Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Dynamic Compaction Treatment in Saturated Soils Using a Coupled Dynamic Hydro Mechanical FE Model

Dynamic Compaction (DC),as a method of deep improvement of weak soils, recently has been used increasingly worldwide. Majority of previous studies on DC are concentrated on dry soils. Observations show that DC treatment in saturated soils is also effective, but little studies in this area are available. In this paper, a dynamic coupled hydro mechanical finite element code is used to clarify ambiguities in the process of DC in saturated soils under successive drops, and determine the depth and degree ofimprovement. This code can be used as a powerful tool for designing DC projects in a wide range of soiltypes. After verification of the code by comparing the numerical results against a real field operation of DC in a highway construction project extensive parametric study has been performed The results indicate that coefficient of permeability are important parameters that strongly affect the soil improvement procedure.