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Embankments on soft ground and ground improvement
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GEOSYNTHETICS ASIA 2012
5th Asian Regional Conference on Geosynthetics
13 to 16 December 2012 | Bangkok, Thailand
EMBANKMENTS ON SOFT GROUND AND GROUND

IMPROVEMENT
Jian Chu1, Dennis T. Bergado2, Eun Chul Shin3 and Jinchun Chai4
1
Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, 50011,
USA; Tel: +515-294-3157; Fax: +515-294-8216; Email: jchu@iastate.edu (Formerly Nanyang Technological
University, Singapore)
2
School of Engineering and Technology, Asian Institute of Technology, P.O. Box 4, Klong Luang, Pathumthani
12120, Thailand; Tel: +66-2-524-5512; Fax: +66-2-524-6050; Email: bergado@ait.ac.th
3
Department of Civil & Environmental System Engineering, University of Incheon, 12-1, Songdo-Dong,
Yeonsu-Gu, Incheon, Republic of Korea, 406-840, Tel: +82-32-835-8460; Fax : +82-32-835-0775;
Email: ecshin@incheon.ac.kr
4
Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Saga University, 1 Honjo, Saga 840-8502, Japan; Tel:
+0952-28-8580; Fax: +0952-28-8190; Email: chai@cc.saga-u.ac.jp
ABSTRACT
A review on the recent research and development on the use of geosynthetics for construction of embankment on
soft ground and related ground improvement methods is given in this lecture. For embankment on soft ground,
three commonly adopted methods: basal reinforcement using geosynthetics, consolidation using prefabricated
vertical drains (PVDs), and geosynthetic-reinforced columns/pile supported embankment (GRCSE) system are
briefly discussed. For ground improvement, only selected topics are elaborated. These are vacuum preloading,
geosynthetic encased columns and geogrid enclosed stone columns, use of geotextile tube or mats for dike or
embankment construction, and use of geosynthetics for construction over ultra-soft soil.
Keywords: embankment, geosynthetics, ground improvement, and soft soil.
INTRODUCTION geogrid enclosed stone columns, use of geotextile

