SOUTHEAST ASIA CONFERENCE ON

"SOFT SOILS ENGINEERING AND

GROUND IMPROVEMENT
BANDUNG 21-22 OCT 2014

CASE STUDY AND NUMERICAL MODELING

FOR SOIL IMPROVEMENT
WITH VACUUM CONSOLIDATION METHOD

R.Karlinasari 1, M. Djunaidy
M.R.Fakhrurrozy 3

and

1 Lecture, Sultan Agung Islamic University, Semarang, INDONESIA

2 Director, PT. GEOTEKINDO, INDONESIA
3 Engineer, RK Engineering Consultant, INDONESIA

BACK GROUND

The use of vacuum consolidation method in Indonesia,

currently was being developed enough to overcome the
problems of soft soil. A power plant project located in Muara
Bakti, Bekasi, West Java, Indonesia using a vacuum
consolidation method.
Numerical modeling with the ability to model suction
pressure as the effect of vacuum process were used to
analyze the soil improvement.
The phenomenon of horizontal shrinkage were successfully
modeled, so that it can explain the differences in
settlement resulting from vacuum consolidation method,
compared to another method of soil improvement.

THE SOFT SOIL

The Power Plant Project is located in Muara Bakti, Bekasi, West

Java, Indonesia.
The vacuum consolidation method has been applied to the
preparation of soil under Power Building, Passive Storage, Coal
Crusher and Coal Storages area.
The soil investigation result indicated that there is 12.0 m 12.5
m depth of soft soil, with consistency of very soft to soft soil.
The vacuum method has been used with the application of 80
kPa of suction for most of the sub-zone and additional 1.95 m of
soil preload in the center of sub-zone B to simulate the working
load of 11.25 ton/m2 at the center of coal stack.
The vacuum consolidation was done at October 2013 to January
2014.

THE SOIL LAYERS

Average existing ground surface is +1.000.

GWL is located 0.8 m below existing ground surface
Layer (1) about 4 m thickness (0 4) is soft (sandy) clay
with SPT values 2 4.
Layer (2) about 6 m thickness (4 10) is very soft clay with
SPT values 2 - 4.
Layer (3) about 3 m thickness (10 - 13) is soft (organic) clay
with SPT value 4.
Layer (4) below level 13 m. Stiff clay with underlying silty
sand with SPT value more than 13.

SOFT SOIL PARAMETERS

INPUT PARAMETERS

GENERAL STAGE
-

Stripping and sand backfill for platform

Install PVD and horizontal drainages.
Install geomembrane and geotextile.
Install vacuum pumps and keep the pumps
running
for 3 ~ 4 month.
- Backfill for leveling and settlement compensation.
Backfilling work is done during vacuum process.
- Unload vacuum pressure based on the settlement
monitoring or calculated consolidation degree by
Asaoka method.

Initial Phase
An initial model was build base on the initial ground water elevation = 0. 0
m The maximum negative pressure head = 100 kPa.

Suction Boundary Condition

H = -8 m

Suction over Time

Horizontal Shrinkage

Deformation due to Load

Application (35 kPa)

Compare to Real
Measurement

Pressure over Time

Vertical Settlement

The maximum vertical settlement is 1.102 m,

it is higher than the model, which is produce
the vertical settlement of 0.67 m.

Lateral Deformation
The
lateral
deformation
due
to
inclinometer measurement are 6.7 cm at
inclinometer 1 and 25.5 cm at inclinometer
2 (inward).
The model produce a lower lateral
deformation, which is maximum at 15.0 cm

Conclusion

The numerical model has been successfully represented the

decrease pressure applied by vacuum consolidation
method, however the decrease pressure over time curve
still not in good conformity, due to the application of
boundary condition .
The numerical model has been successfully represented the
phenomenon of horizontal shrinkage (onward lateral
deformation), which is observed during construction. That is
explained why in vacuum consolidation method, the value
of vertical settlement were less than the vertical settlement
usually observed from the traditional preload soil
improvement, because the lateral deformation tend to
retain the vertical settlement.

Reference

GEOTEKINDO, 2013, Ground Improvement For Coal Fired Power

Station Power Plant Site At Muara Bakti, Bekasi, West Java.

GEOTEKINDO, 2014, Final Vacuum Monitoring Record A1-R1, Coal

Fired Power Station Power Plant Site At Muara Bakti, Bekasi, West
Java.

Karlinasari,R.,Rahardjo,P.P., 2010, Unsaturated Shear Strength

Parameters of Tropical Volcanic Residual Soils, UNSATURATED
SOILS, Eduardo E. Alonso, Technical University of Catalonia (UPC)
Barcelona, Spain; Antonio Gens, Technical University of Catalonia
(UPC), CRC PRESS, Barcelona, Spain.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR KIND ATTENTION