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Reclamation and soil improvement on ultra-

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Article in Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers Ground Improvement · January 2005
DOI: 10.1680/grim.9.1.23.58542

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Ground Improvement (2005) 9, No. 1, 23–31
Reclamation and soil improvement on ultra-soft soil
M. W. BO*, V. CHOA† and K. S. WONG†
*Bullen Consultants Ltd, Bradford, UK; †Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
In recent years more and more reclamations have been
carried out on waste ponds or mine tailing ponds. The
deposits in these ponds are ultra-soft and may still be
undergoing self-weight consolidation. Reclamation and
soil improvement works in these areas are very challen-
ging. They require special attention. Conventional recla-
mation and soil improvement methods are no longer
workable. This paper highlights the experience obtained
from reclamation and soil improvement works on such soil
in a project in Singapore. The fill was placed using a sand
spreader, and the ultra-soft deposit was strengthened with
a high-strength geotextile. Prefabricated vertical drains
and staged construction were used to accelerate the
consolidation process. The monitoring of settlement and
pore pressure requires modification of conventional instru-
ments to cater for the low strength of the ultra-soft soil
and the large strain of deformation. The paper also out-
lines a new method to estimate the settlement based on
large-strain theory. Finally a case study is presented to
validate the proposed method in the determination of
settlement magnitude and the time rate of settlement.
Keywords : ultra-soft soil; self-weight consolidation;
reclamation; soil improvement; settlement; pore pres-
sure
Introduction
Because of the high demand for land at or near coastal cities,
the expansion of land by means of land reclamation becomes
necessary. Unfortunately the underlying foundation soils
surrounding coastal cities are usually found as recent
deposits of compressible estuary or marine deposits. There-
fore reclamation at the foreshore area becomes increasingly
challenging, as difficult reclamation and soil improvement
processes are involved. With time, areas with favourable soil
conditions become exhausted, and land reclamation has
even to be carried out on waste ponds and recently
deposited ultra-soft soil. The reclamation and soil improve-
ment processes for ultra-soft soils are more difficult and
challenging than those for natural soft soils, owing to their
extremely low shear strength and highly compressible
nature. Furthermore, the deformation of ultra-soft soil under
an applied load behaves differently from that of a normal
soil under conventional one-dimensional consolidation. The
ultra-soft soil always experiences large deformation with
little or no effective stress gain in the early stage of
(GI 3169) Paper received 15 January 2003; last revised 12 May 2004;
accepted 30 July 2004
23
Depuis quelques années, on récupère de plus en plus de
terrains sur les bassins de rejets ou les bassins de décharge
des mines. Les dépôts de ces bassins sont extrêmement
mous et peuvent même être en cours de consolidation
autochargée. Les travaux de récupération et d’amélioration
des sols dans ces zones posent beaucoup de problèmes. Ils
demandent une attention spéciale. Les méthodes conven-
tionnelles de récupération et d’amélioration ne sont pas
efficaces. Cet exposé présente l’expérience obtenue après
des travaux de récupération et d’amélioration de ces sols
dans un projet à Singapour. Le remblai été placé en
utilisant une dispersion de sable et le dépôt mou a été
renforcé par un géotextile à haute résistance. Des drains
préfabriqués verticaux et une construction étagée ont été
utilisés pour accélérer le processus de consolidation. Le
suivi du tassement et de la pression interstitielle demande
la modification des instruments conventionnels afin de
prendre en compte la faiblesse du sol mou et la grande
déformation. Cet exposé présente aussi une nouvelle
méthode basée sur la théorie de grande déformation et
servant à évaluer le tassement. Enfin nous présentons une
étude de cas pour valider la méthode proposée pour
déterminer la magnitude du tassement et la durée du
tassement.
deformation (Bo et al. 1997a, 1997b, 1998, 1999, 2002a, 2002b,
2003). As this soil is very soft, it requires special techniques
to fill the area, and it is necessary to strengthen the
foundation soil with geotextile (Na et al., 1998). Settlement
prediction involving ultra-soft soil is much more difficult
than that for natural soil. The magnitudes are usually
underestimated owing to the lack of proper theory. This
paper describes a new method for predicting the magnitude
and time rate of settlement in ultra-soft soil. The method of
reclamation, soil improvement and the modification of
geotechnical instrumentations suitable for large deformation
are also discussed in this paper.
Ultra-soft soil
An ultra-soft soil has a high moisture content that is
greater than its liquid limit. The liquidity index is usually
above unity. The strength of such soil is extremely low, and
it may not have measurable effective stress in the in-situ
condition. The soil may still be undergoing self-weight
consolidation. If a tall column of this type of soil is retained
in the cell and left undisturbed, it will probably develop a
structure during the self-weight consolidation process. How-
ever, it will take a long time for this type of soil to develop
1365-781X # 2005 Thomas Telford Ltd
Bo et al.