tube or mats for dike or embankment construction,
Embankment on soft ground and ground and use of geosynthetics for construction over ultra-
improvement are two broad topics in geotechnical soft soil. These topics were selected mainly based on
engineering. Both have been frequently reviewed the practical importance and the experience of the
and discussed in the past. To name a few, Leroueil et authors. Some case histories are also briefly
al. (1990), Leroueil and Rowe (2001), Bergado et al. presented.
(2002a), Rowe and Li (2005), Chai and Carter
(2010) and Almeida and Marques (2013) for
embankment on soft soil; and Bergado et al. (1996; USE OF GEOSYNTHETICS FOR
2002b), Holtz et al. (2001), Indraratna and Chu EMBANKMENT
(2005), Chu et al. (2009a) and Kirsch and Bell
(2013) on ground improvement. As this is a Geosynthetics have been used in a number of
conference on geosynthetics, the scope of this ways for the construction of embankments over soft
lecture has logically been limited to aspects related ground. These include mainly the following three
to the use of geosynthetic materials only. Even categories: (1) basal reinforcement using
within this narrowed scope, it is still a formidable geosynthetics (Chai and Bergado 1993; Rowe and Li
task to review all the recent research and 2005; Li and Rowe, 2001a, 2001b; Chai et al., 2002,
development works on embankment and ground 2006, 2010; Bergado et al. 2000, 2002a; Indraratna
improvement. In this lecture, only some selected et al. 2005; Bergado and Teerawattanasuk 2008,
topics are discussed. For embankment on soft Rowe and Taechakumthorn 2012), (2) consolidation
ground, three commonly adopted methods: basal using prefabricated vertical drains (PVDs) (Holtz et
reinforcement using geosynthetics, consolidation al. 1991; Bergado et al. 2002b; Bo et al. 2003; Chu
using prefabricated vertical drains (PVDs), and et al. 2004; Rujikiatkamjorn et al. 2007; Indraratna
geosynthetic-reinforced columns/pile supported et al. 2012; Chu et al. 2009; 2012), and (3)
embankment (GRCSE) system are discussed. For geosynthetic-reinforced columns/pile supported
ground improvement, the topics covered are vacuum embankment (GRCSE) system (Han et al. 2004; Oh
preloading, geosynthetic encased columns and and Shin 2007; Chai et al. 2010; Han 2012).
1
Sometimes a combination of two or three of the studies on the effect of possible inclination of the
above methods may be adopted. A brief review on mobilized tensile force in the reinforcement with
the design aspects of the three methods is presented respect to its original alignment (e.g. Bergado et al.
as follows. 2000). However, now it is generally agreed that at
the working condition the reinforcement force
Basal Reinforcement should be considered to act in its original horizontal
orientation (Rowe and Li 2005). There are mainly
Effect of basal reinforcement two factors influencing the magnitude of Tm: (1)
mobilized tensile strain (εm) and (2) the mobilized
The use of basal reinforcement as schematically secant stiffness of the reinforcement (Jm).
shown in Fig. 1 enhances the stability of the
embankment by mobilizing the tensile strength of Mobilized tensile strain (εm)
the geosynthetic reinforcement. Sometimes several The typical design tensile strain in the
layers of reinforcement can be used. Jewell (1988) reinforcement is 5% (Rowe and Li 2005) without
idealized failure mechanisms of reinforced considering creep effect. However, the results of
embankments on soft clayey deposit as: (1) lateral many back-analyses indicate that the field mobilized
sliding of embankments over the basal tensile strain was only 1-3%. Chai and Bergado
reinforcement layer, (2) foundation extrusion (1993) analyzed two geogrid reinforced
(bearing capacity failure), and (3) rotational slope embankments on soft Muar clay deposit in Malaysia,
failure involving breakage or pullout of the and the resulting mobilized tensile strain was 2 to
reinforcement. Conceptually the reinforcement can 2.7%. Chai et al. (2002) reported a built to failure
reduce the shear stress in the fill material and the woven geotextile reinforced embankment on soft
foundation soil and increase the bearing capacity of clay deposit with a fill thickness of 4.35 m in Lian-
the foundation. However, the mechanisms (1) and yun-gang, China. Two types of geotextiles were
(2) are rarely the critical cases under working used. The first was a woven polypropylene
condition, and in most engineering design, only the geotextile with a unit weight of 303 g/m2 and a
effect of the basal reinforcement on mechanism (3) tensile strength of 40 kN/m by wide-width strip
is considered. testing. The second type was a heat-bounded
nonwoven geotextile with a unit weight of 260.8
g/m2 and tensile strength of 38.5 kN/m. Considering
the in-soil confinement effect and adopting a
stiffness of Jm = 1600 kN/m, the mobilized tensile
strain was about 2.3%. If Jm = 800 kN/m is used, a
tensile strain of about 3% was obtained just prior to
failure. Bergado et al. (2002a) reported two built to
failure geotextile-reinforced embankments on soft
Bangkok clay deposit at the campus of Asian
Figure 1 Use of geosynthetic basal reinforcement for
Institute of Technology, Bangkok, Thailand. One of
embankment
them was reinforced by multi-layer nonwoven,
needle punched geotextile and failed at a fill
The rotational slip failure may take place when
thickness of 4.2 m and other was reinforced by a
the interface shear strength is reached, when the
single layer of high-strength, composite
tensile strength of the reinforcement is reached, or
nonwoven/woven geotextile and failed at a fill
when large deformations of the foundation take
thickness of about 6.0 m. The results of back-
place due to a low mobilized tensile stiffness, Jm, of
analysis indicate that the critical strain in the
the reinforcement (Rowe and Li 2005). In order to
geotextile corresponding to the primary failure of
prevent rotational slip surface, consideration must be
foundation soils may be taken as 2.5–3%
given to: (1) the reinforcement–soil interface shear
irrespective of the stiffness of the reinforcement
strength under conditions where the reinforcement is
(Bergado et al. 2002a).
pulled out from between the soil above and below it;
Another factor which needs to be considered for
(2) the tensile strength of the reinforcement; and (3)
estimating the mobilized tensile force in a
the stress–strain characteristics of the reinforcement
reinforcement placed at the base of an embankment
relative to those of the foundation soil.
is that the reinforcement may not be placed at a
The tensile force mobilized in the reinforcement
straightly aligned condition initially. In other words,
and the corresponding moment with respect to the
the tensile force may only start to be mobilized after
potential failure surface can be a part of the restoring
certain displacement of the ground. Hayashi et al.
moment (ΔMr). The magnitude of ΔMr depends on (2011) reported a steel grid reinforced embankment
the magnitude of the mobilized tensile force in the
on prefabricated vertical drain (PVD) improved soft
reinforcement (Tm) and its orientation. There were peaty ground in Hokkaido, Japan. The field
2
measurement indicates that only after the fill foundation, and thereby increasing bearing capacity
thickness exceeded about 5 m, tensile strain was and stability; and (2) providing a restoring moment
started to be monitored. At that time, the ground for slip circle failure mechanism from the mobilized
settlement was already about 2.0 m. tensile force in the reinforcement. The methods for
Therefore, the use of 5% tensile strain for the analyzing/designing a basal reinforced embankment
design of basal reinforced embankment on soft on soft ground can be classified into bearing
ground may not be the most suitable for some capacity analysis; limit equilibrium analysis and
natural clay deposits. Case studies appear to indicate finite element analysis.
that 3% is more compatible with the failure tensile
strain in the horizontal direction of the soft soil at Bearing capacity analysis
near the ground surface. It is well known that a rough foundation can
have a higher bearing capacity than a smooth
Mobilized stiffness (Jm) of the reinforcement foundation. For bearing capacity analysis, the effect
Experimental studies have shown that of a basal reinforcement tends to make a reinforced
geosynthetic materials, especially those made from embankment to behave like a “rough foundation” if
polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), are the reinforcement is strong enough. Another point
susceptible to creep (e.g. Leshchinsky et al. 1997). needs to be considered in the bearing capacity
Generally, the creep rate of polyethylene (PE) is analysis is that for most soft clayey deposits, the
greater than that of polypropylene (PP), and the rate undrained sear strength of the soil increases with
of PP is greater than that of polyester (PET). The depth.
amount of the creep is a function of stress level, Rowe and Soderman (1987) proposed a method
strain rate and ambient temperature (e.g. Thornton et for estimating bearing capacity of highly reinforced
al. 1998). The creep deformation will reduce the embankment on soft ground. The method is a
secant stiffness and therefore the mobilized tensile combination of Davis and Booker’s (1973) plasticity
force in the reinforcement under a given compatible solution considering the effect of strength increase
tensile strain. with depth and a solution for rough footings. The
In term of the stability of a basal reinforced bearing capacity theories used are for a footing with
embankment on soft ground, normally the critical a width of b. However, in case of an embankment,
time is at the end of construction (EOC). While for its shape is generally trapezoidal. In Rowe and
an embankment on a rate-sensitive soft clayey soils Soderman’s method, the key point is to define an
the most critical time may be at some time after effective width, b. It has been assumed that, b will
EOC (Rowe and Li 2005). Generally after the be the width between the points on either side of the
critical time, the strength gain due to the embankment when the applied pressure γh* is equal
consolidation of the soft soil may be large enough to to (2 + π)su0. Thus:
maintain the stability of the embankment system and ( 2 + π ) su 0
the degree of dependency of the stability on the h* = (1)
γ
reinforcement tensile force will be reduced.
Therefore, it is necessary to estimate the secant b = B + 2 n( H − h * ) (2)
tensile stiffness of the reinforcement at the critical where γ = the unit weight of embankment fill
time in the design. Li and Rowe (2001a) show that material; su0 = undrained shear strength at the
isochronous stiffness under the corresponding tensile ground surface; B = top width of an embankment; n
stress level can reasonably and conservatively = cotangent of the slope angle, and H = height of the
represent the operational stiffness of the embankment.
reinforcement. It is suggested to use the isochronous
stiffness at an appropriate stress level in design to Limit equilibrium methods
estimate the mobilized reinforcement tensile force Limit equilibrium methods have been used
corresponding to the critical time. extensively to assess the short-term (undrained)
stability of reinforced embankments constructed on
Analysis methods soft foundation soils (e.g. Jewell 1982; Milligan and
LaRochelle 1984; Jewell 1988; Low et al. 1990; Li
A number of idealized failure mechanisms have and Rowe 2001a). These methods have been used
been identified for embankment on soft ground: mainly to examine the equilibrium of a slip circle-
foundation extrusion (bearing capacity failure), type failure mechanism passing through the
rotational slope failure and excessive displacement. embankment fill and foundation soil. The various
Jewell (1988) described the mechanisms by which a methods are similar in that limiting equilibrium is
basal reinforcement could improve the performance established for the system of external forces acting
of embankment on soft ground. These involve (1) on an assumed failure mass, and the factor of safety
resisting lateral earth pressure from the embankment (FS) is defined as follows (Rowe and Li 2005):
and reduce the lateral deformations of the
3
MRR + MRsoil this lecture. However, there are still several issues
FS = (3) that need to be discussed.
MO fill + MO pt
The equations that govern the design of PVDs
where MRsoil = the restoring moment due to the (Hansbo 1981) are:
mobilized shear strength along the circular failure
surface in the clay foundation; MRR = the restoring ⎡ - 8Th ⎤
moment due to limiting tensile force developed in U h = 1 - exp ⎢ ⎥
the reinforcement; MOfill = sum of overturning ⎣ F (n ) ⎦ (4a)
moments due to embankment fill self-weight applied ⎛k ⎞ k
to the clay foundation; and MOpt = overturning F ( n ) ≈ ln( n ) − 0 . 75 + ln( s ) ⎜⎜ h − 1 ⎟⎟ + π z ( 2 l − z ) h
k
⎝ s ⎠ q
moment due to horizontal thrust pressure (force) in w
the embankment fill. In some methods, it is assumed (4b)

