Numerical Analysis of Prefabricated Vertical Drain with Different Matching Methods

Abstract

Settlement problems arising from civil engineering structures built on soft soils should be carefully examined. There are some soil improvement methods to solve settlement problems on such soils. One of these methods is prefabricated vertical drains (PDD). Vertical drains are used to increase the consolidation speed and shorten the start-up time of the construction. Within the scope of the study, it was planned to compare the results of the laboratory and numerical analysis of vertical drain systems applied in soft soils. The results of large-scale consolidometer experiments conducted in the laboratory were obtained from a study in the literature. A series of analysis were performed for Modified Cam clay (MCC) using different matching methods with the help of the Plaxis 2D computer program based on the finite element method. As a result, it was understood that the analysis results were in a quality supporting the experimental results. For this reason, it is suggested that the matching methods used in such engineering applications will allow practical analysis using the two-dimensional finite element program.