Description
Prefabricated Drain Board for sale
What are Typical Applications?
Wick drain projects have included dams, large storage areas,
highway embankments, sedimentation ponds, tanks, bridge abutments,
buildings, and airport runways.
The most common application of wick drains is for accelerating the
settlement rate of compressible soils. At some sites, the primary
purpose of wick drains is to increase the shear strength of
underlying soft soils. As soil consolidates, the shear strength
increases due to a reduction in the water content. This application
is particularly important when high area fills have to be placed
over soft soils with low shear strength. Potential instability
problems can be overcome by loading the site in stages and allowing
the soft soils to gain in strength under each stage before
placement of the next stage of fill.
Wick drains have also been used in conjunction with other ground
improvement techniques, such as dynamic compaction, to allow rapid
dissipation of excess pore pressures.
How are Wick Drains Designed?
The rate of soil consolidation or settlement is controlled by how
rapidly the pore water can escape from the soil. The controlling
variables are the spacing between the wick drains and the
permeability of the soil. The amount of consolidation is
independent of whether wick drains are present and is determined by
the soil compressibility and the weight of the fill above the
wicks. By developing a set of design curves of drain spacing, fill
height, and consolidation time, the most economical drain spacing
and height of fill can be selected to achieve a given degree of
consolidation in a specified time period.
Prefabricated Drain Board for sale