that MOpt = 0. d d
ct
Th = h2 n= e s= s (4c)
Finite element methods de dw dw
The limit equilibrium and plasticity solutions
where ch is the coefficient of consolidation of soil in
provide no information about deformations or the horizontal direction, t is time, de is the diameter
strains, which develop in the basal reinforced of soil cylinder dewatered by a drain which is related
embankment system. To investigate the interaction
to the drain spacing: de =1.128s for a square grid
behavior between the foundation soil, the and d = 1.05s for a triangle grid, F(n) is a function
reinforcement, and the embankment fill a well as the of de, dw, the diameter of the smear zone, ds, the
strains and deformations of the system, numerical
horizontal permeability of the soil, kh, the
methods, typically finite element methods, are used. permeability of the smeared zone, ks, the discharge
As the works done on this topic has been covered by capacity of the drain, qw, the length of the drain, l,
recent publications (e.g. Borges 2004; Rowe & Li and the depth z. It can be seen from Eq. (4) that the
2005; Karim et al. 2011; Chai & Carter 2011), it will factors affecting the consolidation of soil around
not be elaborated in this lecture.
PVDs are the soil parameters, ch and kh, the
properties of the smear zone, ds and ks, and the
Preloading with PVDs properties of PVD, qw. The effects of those factors
will be discussed separately in the next section.
Preloading is one of the most common ground The first issue is how to determine the smear
improvement techniques for soft ground. The properties of the soil in the smear zone: the diameter
modern application of the preloading method is
of smear zone, ds, and the permeability in the smear
combined almost always with the use of vertical zone, ks. The smear effect is affected by the many
drains or prefabricated vertical drains (PVDs). PVDs factors including the type of mandrel used, the
have been used successfully in many projects in
method used to penetrate the mandrel, and the type
Asia and the world (Hansbo, 1979, 1981, 2005; of soil. Soil type is probably one of the most
Holtz et al., 1991; Bergado et al., 1993, 1996, important factors. The smear effect in sensitive or
2002b; Li and Rowe, 2001b; Chu et al., 2004;
cemented soil can be much greater than that in
2009a; Choa et al., 2001; Bo et al., 2003; 2005; recent deposited soil (for example, clay fill used for
Indraratna et al., 2005; Seah, 2006; Kitazume, 2007; land reclamation). A number of studies on smear
Varaksin and Yee, 2007). Therefore, the theories,
effect have been carried out in the past (Hansbo
design and construction methods for PVDs have 1979; 1981; Bergado et al. 1991, Onoue 1991;
become the core technical issues in the preloading or Madhav et al. 1993; Almeida et al. 1993; Indraratna
consolidation method. A great deal of experience and Redana 1998; Chai and Miura 1999; Hird and
and development in both research and construction Moseley 2000, Xiao 2002, Bo et al. 2003; Basu and
has also been accumulated in the past as a result of
Prezzi 2007; Abuel-Naga and Bouazza 2009; Chai
the extensive use of PVDs. Two books devoted and Carter 2011). A summary of different studies is
exclusively to the use of PVDs for soil improvement given in Table 1.
have been published (Holtz et al. 1991; Bo et al.
As can be seen from Table 1 that the diameter of
2003). A number of other books and reports with smear zone, ds, varies over a wide range from 1.5 to
good coverage of PVDs have also been published. 7 times of the equivalent diameter of PVD, dw. This
These include Mitchell and Katti (1981), Holtz et al.
reflects the fact that the smear effect is much
(1991), Akagi (1994), Bergado et al. (1996), Hansbo affected by soil properties. Some laboratory model
(2005), Indraratna and Chu (2005), Chu et al tests have been carried out to study smear effect.
(2009a). The theories, analyses, design and
The results of 4 studies are shown in Fig. 2 where
construction aspects related to preloading and the the smear effect is indicated by a reduction in void
use of PVD have been reviewed very recently ratio (the normalized void ratio is defined as the
elsewhere by Chu et al. (2012) and Chu and Raju
current void ratio over the initial void ratio).
(2013). Thus a review on PVDs will not be made in
4
Table 1 Proposed smear zone parameters (modified PVDs can be much improved if PVDs are used
from Indraranta et al. 2005) together with thermo or thermo combined with
vacuum as shown in Fig. 3. The back calculated Ch
Source Extent Permeability and kh/ks values from different tests are given in
Barron (1948) ds=1.6dm kh/ks=3 Table 2. It can be seen that the reduction in the back
calculated Ch and kh/ks values are different for
Hansbo (1979) ds=1.5~3dm Open
different tests. A greater Ch value or a smaller kh/ks
Hansbo (1981) ds=1.5dm kh/ks=3 implies a smaller smear effect.
Bergado et al. ds=2dm kh/kv=1
1.05
(1991)
Onoue (1991) ds=1.6dm kh/ks=3
Normalized void ratio

Almeida et al. ds=1.5~2dm kh/ks=3~6 1.00
(1993)
Drain
Indraratna et al. ds=4~5dm kh/kv=1.15
(1998) 0.95
Chai & Miura ds=2~3dm kh/ks=Cf(kh/ks)

(1999) Sathananthan and Indraratna (2006)
0.90
Hird & Moseley ds=1.6dm kh/ks=3 Xiao (2002)
(2000) Onoue et al. (1991)
Hird and Moseley (2000)
Xiao (2002) ds=4dm kh/ks=1.3 0.85
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Bo et al. (2003) ds=4~7dm kh/ks=2~10 r/rw
ds: diameter of smear zone; dm: equivalent diameter Figure 2 Change in void ratio at different radial
of mandrel; kh: permeability of intact soil; ks: distance as a result of smear effect (after Chu et al.
permeability of the smeared soil 2012)
It can be seen from Fig. 2 that the diameter of smear

zone, ds, is at least 4 times of the equivalent diameter
of PVD, dw. As in the model tests, a mandrel was
either not used or not much oversized. Thus, the
diameter of the drain can also be viewed as the
diameter of mandrel. Hence, Fig. 2 also implies
ds = (4~6)dm. The equivalent dm for a rectangular
cross-section mandrel (150 by 60 mm) is 115 mm.
This implies that the diameter of the smear zone can
be as big as 690 mm. If the drain spacing is 1.0 m, it
means that more than half of the soil can be
disturbed! As shown in Table 1, the permeability of
the smeared soil can be much reduced. Therefore, it
can be counterproductive to use too closing drain
spacing. It should also be pointed out that the soils
used for those model tests were remolded in the Figure 3 Effect of thermo and vacuum on the rate of
laboratory. The influence of soil fabric and consolidation using PVD as observed from
cementation effect that exists normally in natural consolidation model tests on reconstituted
soils has not been taken into consideration. As specimens (after Artidteang et al. 2011)
reported by Bo et al. (2003), the field measurements
indicate that ds = 20dm. Therefore, the ds = (4~6)dm Table 2 Changes in flow parameters for
relationship should be considered as a lower bound consolidation model tests with different conditions
value for normal design conditions. (after Artiteang et al. 2011)
A more comprehensive treatment of smear zone
parameter
Vacuum-
vacuum-
Thermo-
Thermo-
using a more sophisticated model is given by Abuel-