the full effective overburden stress. The bulk density of such Foundation strengthening
soil usually varies between 11 and 13 kN/m3 . A layer of geotextile can be placed on the seabed prior to
filling. It serves both as a separator to prevent mixing of
sand with the ultra-soft soil and as a reinforcement to
minimise the possibility of localised failure due to uneven
placement of fill.
The geotextile can be first anchored at one end. As the
Reclamation amount of geotextile involved is huge, bulldozers are
Sand filling required to spread the fabric across the pond. The fabric will
be floating on water with the help of floaters. Several floaters
The methods commonly used in reclamation works are
are required, in order to keep the geotextile afloat while it is
hydraulic pumping, direct dumping, sand spreading and
being pulled across the pond.
rainbow pumping. Among these methods, only sand spread-
After the removal of the floaters, the geotextile will sink
ing is suitable for ultra-soft soil. Since this soil is extremely
under its own weight. The geotextile used in the Changi
soft, it does not have enough strength to support the weight
reclamation has a strength of 100–150 kN/m in both direc-
of the sand particles.
tions. Details of the design procedure applied in the slurry
By spreading the sand over water with sufficiently high
pond reclamation at Changi involving geotextile can be
water level above the seabed, each individual grain will fall
found in Na et al. (1998).
slowly through the water and rest gently on the seabed.
After strengthening of the foundation soil with geotextile,
Therefore, when the sand touches the seabed, the impact
force on the ultra-soft soil is very small.
When a sand spreader is used, the sand grains are
allowed to fall individually through water. The hydrody-
namic drag keeps the particle velocity relatively constant.
Preloaded stress
The impact force of the sand grain on the seabed is
negligible. As the impact force is very small, there will be
minimal mixing of sand with the ultra-soft soil. The sand C *c2
spreader used in the Changi East reclamation project is
shown in Fig. 1.
Although the spreading method takes longer to complete
a given lift than other methods, it allows sufficient time for C *c3
the ultra-soft soil near the drainage boundary to develop e
strength. This method also produces a very loose fill and
hence a lower fill density. Hence the additional load per
metre thickness of fill is lower than that produced by
hydraulic filling. Generally reclamation on ultra-soft soils is
carried out in the containment bund or pond, so that the
ultra-soft soils are contained and cannot flow out. Details of 0 10 100 1000
the reclamation process carried out on the ultra-soft soil in Effective stress: kPa
the Changi East reclamation project will be discussed in the
case study section. Fig. 2. The e–log
v9 curve of a preloaded slurry sample

