastic clays
Bindu and Vinod

montmorillonite-organic complex from Allepey, Kerala State, Limited, New Delhi, India.
India. Clays and Clay Minerals 21(2): 89–95. Sridharan A and Gurtug Y (2005) Compressibility characteristics
Nagaraj TS, Srinivasa Murthy BR and Vatsala A (1994) Analysis of soils. Geotechnical and Geological Engineering 23(5):
and Prediction of Soil Behaviour. New Age International 615–634.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

To discuss this paper, please email up to 500 words to the
editor at journals@ice.org.uk. Your contribution will be
forwarded to the author(s) for a reply and, if considered
appropriate by the editorial panel, will be published as a
discussion in a future issue of the journal.
Proceedings journals rely entirely on contributions sent in
by civil engineering professionals, academics and students.
Papers should be 2000–5000 words long (briefing papers
should be 1000–2000 words long), with adequate illustra-
tions and references. You can submit your paper online via
www.icevirtuallibrary.com/content/journals, where you
will also find detailed author guidelines.

72
Copyright of Ground Improvement: Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers is the property of Thomas
Telford Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the
copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for
individual use.