Flow
PVD
PVD
PVD
PVD
Naga et al. (2012). A parabolic permeability

distribution is also proposed (Walker and Indraratna
2006).
A study of Artidteang et al. (2011) also shows Ch
1.93 2.23 4.17 4.38
that the smear effect may be reduced using vacuum (m2/yr)
and heat. From large scale model tests, it is kh/ks 3.00 2.70 1.40 1.11
observed that the rate of consolidation of soil using
5
The second issue is well resistance. Well Bergado 1993; Li and Rowe 2001b; Hayashi et al.
resistance refers to the finite permeability of the 2011). Lau and Cowland (2000) reported a case
vertical drain with respect to the soil. Head loss where neither reinforcement nor PVDs alone would
occurs when water flows along the drain and delays have been sufficient to allow safe embankment
radial consolidation. A number of studies have been construction to the design height. The combined use
made in the past on the modeling of well resistance of both reinforcement and PVDs increased the short-
as summarized by Indraratna et al. (2005). term stability and made it feasible to construct a 4 m
Theoretically, the well effect is modeled by the last high embankment. The combination of the two
term of Eq. (4b): πz(2l-z)kh/qw. Therefore, the well techniques offers the following two benefits. First, it
resistance is controlled by the length of the drain, l, shortens the construction time and/or increase
the discharge capacity of the drain qw, and the embankment height. Both the strength gain due to
permeability of the soil kh. However, if qw is faster consolidation and the mobilized reinforcement
sufficiently large, then this term πz(2l-z)kh/qw can be tensile force can increase the factor of safety of an
small enough to be ignored. The good news is that embankment considerably during construction,
many PVD products nowadays can provide which allows the embankment to be built in a shorter
sufficient qw to make the well effect insignificant. time, or for a given construction speed, with the
As discussed by Chu et al. (2004), the required value combination effect, a higher embankment can be
of qreq for well resistance to be ignored is: built; Second, a higher tensile force is mobilized in
the reinforcement at the end of consolidation.
q req ≥ 7.85Fs k h l m2 (5)
where: Fs = factor of safety, normally Fs = 4 ~ 6.

Eq. (5) reflects the fact that the larger the kh or
the longer of the drain, the larger the discharge
capacity is required. Therefore, the required
discharge capacity value is site specific. Meeting the
required discharge capacity is a design requirement
and thus has to be fulfilled for every project. From
this point of view, quality control for PVDs projects
is more important. For this reason, design codes or
design guides have been developed in the past.
These include the Code of Practice for Installation of
Prefabricated Drains and the Quality Inspection
Standard for Prefabricated Drains developed in
China (JTJ/T256-96 1996, JTJ/T257-96 1996), the
European Standard on Execution of Special
Geotechnical Works — Vertical Drainage (BS-EN
15237, 2007), and the Australian Standards for the
execution of PVDs, AS8700 (2011). The use of
these codes and standards are important in Figure 4 Thermo PVD (after Bergado et al. 2011)
maintaining the quality standards of soil
improvement works.
It should also be mentioned that new types of
drains have also been developed in recent years.
These include the electric vertical drain with a metal
foil embedded in the drains as anodes and cathodes
for electro-osmosis (Shang 1998); thermal drain
(Bergado et al. 2011), see Fig. 4, and the integrated
drain with the filter glued to the core using heat
melting (Liu and Chu 2009), see Fig. 5. The
integrated drain offers a higher tensile strength and
discharge capacity than the ordinary drain of the
same materials and same dimensions.
Combination of PVDs with basal reinforcement
PVDs can be combined with basal reinforcement

for embankment constructed on soft clay deposits as Figure 5 Design of Integrated PVD (after Liu and
schematically shown in Fig. 6. This approach has Chu 2009)
been adopted for numerous projects (e.g. Chai and
6
The mechanism of the GRCSE system is to

transfer load from the embankments mainly to the
columns by mobilizing effects due to soil arching,
tensioned membrane or stiffened platform effects,
and relative stiffness effects between columns and
soil as shown in Fig. 8. The load transfer between
columns and soft soils is often measured by the
stress concentration ratio, n, which is calculated as
Figure 6. Use of PVDs together with geosynthetic the ratio of the stress on the column divided by that
basal reinforcement for embankment on the soil. The stress concentration ratio is not
constant, but dependent on a number of factors
Design of the reinforced embankment and PVDs including the properties of columns and soils and the
are usually treated separately in current design stress or strain level. For flexible columns, the
methods even if both reinforcement and PVDs are columns and the soft soil may yield at a similar
used together. Li and Rowe (2001b) proposed a strain level. For semi-rigid and rigid columns,
design method allowing for the combined effects of however, the columns often fail first before the soil
reinforcement and prefabricated vertical drains. mobilizes its full strength (Han 2012). The studies of
Within a limit state design philosophy, this method Han (2012) show that the flexible columns have
uses an undrained strength analysis (USA) method stress concentration ratios approximately from 1.0 to
suggested by Ladd (1991) with a total stress analysis 5.0, the semi-rigid columns have the ratios from 5.0
allowing for strength gain of a foundation soil at the to 10.0, and the rigid columns the ratios more than
time to be considered. The detail of the method and 10.0 in GRCSE. Castro and Sagaseta (2011)
a worked example for this method are given in Li demonstrated numerically that the stress
and Rowe (2001b). However, the design can be concentration ratio is also affected by the column
affected by strain rate. For rate sensitive soil, stiffness and yielding as shown in Fig. 9.
another design method has been proposed by Rowe
and Taechakumthorn (2008).
Geosynthetic-reinforced Columns/pile Supported

Embankment (GRCSE)
A typical design of the GRCSE is shown in Fig.

7. In this system, piles or columns are used together
with a load transfer platform to support embankment
on soft soil as have been adopted for many projects
(Han et al. 2004; Collin et al. 2005; Rowe and Li
2005; Huang et al. 2009; Han, 2012). The piles or
columns can be either concrete piles, stone columns,
CCG, or any types of rigid inclusions as to be
discussed later. The benefits associated with the use
of the GRCSE are: 1) allows construction of
embankment in a single stage without prolonged
waiting time, 2) significantly reduces total and
differential settlements, and 3) reduces or eliminates
global stability concerns (Han et al. 2004). Figure 8. Mechanisms of load transfer and
interaction (After Kempfert et al. 2004)
For soil arching, several models have been

proposed to estimate the applied stress on the
geosynthetic reinforcement. These include the soil
wedge method adopted by Carlsson (1987), Card
and Carter (1995), Svanø et al. (2000) and Collin
(2003), the semi-spherical soil arching model
proposed by Hewlett and Randolph (1988), and the
vertical conduit soil arching method (Marston and
Anderson 1913) adopted by the British Standard
Figure 7. Typical design of geosynthetic reinforced BS8006 (1995). In all the about three methods, the
column supported embankment (after Collin et al. contribution from the soil below the reinforcement
2005) was not considered. The strain and tension in
7
geosynthetic reinforcement can be estimated by one construction over ultra-soft ground. The second is
of the following methods: the Catenary method the use of geotextile tubes or geotextile mattresses
(John 1987), the Carlsson’s method (1987), the for embankment construction or shore protection. A
BS8605 method (1995), the Svanø et al.’s method brief summary on the topics mentioned above will
(2000), and the Giroud et al.’s method (1990). All be given in the following.
the above methods have been reviewed and
discussed in various publications before (e.g., Han et Vacuum Preloading
al. 2004; Oh and Shin 2007; Han 2012) and will not
be covered in this lecture. When the ground is very soft or when the fill
surcharge has to be applied in stages to maintain the
stability of the embankment, the vacuum preloading
method becomes a good alternative.
Figure 9 Influence of column stiffness and yielding