Generator
Dredging pipe
No.2
Dia. 5 900 mm
Floater

Control room

Pontoon No.1 Pontoon

Generator
No. 2 anchor
No.3 anchor
12 m 3 4 5 48 m

Pontoon

Sand fill

Clay

Fig. 1. Sand spreader used on ultra-soft soil in Changi East reclamation project

24
 Reclamation and soil improvement on ultra-soft soil

the next phase of spreading can be carried out for another et al., 2003). Alternatively, these parameters can be deter-
2–3 m, depending on the improved foundation and the mined from tests carried out using the hydraulic consolida-
strength of the geotextile laid. In order to reduce the applied tion cell (Bo et al., 2003) under constant rate of loading (CRL)
pressure on the ultra-soft soil, the water level in the pond or or constant rate of strain (CRS), as discussed by Bo (2002).
bunded area can be raised above the intended platform After obtaining these two compression indices, the magni-
level. Subsequent filling can be carried out up to the tude of settlement can be determined using either equation
intended platform level, which, it is suggested, should be (2) or equation (3).
1 m above the local high tide level. This stage of filling can
If the final load is greater than 100 kPa:
probably be carried out with conventional hydraulic filling
methods. After reaching the intended platform, the water ei
e10 C C
f9
level in the bunded area is lowered to a level equivalent to ˜H ¼ 3 H þ c2 3 H þ c3 3 H log (2)
1 þ ei 1 þ ei 1 þ ei 100
the surrounding area by draining out the water from the
outlet gate. By doing so, the applied pressure will increase If the final load is less than or equal to 100 kPa:
steadily without causing failure. ei
e10 C
f9
˜H ¼ 3 H þ c2 3 H log (3)
1 þ ei 1 þ ei 10

where Cc2 is the compression index for the 10–100 kPa log
Design of reclamation and soil cycle; Cc3 is the compression index for the 100–1000 kPa log
improvement works cycle; e10 is the void ratio at 10 kPa; and
f9 is the final
effective stress.
In designing land reclamation and soil improvement
works, it is necessary to estimate the magnitude and time
rate of settlement. The magnitude of settlement is needed to Time rate of settlement
predict the volume of fill required. The time rate of Ultra-soft soil is always associated with large strain.
settlement is needed to predict the time required for the Therefore the theory by Gibson et al. (1981) is the best suited
consolidation. for this purpose. The important parameter is the large strain
coefficient of consolidation (CF ) at various stress levels:
Magnitude of settlement
If the initial and final void ratios are known, the
magnitude of settlement can readily be determined using
the following equation:
ei
ef
˜H ¼ 3H (1)
1 þ ei

where ˜H is the total settlement, H is the thickness of slurry,

ei is the initial void ratio, and ef is the final void ratio.
Alternatively, an oedometer test can be carried out on the
slurry sample using the conventional method by applying
the load in a load increment ratio of unity. In this case, the
initial load should be lower than 10 kPa. The e–log
v9 curve
that is generated will be similar to the graph shown in Fig.
2. From the curve of void ratio against effective stress, Cc2
and Cc3 can be obtained from the two log cycles between 10
and 100 kPa, and 100 and 1000 kPa, respectively, as shown
in Fig. 3. These parameters can also be obtained from the
empirical correlations with the void ratio at liquid limit (Bo

0
10
20
Degree of settlement, US

30
40
50
60
70
Single drainage
80 Double drainage
90
100
0·001 0·01 0·1 1 10
Time factor: TF

Fig. 3. Time factor curves covering ultra-soft soil with both single and Fig. 4. Slurry liquid coming out through the annulus of the mandrel during
double drainage vertical drain installation

25
Bo et al.

50 mm PVC pipe
Pneumatic piezometer
12 m long
twin tube
E.L.
4·0

Reclamation sand (8·50 m)

