Method of removing secondary compression on clay using preloading

Due to external loads, the soft soil will undergo a large compression of both primary and secondary compression. With soil improvement using prefabricated vertical drain (PVD), the time of primary compression becomes shorter so that secondary compression occurs in short time. There has been little research on how to remove secondary compression. Therefore, further investigation of behaviour and method of removing secondary compression is necessary. This research was conducted based on an experimental study of clay consolidation test with a variation of loading time in the laboratory. The results show that there is an empirical correlation among the secondary compression index (Cα'), the initial void ratio (e0), the void ratio at the end of primary consolidation (ep), and the effective consolidation stress (P'). The correlations obtained from this study are Cα' = (0.0072e0 - 0.0067)P' and Cα' = (0.0077ep - 0.006)P'. The greater the effective consolidation stress is, the greater the secondary compression index will become. Therefore, in soil improvement secondary compression can be removed by giving an extra load (Δq) that causes additional compression to the primary consolidation where the magnitude equals to the expected secondary compression. Then, this Δq could be removed at the end of the primary consolidation.