on stress concentration ratio (after Castro and
Sagaseta 2011)
In all the about three methods, the contribution

from the soil below the reinforcement was not
considered. Methods to consider the contributions of
the soil below have also been proposed by Russell et
al. (2003) and Kempfert et al. (2004). The 3D
laboratory model tests on GRCSE carried out by van
Eekelen et al. (2012a) indicate that consolidation of
the subsoil resulted in an increasing load transferred Figure 10 Vacuum preloading system with
through the geosynthetics, and also an increase of membrane (after Chu et al. 2000)
arching. Further comparisons of the model testing
results with predictions using EBGEO (2010) and There are basically two types of vacuum
CUR 226 (2010) (van Eekelen et al. 2012b) further preloading systems, one with membrane and another
suggested that the consolidation effect of the soil without membrane. The schematic arrangement of
under a GRCSE system needs to be considered in the vacuum preloading system with membrane is
the analysis. 3D models have also been developed shown in Fig. 10. PVDs are normally used to
(Huang and Han 2009). Full-scale experiments have distribute vacuum load and discharge pore water.
also been reported (Oh and Shin 2007; Briançon and The soil improvement work using the vacuum
Simon 2012; van Eekelen et al. 2012a, 2012b). preloading method is normally carried out as
follows. A 0.3 m sand blanket is first placed on the
ground surface. PVDs are then installed on a square
grid at a spacing of 1.0 m in the soft clay layer.
SOIL IMPROVEMENT METHODS
Corrugated flexible pipes (50 to 100 mm diameter)
In addition to the use of PVDs and geosynthetic are laid horizontally in the sand blanket to link the
reinforcement for embankment construction, there PVDs to the main vacuum pressure line. The pipes
are a number of other soil improvement methods are perforated and wrapped with a nonwoven
involving geosynthtics. These include vacuum geotextile to act as a filter layer. Three layers of thin
preloading, geotextile confined columns (GCCs), PVC membranes are laid to seal each section.
and geogrid enclosed stone columns. There are also Vacuum pressure is then applied using jet pumps.
two special applications of geosynthetics for The size of each section is usually controlled in the
construction on soft soil. The first is the adoption of range of 5,000 to 10,000 m2. Field instrumentation is
geogrid or geotextile sheet for land reclamation or an important part of the vacuum preloading
8
technique, as the effectiveness of vacuum preloading installed. It is thus time consuming. Furthermore, it
can only be evaluated using fielding monitoring required the soil profile at each PVD location to be
data. Normally piezometers, settlement gauges and known. However, the borehole spacing is normally
inclinometers are used to measure the pore water much greater than the PVD spacing. Thus, the soil
pressure changes, the settlement at ground surface profiles in between boreholes points have to be
and/or different depths in the soil and the lateral assumed. This sometimes causes mismatching of the
displacement. More details are presented in Chu et PVDs and the soil profile. As a result, leakage will
al. (2000) and Yan and Chu (2005). occur here and there and the efficiency of the
For the vacuum preloading system illustrated in vacuum preloading may be affected.
Fig. 10, a sand blanket is required. However, clean
sand with a high permeability may not be available
all the time. In this case, a horizontal drain panel as
shown in Fig. 11 can be used instead.
Figure 12 Vacuum preloading system without

membrane (Courtesy of Cofra Holland)
Figure 11 Use of horizontal drain panel in lieu of

sand blanket for vacuum preloading (Courtesy of
H.L. Liu)
The schematically illustration of the vacuum

preloading system without membrane is shown in
Fig. 12. This so-called BeauDrain system connects
the vacuum channel directly to each individual drain
using a sealed plastic tube as shown in Fig. 13. In Figure 13 Connecting vacuum line directly to PVD
this way, the channel from the top of the PVD to the using a plastic tube
vacuum line is sealed. Hence, a sand blanket and
membranes are not required (see Fig. 14). This
system has been used for the construction of the new
Bangkok Suvarnabhum International Airport (Seah
2006; Saowapakpiboon et al. 2008).
One of the advantages of the BeauDrain system
is its flexibility in dealing with complex site
conditions. When there is a sand layer overlying the
compressible clay layer, the plastic tubes can be
used to go through the sand layer so the vacuum can
still be sealed as shown in Fig. 15a. Similarly, when
there is a sand layer in the middle of a clay layer, a
waterproof plastic sleeve can be used to seal the
PVD within it goes through the middle sand layer as
shown in Fig. 15b. However, this requires each Figure 14 Vacuum preloading without a membrane
individual drains to be specifically arranged and
9
measurements made at different locations in the soil.

From this point of view, it becomes essential to
measure pore water pressures for projects using
vacuum preloading and work out the degree of
consolidation directly using pore water pressure data
as discussed in detail by Chu and Yan (2004).
(a) (b)
Figure 15 Use of sealed PVDs to go through (a) top
sand layer and (b) middle sand layer for vacuum
preloading (after Chai and Carter 2011)
Figure 16 Distribution of vacuum pressure in the
It should be noted that for vacuum to seal, the membraneless vacuum preloading system (after Chai
PVDs have to be terminated a distance below the top and Carter 2011)
of the clay layer. The thickness of this so-called
sealing layer, Hs, as shown in Fig. 15 is normally 1 Another method to do sway with the membrane
to 2 m. If we assume the vacuum pressure at the top is to use the so-called low level vacuum preloading
of the clay layer is zero and at the top of the PVD is method (Yan and Cao 2006). This method is
the vacuum pressure applied, Pvac (see Fig. 15), then schematically illustrated in Fig. 17. When clay slurry
the vacuum pressure distribution in this sealing layer is used as fill for land reclamation, the vacuum pipes
will be transitional as shown in Fig. 16a. For can be installed at the seabed or a level a few meters
simplicity, a linear distribution may be assumed as below the ground surface. In this way, clay slurry fill
shown in Fig. 16b. However, the real distribution can be placed on top of the vacuum pipes. As clay
may be closer to what is showing in Fig. 16c as has a low permeability, the fill material will provide
discussed by Chai and Carter (2011). The Δh in Fig. a good sealing cap and membranes will be not
16c can be estimated using the following equation required. However, this method is not free of
derived by Chai et al. (2010): problems. Tension cracks will develop in the top
layer when dried under the sunlight. The vacuum
pressure may not be distributed properly unless a
drainage blanket is used at the level where the
(6)
drainage pipes are installed or the individual drains
are connected to the vacuum pipes directly. It is also
where Δh and de are in meter. It should be noted
difficult to install drainage pipes or panels
from Eq. (6) that Δh increases with increasing de.
underwater. Nevertheless, this method does not
For a case study given by Chia et al. (2010), the
require the construction of inner dikes for
value of Δh was in the range of 2.25 to 2.69 m.
subdivision and thus cuts down the project costs
However, in general, Δh ranges from 0.3 to 2.9 m
substantially.
based on finite element analyses (Chai et al. 2010).
The vacuum pressure distribution in Fig. 16c can be
used to estimate the average degree of consolidation
achieved at a given time.
Field settlement monitoring data have often been
used to assess the final settlement and calculate the
degree of consolidation. However, there are two
issues to note in using this method. First, the
ultimate consolidation settlement or the degree of Figure 17 Low level membraneless vacuum
consolidation is calculated for a given surcharge preloading method (after Chu et al. 2008)
load. When vacuum preloading is used, the
surcharge load may vary from time to time. A similar method has been adopted for the
Furthermore, the overall surcharge load cannot be Yeocheon industrial complex extension project in
measured, but indicated by the pore water pressure South Korea (Shin and Oh 2007). The project
10
involved reclamation using hydraulically filled silty structure substantially. It can be used for very soft
clay slurry. The horizontal vacuum consolidation ground with cu < 15 kPa. The GECs are installed
technique (HVCT) was adopted as shown in Fig. 18. using either a displacement or a replacement
PVDs of 100 mm wide and 10 mm thick were method. The construction process using the
placed horizontally in the soft soil layer by the help displacement method is shown in Fig. 20 (Alexiew
of a small barge-ship. The barge- ship (length = 11 et al. 2005). It consists of driving or vibrating a 80
m, width = 2.9 m, height = 2.0 m) had a pulley with cm diameter steel casing into the bearing soil
a diameter of 2 m at the top and 4.5 m long mandrel followed by placing a seamless cylindrical closed
which is attached at the bottom of ship to install the bottom geotextile “sock”, with tensile strength
PVDs in the soil layer. The PVDs were fixed with ranging from 200 to 400 kN/m. This is followed by
the required vertical interval at one dike and then filling it with sand to form a sand column. For the
were dragged using the barge ship to the other dike. replacement method, an open steel shaft of 150 cm
The PVDs were connected to the drainage head pipe in diameter is driven into ground. The soil inside is
as shown in Fig. 19. The soil surface was covered removed by an auger. An open geotextile sack is
and sealed by the flexible membrane prior to placed in the shaft and filled with sand or gravel
application of vacuum pressure as shown in Fig. 19. while the shaft is pulled out slowly under vibration
to compact. The replacement method is preferred for
soils with relatively higher penetration resistance or
when vibration effects are not desirable. Some
pictures showing the installation sequences are
shown in Fig. 21.
Figure 18 Use of horizontal vacuum consolidation