E.L.
4·0

Clay

Bentonite and
cement grout

25 mm dia. steel pipe

(a)
Bentonite pellets
600 mm
Reservoir

1000 mm
Tubing, liquid filled 75 mm dia. steel pipe
and pneumatic Liquid head

Fig. 6. Design of specially protected piezometer used in ultra-soft soil

Settlement cell
Optional e is the change in void ratio, and 
9 is the change in
settlement plate
effective stress.
(b) The permeability, stress changes and void ratio changes
can be obtained by carrying out an end-of-primary consoli-
dation test on the ultra-soft soil using a hydraulic Rowe cell
(Bo, 2002). Other alternatives are constant rate of strain
(CRS) and constant rate of loading (CRL) tests (Bo, 2002). As
Sand backfill all these tests measure the volume of water drained out and
Trench 0·5m deep, 0·3m wide the dissipation of pore pressure, the permeability can be
Fill level determined using Darcy’s equation.
Alternatively, if the additional stress and the final stress
are known, the final void ratio can be estimated from the
settlement analysis, and the permeability can be obtained
3–5% from the known e–log k relationship. Bo et al. (2003) propose
Tubing slack
an empirical correlation between void ratio and permeability
Borehole dia. 5.in min for the ultra-soft soil from the silt pond in Changi,
Singapore:
Bentonite/cement
grout :
k ¼ exp e
8 291 =0:3155Þ (5)
The rate of settlement can be predicted from the rate of
change in void ratio using the equation proposed by Gibson
Sand fill
500

and Lo (1961):
Transducer
e 2 e
400

¼ CF 2 (6)
t z

(c) Based on the work by Gibson et al. (1981), Bo (2002) has

proposed time factor curves covering ultra-soft to soft soil
Fig. 5. (a) Typical liquid settlement gauge used in ultra-soft soil (after Slope with both single and double drainage conditions, as shown
Indicator Co.); (b) principle of settlement measurement (after Slope in Fig. 3.
Indicator Co.); (c) typical installation in the borehole
The time rate of settlement can be predicted if the relevant
time factors, TF , at various time steps are known, using the
following equation:
k 
9
CF ¼ (4) CF t
ªw 1 þ e e
ð Þ TF ¼ (7)
d2
where TF is the time factor for large strain consolidation, and
where k is the permeability, ªw is the unit weight of water, d is the length of the drainage path. Bo (2002) has proposed

26
 Reclamation and soil improvement on ultra-soft soil

SP 506 WS 110
6·0 mCD

4·0 mCD
3·50

PP 467 Sand
DS 504 PZ 049
PP 468 PP – Pneumatic piezometer
DS 505
SP 508 PZ D48 PZ – Vibrating wire
DS 503 PP 466 piezometer
PP 047 DS – Deep settlement gauge
DS 507 DS 511 WS 110 SP – Settlement plate 5·30 DS 503
WS – Water stand pipe
Very soft slurry soil
8·00 DS 504 PP 466 PZ 047
PBS 5

10·00 DS 505 PP 487 PZ 048

12·00 DS 511 PP 468 PZ 049

3m 13·0 mCD

3m
14·30 DS 507

Sand

Fig. 7. Typical arrangement of instrument layout and profile

25·2 m CD 10
Ultra-soft soil 9
8
Surcharge: mCD

W 5 130%
7
ei 5 3·484 6
Gs 5 2·68 5
4
LL 5 78% 3 1st V. D. installed
PL 5 25% 2
1 2nd V. D. installed
Clay content 5 70–80% 0
210·50 m CD
Normally consolidated soil 0
Location: siltpond pilot area
0·5 Condition: with vertical drain
W 5 80%
1·0
Settlement: m

ei 5 2·144
1·5
Gs = 2·68
2·0
LL = 78%
2·5
PL = 25%
3·0
Clay content 5 70–80%
3·5 Field-measured data Predicted
213·00 m CD 4·0
0 0·5 1·0 1·5 2·0 2·5 3·0 3·5 4·0 4·5
Time: yr
Fig. 8. Soil profile and geotechnical parameters at pilot area
Fig. 9. Construction sequence and predicted and measured time rate of
settlement at pilot area

a finite difference model to predict the magnitude and time

rate of settlement.
Table 1. Summary of compressibility parameters for ultra-soft upper layer and
lower soil layers at the pilot area
Parameters Ultra-soft upper layer Lower soil layer
Void ratio at liquid limit, eL 2.09 – Soil improvement
Void ratio at 10 kPa, e10 2.20 –
C c1 1.28 – As the ultra-soft soil is more or less in the liquid stage,
C c2 0.91 0.91 there will be excessive pore pressure in the slurry after
C c3 0.49 0.49 filling up to the platform level. As this soil has very high

