Geotechnics II

One-dimensional compression and consolidation

4.4 Radial consolidation to vertical drains

In some construction situations, the rate of consolidation may be

unacceptably low. An example may be the construction of a road
embankment over a thick layer of soft clay. The rate of
consolidation would need to be increased so that most of the
settlement would occur before the road pavement is placed to
avoid excessive cracking.

Geotechnics II

One-dimensional compression and consolidation

The sand drain is normally a vertical borehole of diameter 300600 mm backfilled with suitably graded sand. The spacing ( )
between the vertical drains varies between 1.5 and 4.5 m, and is
usually designed to be less than the thickness of the consolidating
soil layer. In plan, the drains are arranged in either a square or
triangular/hexagonal pattern as shown below.

The time factor Tv has already been defined as:

For the same soil with different drainage paths (d) under the same
load increment, the value of and to reach the same degree of
consolidation should be equal. Hence, the rate of consolidation is
proportional to :
Hence, the rate of consolidation could be increased if additional
drainage paths for water flow through the soils are provided in
both the horizontal and vertical directions (i.e. to reduce the length
of drainage paths ). In practice, this can be achieved by the
installation of a system of vertical sand drains as shown below.

Fig. 31: Radial consolidation geometry

A drainage blanket is provided at the base of the fill to provide

lateral drainage. A temporary overload or surcharge may be used
with the vertical drains to accelerate the rate of consolidation
where necessary. The expression for estimating final settlement is
the same regardless of the presence of the vertical drain as
previously presented:
=

The three-dimensional consolidation equation in polar coordinates

system (Fig. 32) can be expressed as:

Fig. 30: Typical vertical drain arrangements

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=
50

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+
51

Geotechnics II

One-dimensional compression and consolidation

where
= coefficient of consolidation for horizontal drainage; and
= coefficient of consolidation for vertical drain

Geotechnics II

One-dimensional compression and consolidation

Dimensionless time factor, Th

0.001
0.0

0.01

0.1

Average degree of consolidation, Uh

Fig. 32: Polar coordinates system

0.2
0.3
0.4

0.5

= 0.564 for a square pattern

= 0.525 for a triangular/hexagonal pattern

The solution relating the degree of consolidation due to radial

drainage ( ) and the radial time factor ( ) was produced by
Baron as a series of curves given in Fig. 33. Note that the radial
time factor is defined as:
=

The area ratio ( ) of each curve is expressed as the ratio between

the equivalent radius ( ) to the drain radius ( ):
=

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100

20

0.6

n=5

10

0.8
0.9

The effect of each drain extends to the end of its equivalent radius
( ) as shown in Fig. 31. It can be shown that:

10

0.1

0.7

1.0

Fig. 33: Consolidation curves for radial consolidation

The procedures to determine the degree of consolidation ( ) with

both radial and vertical drainage at a time may be summarised as
follows:

Determine
from the normal consolidation curves for
vertical drainage given in Fig. 23 noting that:
=
Determine
from the normal consolidation curves for radial
drainage given in Fig. 33.
Determine degree of consolidation ( ) for both radial and
vertical drainage using:
1

52

= 1

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53