technique (HVCT) (after Shin & Oh 2007)
Figure 20 Installation of GEC columns using the

displacement method (after Alexiew et al. 2005).
Figure 19 Picture showing the operation of the

HVCT method (after Shin & Oh 2007)
Geosynthetic Encased Columns and Geogrid

Enclosed Stone Columns
Sand, gravel or stone columns can be installed in

soft clay to act as part of the column supported
embankment system. However, when the soil is very
soft (with undrained shear strength less than 15 kPa),
there is not enough confinement to allow the
columns to work properly. In this case, geosynthetic
encased columns (GECs), or geotextile confined
columns (GCCs), or geogrid enclosed stone columns
(GESCs) becomes a good alternative.
The GEC technique was developed in Germany (a) Forming a borehole
(Raithel and Kempfert 2000; Kempfert and Raithel
2005). The basic principle of this technique is to
relieve the load on soft soil without altering the soil
11
compensated by some increase of embankment

height.
The geogrid enclosed stone column (GESC) is a
similar technique based on the same principle. The
use of geogrid instead of geotextile will provide a
stronger and stiffer column. The method proposed
by Gniel and Bouazza (2010) is shown in Fig. 19.
An open steel shaft (say a diameter of 150 cm) is
driven into the ground (Fig. 22a) and the soil within
the shaft is removed by auger boring (Fig. 22b). The
geogrid sleeves and aggregate are then placed within
the casing (Figs. 22c and 22d). The column is
(b) Filling in sand into the geotextile “sock”
formed after the casing is removed (Fig. 22e). This
replacement method provides a good alternative at
where the soil is difficult to be displaced, or when a
larger diameter column is required or when vibration
effects on nearby buildings and road installation
have to be minimized.
(c) Withdrawing the casing
(a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f)

Figure 22 Replacement method for the installation of
GESCs by Gniel and Bouazza (2010)
A quite number of studies have been carried out

to understand the working mechanisms and assess
(d) Completed column the performance of GECs or GESCs (e.g., Lo et al.
Figure 21 Installation process of GEC by 2010). Murugesan and Rajagopal (2007) conducted
replacement method (after Kempfert and Raithel 1g model tests on single geosynthetic encased stone
2005; Chu et al. 2009a) columns (ESC) and ordinary stone columns (OSC)
having length to diameter ratio 5, 7 and 10. They
The geotextile confinement serves two functions. concluded that the ESC having three to five times
The primary function is the radial confining larger load carrying capacity than OSC. A further
reinforcement of the bearing column and the study by Murugesan and Rajagopal (2010) showed
secondary functions are separation, filtration and that the stiffness of the encased stone column
drainage. The GECs are water-permeable and thus increases with the increase in the tensile strength of
can serve as drains as well. They can be used as geosynthetic used for encasement.
columns for the GRCSE system. Established design procedure for embankment
Some radial extensions (in the range of 1 to 4% piles can be used for the design of embankment
strain in the ring direction) are required for the supported by GECs or GESCs. However, to consider
encasement to take effect. Thus, certain vertical the benefits of geotextile confinement, refined
settlement of the columns has to be introduced. The analytical and numerical procedures have been
GEC system therefore cannot be completely adopted by Raithel and Kempfert (2000) and
settlement-free. Fortunately, most of the settlement Kempfert and Raithel (2005). An analytical model
occurs during the construction stage and is for GECs using the unit cell concept was proposed
12
by Raithel and Kempfert (2000). Some design charts Table 3 Classification of Geosynthetic tubes or mats
have also been presented by Alexiew et al. (2005). (after Chu et al. 2011)
For numerical analysis, PLAXIS have been used
Material for the Fill
(Kempfert and Raithel 2005) and some 3D analyses Types
tube materials
Applications
have also been carried out (e.g., Keykhosropur et al. Flood control (Fowler
2012). As reported by Kempfert and Raithel (2005) Very low
1997; Plaut and
Impermeable Geosynthetic tube

approximately 60,000 GECs with lengths varying permeability
Suherman 1998);
liner or fluid
between 4 and 14 m were installed in very soft soil Contain contaminated
containment
at Mühlenberger Loch in Hamburg as a foundation materials Water, clay
materials
system for a 2.4 km long dike. The spacing of the (Szyszkowski and
requiring high slurry,
columns was between 1.7 and 2.4 m. The use of Glockner 1987);
tensile strength sludge or
GECs for recent projects in Europe was provided by Form “working
made of Butyl other waste
table”; Beach erosion
Raithel et al. (2005) and Alexiew et al. (2005) and in Rubber, EPDM materials
Control; Breakwater
South America by de Mello et al. (2008). Rubber, PVC,
(Alvarez et al. 2007);
Polypropylene,
Water level control
Polyurethane,
(Sehgal 1996); Water
and Elvaloy.
USE OF GEOTEXTILE TUBES OR MATS Divertion (Tam 1997)
FOR DIKE OR EMBANKMENT Woven or non-
Dikes (Fowler 1997;
CONSTRUCTION woven
Yan and Chu 2005);
Permeable Geosynthetic tubes or Mats