27
Bo et al.

Table 2. Summary of predicted settlement under various stages of filling at pilot area
Load Ultimate Settlement at time Settl’t at time t Predicted total Measured total
Addt’l load: duration, t: settlement for t for upper layer: Ultimate settlement for lower layer: settlement at settlement at
Stage kPa month upper layer: m m for lower layer: m m time t: m time t: m
1 65.20 2.00 2.174 0.472 0.630 0.130 0.602 0.25
2 105.45 28.70 2.416 2.408 0.720 0.717 3.125 3.10
3 186.45 16.53 2.585 2.584 0.806 0.805 3.389 3.40

Prior to reclamation After soil improvement

SP-506
(13·5 m CD)
H3 seabed 25·2 m CD (13/05/92) 7

Surcharge elevation: m CD
2nd vertical drain
DS-503
(25·3 m CD)
5

3 Surcharge elevation
Water level
27
PZ-047 1
DS-504 0 90 180 270 360 450 540
Yellowish
PP-466 Time: days
brown PBS-5 (27/12/96)
very soft (28 m CD) 28·59 m CD (b)
Elevation: m CD

silty clay
29 150
PZ-048
DS-505 125
Yellowish brown
Excess PWP: kPa

PP-467
very soft silty clay 100
(210 m CD)
75 PP-466
PP-467
211 PP-468
50
Bluish grey PZ-049
very soft DS-511 25
silty clay PP-468
(212 m CD) Soft sandy, silty, clay 0
0 90 180 270 360 450 540
Time: days
213 Very dense sand
(c)
(a)

150 0

125 0·5
Excess PWP: kPa

100 1·0
Settlement: m

75 1·5

50 2·0
SP-506 DS-503
25 DS-504 DS-505
PZ-47 (28 m CD) 2·5
PZ-48 (210 m CD) DS-511 DS-507
PZ-49 (212 m CD)
0 3·0
0 90 180 270 360 450 540 0 90 180 270 360 450 540

Time: days Time: days

(d) (e)

Fig. 10. Pilot area: (a) soil profile before reclamation, and after soil improvement; (b) surcharge elevation against time; (c) pneumatic piezometer excess
pore water pressure; (d) electric piezometer excess pore water pressure; (e) settlement against time

water content, there will also be very large settlement in the round. After the second round of drains has been installed,
early stage of deformation. the next level of surcharge can be placed.
Vertical drains can be used to accelerate the consolida- In general, conventional vertical drains are acceptable for
tion process. During the installation of these drains, the improving ultra-soft soil, even though the mean grain size
slurry may be squirted out through the annulus. Excessive may be much smaller than the apparent opening size of the
extrusion of the slurry can be minimised by accelerating drain filter normally found on the market. This is because
the installation process. Figure 4 shows the slurry coming the formation of mud-cake on the filter will help to retain
out of the annulus from the vertical drain installation the fine particles, as explained by Holtz et al. (1991).
point.
It is also not advisable to raise the surcharge level with a
single-stage filling. The lift thickness should be approxi- Instrumentation in land reclamation
mately equal to the expected settlement in the early stage.
The efficiency of the vertical drain will decrease with time, Instrumentation in ultra-soft soil can commence after the
owing to clogging and buckling. Therefore it is advisable to area has been filled to the general platform level. Settlement
install the drains in two or more passes. The second round gauges can be installed to monitor the settlement, and
of drains can be installed in between drains from the first piezometers to monitor the pore pressure. As the underlying

28
 Reclamation and soil improvement on ultra-soft soil

Table 3. Summary of applied CF values in prediction of time rate of settlement 12

at pilot area 10

Surcharge: m CD
CF : m2 /yr 8

Stage Upper layer Lower layer 6 3rd vertical

1 0.0287 0.0539 drain installed
4
2 0.0903 0.1264
2 2nd vertical drain installed
3 0.1733 0.1827
1st vertical drain ins talled
0
0 1 2 3 4
(a)
0
Location: siltpond (largest settlement area)
1 Condition: with vertical drain
2

Settlement: m
Table 4. Summary of compression parameters for ultra-soft soil in main work 3
area 4
Parameters Ultra-soft soil Lower soil layer 5
Void ratio at liquid 2.09 – 6
limit, eL 7
Field-measured data Predicted
Void ratio at 10 kPa, 2.20 – 8
e10 0 1 2 3 4
C c1 1.28 – Time: yr
C c2 0.912 0.92 (b)
C c3 0.50 0.50
Fig. 12. Main area: (a) construction sequence and (b) predicted and
measured time rate of settlement at main work area.

0·86 m CD
Ultra-soft soil Table 6. Summary of applied CF values used in prediction of time rate of
W
130% settlement at main work area
ei
3·484 CF : m2 /yr
Gs
2·68
Stages Upper layer Lower layer
LL
78%
1 0.0465 0.2758
PL
25% 2 0.1018 0.3605
Clay content
80% 3 0.0957 0.5492
11·46 m CD 4 0.1488 0.7155
Normally consolidated soil 5 0.1943 0.7804

W
83%
ei
2·224
Gs = 2·68
large-diameter borehole and allowed to sink under its own
LL = 78%
weight. The gauge is actually floating in the slurry. Hence it
PL = 25%
is difficult to install them at specific levels. One type of
Clay content
80%
liquid settlement gauge that was used in the ultra-soft soil in
23·16 m CD
the Changi reclamation project is shown in Fig. 5.
For the piezometer installation, the procedure has to be
Fig. 11. Soil profile and geotechnical parameters at main work area
modified to allow for the low strength of the ultra-soft soil
and the large strain involved. These piezometers have to be
housed inside a protective guard shell, which has an
soil is more or less in the liquid state, conventional deep extruding steel pipe on the top. This pipe protects the
settlement gauges can only be installed at the bottom and wiring. The friction from the sand fill will keep the pipe in
top of this deposit. At the intermediate levels, liquid place—that is, maintaining the piezometer at the same depth
settlement gauges with a large base area can be installed, as but not the same elevation without sinking into the ultra-soft
they are light. This type of gauge can be installed through a soil. In other words, the piezometer is hanging in the ultra-

Table 5. Summary of settlement at various stages of filling at main work area

Load Ultimate Settlement at Settlement at Predicted total Measured total
Additional duration, t: settlement for time t for Ultimate settlement time t for lower settlement at settlement at
Stage load: kPa months upper layer: m upper layer: m for lower layer: m layer: m time t time t: m
1 52.8 9.0 3.579 2.030 1.491 1.491 3.521 3.40
2 72.8 2.0 3.974 2.700 1.748 1.748 4.448 4.30
3 93.2 6.0 4.277 3.697 2.068 2.072 5.767 5.40
4 128.6 19.0 4.533 4.530 2.278 2.278 6.810 6.70
5 159.6 5.5 4.678 4.651 2.422 2.424 7.075 6.95