geotextile,
Underwater
The geosynthetic tube method has been used for usually made of
breakwater (Kim et
synthetic
hydraulic and coastal engineering projects for a long Mainly al. 2004); Beach
polymers-
time (Kazimierowicz 1994; Miki et al. 1996; polypropylenes,
sand, clay restoration (Oh and
Leshchinsky et al. 1996; Shin and Oh 2007). In slurry, Shin 2006; Alvarez et
polyesters,
recent years, geosynthetic mattresses (or mats) have cement al. 2007); Coastal
polyethylene,
also been adopted (Yan and Chu 2010). mixed clay. erosion prevention
and polyamides
Mortar has (Koerner and Koerner
Geosynthetic tubes or ic mats can be grossly with high tensile
also been 2006; Shin and Oh
classified into three categories: permeable strength, high
used 2007); Dewatering
geosynthetic tube or mat, impermeable geosynthetic geotextile
contaminated high
tube and inflatable rubber dam according to the fill permeability and
water content waste
good soil
materials, the materials used for the tubes and the (Fowler et al. 1996;
retention
types of base, as listed in Table 1. References for characteristics.
Perry 1993).
examples of applications of each type of Small dams (Sehgal
geosynthetic tubes or geosynthetic mats are also 1996; Zhang et al.
given in Table 3. High strength
Inflatable Rubber Dam
2002); Height
synthetics, such
Sand or sandy soil is the most ideal fill material elevation for existing
as
to fill in geotextile tubes or mats. For near shore or macromolecule
dams; Water
offshore projects, a suction dredger can be used to Water diversion (Tam
compound
pump sand from the seabed or a sand pit directly and/or air 1997); Recreational
materials. A
into the geosynthetic tubes. One example is shown basins; Contamination
permanent
prevention,
in Fig. 23 where sand filled geosynthetic tubes were concrete base is
Groundwater supply,
used for shoreline protection. When sand fill is not normally used.
flood control, etc.
readily available, silty clay or soft clay may also be (Watson et al. 1999)
used. The clayey fill would have to be in a slurry
state in order to be pumped in the tube. The slurry One technique of using clay slurry fill
then has to be dewatered in the geosynthetic tube or geosynthetic mats for dike construction was
geosynthetic mat to reduce the water content and developed in Tianjin, China, and used for one land
allow excess pore pressures to dissipate. In this reclamation project along the coast of Tianjin (Chu
case, the selection of the geotextile used for the and Yan 2007; Yan and Chu 2010). The cross-
tubes or mats becomes important. The geotextile section of the dike is illustrated in Fig. 24 and a
has to be chosen to meet both the strength and filter picture showing the alignment of the bags is shown
design criteria. Some analytical methods have been in Fig. 25. It can be seen that large flat geotextile
developed to estimate the required tensile strength bags in the form of geosynthetic mats, instead of
for the geotextile (e.g., Kazimierowicz 1994; Miki et geosynthetic tubes, were adopted for this project.
al., 1996). The apparent opening size (AOS) of the As shown in Fig. 24, the designed height of the
geotextile needs to be selected to allow the pore dike was 4.8 m with base and top elevations at 0.7 m
pressure to dissipate freely and yet retain the soil and 5.5 m respectively. The top width of the dike
particles in the geosynthetic tubes or mats. was 2.43 m. The water levels were at 4.7 m
elevation during high tide and at nearly 0.7 m
13
elevation during low tide. The outer and inner accommodate relatively large differential settlement.
slopes of the dike were chosen to be 2L:1H and This may result in savings in the foundation
1.5L:1H, respectively. For the bottom bag, the treatment. Despite of the various advantages, there is
dimension used was 30 m in circumference. Clay a lack of design or analysis method for dikes
slurry was dredged from the seabed of a selected constructed using this method.
area and pumped directly into the bags through an
injection hole. The height of the bag after
consolidation was around 0.5 m. Nine layers of
geosynthetic mats were used.
Figure 25 Dike constructed using clay slurry filled

geosynthetic mats (after Yan and Chu 2000)
Various analytical or numerical methods have

been proposed for the analysis of different types of
geosynthetic tubes. A summary of some of the
analytical methods for rubber dam and impermeable
Figure 23 Use of sand filled geotextile tubes for
geosynthetic tubes on rigid foundation are given in
shoreline protection in Malaysia (after Lee 2009)
Chu et al. (2010). Several methods for analyzing the
cross-section and tensile strength in the
1000 5100 2500 6200 1189 1242 4650 2500 3400 1000 geosynthetics of permeable geosynthetic tubes or
mats have been proposed (Leshchinsky et al. 1996;
Concrete surface
5.5
4.7
Ghavanloo and Daneshmand 2009; Cantré and
Saathoff 2010) including a method to consider the
1:1.5
2.4
Geotextile bags
2.4
Hydraulic fill
deformation of the foundation soil (Guo et al 2010).
1:3
1.5
1.3 1:2 However, the analysis for permeable geosynthetic
Crashed stone 0.7
0.7 Crashed stone
tube is more difficult as a consolidation process is
involved. At present, there is no suitable theoretical
Figure 24 Schematic illustration of a dike made of method to analyze the consolidation process of tube
clay slurry filled geotextile bags (After Yan and Chu after it is filled. Most of the existing solutions are to
2010) calculate the critical dimension of cross section after
the geosynthetic tube is filled. The axis tension force
The dike built with the large size geosynthetic will also be the largest at this state. Leshchinsky et
mats was then protected by casting a 25 mm thick al. (1996) used volume-weight relationships to
grouted geotextile mattress on top of the surface calculate the height variation of the geotexile tube
after the settlement of dike stabilized. The grouted by assuming that the width of the geotextile tube
geotextile mattress was formed by pumping lean does not change during consolidation process. Shin
and Oh (2004) presented a new approach to
concrete into a mold made of geotextile. Berms
calculate the consolidation process of geotexile tube
were used to enhance the stability of the dike and to called the settling and self-weight consolidation
protect the toes of the slopes. A more detailed method. They separates the consolidation process
description of this method can be found in Yan and into four basic processes, namely dispersed free
Chu (2010). settling, flocculated free settling, zone settling, and
There are a number of advantages for using mats consolidation settling. A summary of some of these
for dike construction. Firstly, as the lateral analytical methods is given in Chu et al. (2010).
dimension is very large comparing to its height, Silty clay filled geotextile mats have also been
geosynthetic mat has laterally stability problems. used for road construction in China. Similar to the
Secondly, construction can also be speedier as project shown in Figs. 24 and 25, several geotextile
pumping can be carried out at a number of points. mats were placed together to for a platform. A road
Thirdly, the dike made of geosynthetic mats can was constructed on top of this platform as shown in
Fig. 26.
14
Geotextile tubes were also used to form an

artificial island for the construction of Incheon
Bridge in South Korea (Shin and Oh 2006; Yee et al.
2007). Geotextile tubes of 3, 4 and 5 m in diameters
and 15 to 60 m in length were used. The tubes were
stacked together in a way shown in Fig. 28 to form
an artificial island. It should be noted that a sand mat
as shown in Fig. 29 was also used in between the top
and bottom layers of geotextile tubes to enhance the
lateral stability of the geotextile tubes.
Figure 29 Use of sand mat in between top and
a bottom layers of geotextile tubes (after Yee et al.
2007)
USE OF GEOSYNTHETICS FOR

CONSTRUCTION OVER ULTRA-SOFT
GROUND
From time to time, construction needs to be

carried out over ultra-soft ground or soft clay slurry
b has to be used as land reclamation materials. In this
case, geotextile can be used to enable the placement
of fill or surcharge loads on top or for a working
platform to be formed for further soil improvement
works. One of such methods proposed by Broms
(1987) is illustrated in Fig. 30.
A similar method was adopted for the placement
Figure 26 Use of geotextile bags for a road of fill over ultra-soft soil in a slurry pond for a land
construction in China (Courtesy of S.W. Yan) reclamation project in Singapore as detailed in Chu
et al. (2009b). In this project, an attempt was made
to place thin layers of sand on top of the slurry
without the use of geotextile. However, a failure in
the form of mud bursting occurred. As a remedy
measure, geotextile sheets were used as a
reinforcement and separation layer as shown in Fig.
31.
Figure 27 Use of geotextile tubes for the

construction of Incheon Bridge in South Korea (after
Yee et al. 2007)
(a) Placement of geofabric;
Figure 28 Conceptual design for the use use of

geotextile tubes to form an artificial island (after
Yee et al. 2007)
(b) Placement of stabilizing berms
15
X1600
X1800
X2200
X2400
X2000
X2600
X2800
X3000
X3200
X3400
Y2000
Y1800
Y1600
Y1400
(c) Placement of fill Y1200
Figure 31 Layout of geotextile sheets used to cover

failure area of slurry pond: 1, failure area; 2, single
layer of geotextile, 700 m x 300 m; 3, double layers
of geotextile, 700 m x 600 m
When the geotextile was sewn together to form

one piece, it was extremely heavy and required
(d) Widening of Berms
considerable force to be pulled during installation.
The total weight of the geotextile used was 320 t. To
overcome this problem, the geotextile sheet was
folded into zigzag strips 10 m wide. This made
unfolding of the geotextile sheet much easier. The
sheet was anchored at one end. The other end of the
sheet was connected to pipelines floating on water.
The pipelines were pulled slowly towards the other
side of the pond using seven bulldozers as shown in
Fig. 32. Plastic buoys were also used for the inner
(e) Elevation view area of the geotextile sheet to keep it floating on top
of the water. When the geotextile sheet reached the
Figure 30 Method for fill placement over a muddy other side of the pond, it was fixed in place by
pond using geotextile (after Broms 1987) placing sand fill on top in similar fashion as for the
other end. For the area where double layers of
Based on the calculation, a tensile strength of geotextile were used, the second layer was placed in
150 kN/m in both the warp and weft directions was the same way after the first layer had been installed.
required. Two types of woven geotextile were used. After the geotextile sheet was properly anchored at
The first type, HS150/150, had a tensile strength of both ends, the plastic buoys were removed to allow
150 kN/m in both directions. It was placed in a the geotextile sheet to sink. At the interface of the
single layer to cover an area 700 m by 300 m, shown two areas where the two different geotextiles were
in Figure 31 as area 2 on the left. Owing to the used, an overlapping length of 50 m was provided. A
shortage of supply of this type of geotextile, a sand layer 50 cm thick was placed on the
second type, HS100/50, with tensile strengths of 100 overlapping area for anchoring.
kN/m and 50 kN/m in the warp and weft directions Similar methods have also been adopted for the
respectively, was also used. By overlaying two land reclamation project for the Kitakyushu Airport
layers with different warp and weft directions, a in Japan as reported by Terashi and Katagiri (2005).
combined 150 kN/m tensile strength was achieved.
The second type of geotextile was placed in two
layers over an area 700 m by 600 m, shown in
Figure 31 as area 3 on the right. Therefore the total
area covered by the geotextile was 700 m by 900 m,
or 630 000 m2.
Figure 32 Installation of geotextile sheet for the

slurry pond.
16
CONCLUDING REMARKS Alvarez, I.E., Rubio, R. and Ricalde H. (2007).

Beach restoration with geotextile tubes as
Selected topics on the use of geosynthetics for submerged breakwaters in Yucatan, Mexico,
construction of embankment on soft ground and the Geotextiles and Geomembranes, 25(4-5), 233
related ground improvement methods were briefly Artidteang, S., Bergado, D.T., Saowapakpiboon, J.
reviewed. For embankment on soft ground, three and Teerachaikulpanich, N. (2011).
commonly adopted methods: basal reinforcement Enhancement of efficiency of prefabricated
using geosynthetics, consolidation using
vertical drains using surcharge, vacuum and heat
prefabricated vertical drains (PVDs) and
geosynthetic-reinforced columns/pile supported preloading, Geosynthetics International, 18(1).
embankment (GRCSE) system were discussed. For Arulrajah, A., Bo, M.W. and Chu, J. (2009).
ground improvement, vacuum preloading, Instrumentation at the Changi land reclamation
geosynthetic encased columns and geogrid enclosed project, Singapore. Geotechnical Engineering,
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Embankments on soft ground and ground improvement

Article · January 2012

Jian Chu D.T Bergado

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EMBANKMENTS ON SOFT GROUND AND GROUND

Keywords: embankment, geosynthetics, ground improvement, and soft soil.

INTRODUCTION geogrid enclosed stone columns, use of geotextile

the embankment fill. In some methods, it is assumed (4b)

Normalized void ratio

Chai & Miura ds=2~3dm kh/ks=Cf(kh/ks)

It can be seen from Fig. 2 that the diameter of smear

using a more sophisticated model is given by Abuel-

Naga et al. (2012). A parabolic permeability

where: Fs = factor of safety, normally Fs = 4 ~ 6.

Combination of PVDs with basal reinforcement

PVDs can be combined with basal reinforcement

The mechanism of the GRCSE system is to

Geosynthetic-reinforced Columns/pile Supported

A typical design of the GRCSE is shown in Fig.

For soil arching, several models have been

Figure 9 Influence of column stiffness and yielding

In all the about three methods, the contribution

Figure 12 Vacuum preloading system without

Figure 11 Use of horizontal drain panel in lieu of

The schematically illustration of the vacuum

measurements made at different locations in the soil.

Figure 18 Use of horizontal vacuum consolidation

Figure 20 Installation of GEC columns using the

Figure 19 Picture showing the operation of the

Geosynthetic Encased Columns and Geogrid

Sand, gravel or stone columns can be installed in

compensated by some increase of embankment

(c) Withdrawing the casing

(a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f)

A quite number of studies have been carried out

Impermeable Geosynthetic tube

Permeable Geosynthetic tubes or Mats

Figure 25 Dike constructed using clay slurry filled

Various analytical or numerical methods have

Geotextile tubes were also used to form an

USE OF GEOSYNTHETICS FOR

From time to time, construction needs to be

Figure 27 Use of geotextile tubes for the

Figure 28 Conceptual design for the use use of

(c) Placement of fill Y1200

Figure 31 Layout of geotextile sheets used to cover

When the geotextile was sewn together to form

Figure 32 Installation of geotextile sheet for the

CONCLUDING REMARKS Alvarez, I.E., Rubio, R. and Ricalde H. (2007).

a numerical study. Geotextiles and Rehabilitation, Tech. Rep, REMR-GT-26, (U.S.

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