29
Bo et al.
soft soil owing to the grip on the pipe by the sand fill. The
true elevation of the piezometer can be monitored through
the top of the extruding pipe by survey. As the piezometer
is going to settle by the same amount as the fill, sufficient
allowance should be provided. Alternatively, a friction
reducer can be introduced when the slurry has been
consolidated to a soil-like material. A typical design of
piezometer used in ultra-soft soil is shown in Fig. 6. A
typical arrangement of the instrument layout and profile is
shown in Fig. 7.
Case study
This case study involves land reclamation over an ultra-
soft soil in a silt pond at the Changi East reclamation project
located at the eastern end of Singapore. Two areas were
monitored with soil instrument clusters: the pilot area and
the main work area.
At the pilot area, there was about 5.3 m of material in a
slurry state over 2.5 m of material that had already been
consolidated to the soil state. The settlement of both layers
was studied and analysed. Figure 8 shows the soil profile
and the geotechnical parameters.
The compression indices, void ratios at the liquid limit
and void ratio at 10 kPa for the ultra-soft upper layer and
the normally consolidated lower soil layer are summarised
in Table 1. Table 2 shows the final expected loads at various
construction stages and the predicted settlements at the end
of each stage, together with the total cumulative settlement.
For the ultra-soft soil the initial effective stress was assumed
to be 1 kPa, and for the normally consolidated soil, the initial
stress was calculated as
9 ¼ ª9h.
The submergence of fill due to settlement was taken into
consideration in the estimation of the final expected stress.
The void ratio and thickness of each compressible layer were
updated at each stage of loading. It can be seen in the table
that the calculated final settlement was in close agreement
with the measured settlement. The time rate of settlement
was predicted using the finite difference model proposed by
Bo (2002). The construction stages and the duration of
loading are shown in Fig. 9. The soil profile before and after
soil improvement and the pore pressure and settlement
measurements up to nearly one and a half years are shown
in Fig. 10.
The CF values adopted for the different loading stages are
summarised in Table 3. Several passes of vertical drain at
2 m square spacing were installed. This is because the drains
were functional for only a short period of time after
installation, owing to clogging and buckling. New drains
had to be installed to continue the accelerated rate of pore
pressure dissipation. The time rate of settlement was
calculated for the two separate layers and combined to give
the total settlement. This type of analysis is valid, as both
layers are being consolidated at the same time by radial
drainage with the help of the prefabricated vertical drain.
Figure 9 shows that the predicted time rate of settlement
agrees closely with the measured data.
This is the first validation of the proposed method.
Another prediction was made for the area in the main works
where the largest settlement occurred. The physical para-
meters and compression indices for this area are sum-
marised in Table 4. Figure 11 shows the soil profile and
geotechnical parameters. The construction sequence is
shown in Fig. 12. The computed and measured settlements
were in close agreement, as summarised in Table 5. The
measured and predicted time rate of settlement are also in
30
close agreement, as shown in Fig. 12. The slight variation of
time rate of settlement in each stage may be due to the small
variation of CF values adopted in the analysis. The CF values
are given in Table 6. It can be seen that the CF values of the
lower layer clay for this area are quite different from those
in the pilot area. In reality, the CF values should vary with
the applied total and effective stress at each step. It should
be noted that the CF values of the lower clay layer in this
area are also very different from those in the pilot area
because of the differences in stress level. The slight variation
in settlement magnitude at each stage can be due to the
variations in the additional load at each stage.
Conclusions
Sand spreading or raining is an effective method for land
reclamation over ultra-soft soil. It is necessary to place the
fill in stages, allowing time for the soft soil near the drainage
boundary to gain strength. Geotextile can be used to prevent
mixing of the sand fill with the ultra-soft soil, and to
minimise the possibility of localised failures due to uneven
filling.
The vertical drains should be installed in two or more
passes. These drains are functional for only a short period of
time after installation, owing to clogging and buckling
caused by slurry flow and large settlement respectively.
Measurements of settlement and pore pressure in ultra-
soft soil require special techniques and modification of
conventional instruments to cater for the low strength of the
ultra-soft soil and the large strain involved.
The magnitude of settlement can be estimated using the
proposed method if the compression indices in various
stress ranges are known. The time rate of settlement can also
be determined using the time factor curve if the large strain
consolidation parameters are known. Alternatively the finite
difference method can be used to determine the magnitude
and time rate of settlement. The proposed method produces
results that are in good agreement with the measured
settlements.
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Discussion contributions on this paper should reach the
editor by 1 July 2005
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