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1265

Characterization of a smear zone around vertical

drains by large-scale laboratory tests
J.S. Sharma and D. Xiao

Abstract: Installation of prefabricated vertical drains using a mandrel causes disturbance of clay surrounding the drain,
resulting in a “smear” zone of reduced permeability. In this paper, an attempt is made to characterize the smear zone
using large-scale laboratory model tests. Two tests, simulating the cases of “no smear” and “with smear,” were con-
ducted. Excess pore-water pressures were monitored at seven different locations along the radial direction. In addition,
undisturbed samples were collected at various locations in the clay layer for conducting oedometer tests. The distribu-
tion of excess pore pressure due to drain installation gave a clear indication of the extent of the smear zone. The effect
of reconsolidation on the properties of clay was found to be much greater than that of the remoulding of the clay. The
extent of the smear zone was also confirmed from the change in permeability of the clay layer in the smear zone ob-
tained from oedometer tests. The radius of the smear zone is about four times that of the mandrel, and the horizontal
permeability of the clay layer in the smear zone is approximately 1.3 times smaller than that in the intact zone.

Key words: consolidation, permeability, smear zone, soft clay, vertical drains.

Résumé : L’installation de drains verticaux préfabriqués (PVDs) au moyen d’un mandrin produit un remaniement de
l’argile qui entoure le drain, résultant en une zone de souillure d’argile de perméabilité réduite. Dans cet article, on
tente de caractériser la zone de souillure au moyen d’essais sur modèle à grande échelle en laboratoire. Deux essais -
simulant les cas « sans souillure » et « avec souillure » - ont été effectués. Les excédents de pression interstitielle ont
été mesurés à sept différents points dans la direction radiale. De plus, des échantillons non remaniés ont été prélevés à
différents endroits dans la couche d’argile pour faire des essais oedométriques. La distribution de l’excédent de
pression interstitielle due à la mise en place des drains ont fourni une indication claire de l’étendue de la zone de
souillure. On a trouvé que l’effet de la reconsolidation sur les propriétés de l’argile était beaucoup plus important que
l’effet du remaniement de l’argile. L’étendue de la zone de souillure a été confirmée par les changements de
perméabilité de d’argile dans la zone de souillure donnés par les essais oedométriques. L’on a trouvé que le rayon de
la zone de souillure est d’environ quatre fois le rayon du mandrin. On a également observé que la perméabilité
horizontale de la couche d’argile dans la zone de souillure est environ 1,3 fois plus petite que celle de la zone intacte.

Mots clés : consolidation, perméabilité, zone de souillure, argile molle, drains verticaux.
[Traduit par la Rédaction] Sharma and Xiao 1271

1. Introduction rience a reduction in the void ratio and result in a reduction

Prefabricated vertical drains (PVDs) are commonly used
when an accelerated rate of consolidation of a clay layer is
desired. The installation of PVDs is achieved by pushing a
steel mandrel into the clay layer to the desired depth. The in-
sertion of the mandrel causes significant disturbance of the
clay layer surrounding the drain, resulting in a “smear”
zone. Primarily, the layered structure of the clay layer is al-
most completely destroyed in the smear zone, resulting in a
much lower horizontal permeability of the clay. Since the in-
stallation of a PVD is a relatively fast process, significant
excess pore-water pressures are also likely to build up in the
smear zone. These excess pore pressures will subsequently
dissipate and cause the smear zone to consolidate and expe-
in the permeability of the clay layer.
The presence of a smear zone significantly influences the
horizontal consolidation, and classical solutions (Barron
1948; Hansbo 1981) take this into account. In these solu-
tions, the clay layer around the drain is represented by a
two-zone model, i.e., an undisturbed zone with natural per-
meability and a smear zone with reduced permeability
(Fig. 1). The two parameters that control the outcome of the
solution are the ratio of the radius to the outer edge of the
smear zone to the radius of the drain (s) and the ratio of the
natural horizontal permeability to the reduced
permeability ( η):
rs
[1] s=
rw

Received February 4, 2000. Accepted May 11, 2000. kh

[2] η=
Published on the NRC Research Press website on ks
December 12, 2000.
J.S. Sharma and D. Xiao. Geotechnical Research Centre, where rs is the radius of the smear zone, rw is the radius of
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. the vertical drain, k h is the horizontal permeability of

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1266 Can. Geotech. J. Vol. 37, 2000

undisturbed soil, and ks is the horizontal permeability of the Fig. 1. Terms used in the analysis of vertical drains. R, radius of
smear zone. the unit cell; L, length of the unit cell.
The values of s and η are quite difficult to determine be-
cause of the many uncertainties involved (Bergado et al.
1991; Hansbo 1997; Chai and Miura 1999). Observed results
from pilot tests or past projects in similar ground conditions
are often used to estimate these parameters. However, the
process of estimation of these parameters is that of trial and
error and the results are not always consistent (Hansbo
1997). It is also difficult to distinguish the influence of the
smear zone from other influencing factors such as well resis-
tance and the transmissivity of the drainage mat. One possi-
ble way of characterizing the influence of the smear zone is
to conduct large-scale instrumented laboratory tests. How-
ever, these tests are expensive to execute and only a small
number of these tests have been reported in the literature
(Bergado et al. 1991; Onoue et al. 1991; Indraratna and
Redana 1998). In this study, two such tests, simulating “no
smear” and “with smear” cases, have been conducted using a
1.0 m diameter consolidometer. The distribution of excess
pore-water pressure caused by the insertion of the mandrel
was obtained by monitoring the change in pore-water pres-
sure at seven different locations along the radial direction.
Changes in permeability and compressibility of the clay
layer in the smear zone and the undisturbed zone were eval-
uated by conducting oedometer tests on undisturbed sam-
ples.

2. Test apparatus and procedure
A large-scale test apparatus for the investigation of con-
solidation of clay around vertical drains has been developed
at the Geotechnical Research Centre of Nanyang Technolog-
ical University. A schematic diagram of the test apparatus is
shown in Fig. 2. The apparatus consists of three main com-
ponents: a consolidation tank, a motorized drain-installation
machine, and instrumentation. Due to its large size, it is pos-
sible to conduct realistic “unit cell” experiments that simu-
late the field situation of clay consolidation around vertical
drains with minimum boundary effects and with extensive
instrumentation.
2.1. Consolidation tank
The consolidation tank is made of stainless steel and has a
1.0 m internal diameter and 20 mm wall thickness. It can be
split horizontally into upper and lower cylinders that are 0.6
and 0.4 m high, respectively. These two cylinders can be
joined precisely with the help of specially designed collars
on their ends and their position can be reversed. The inside
surface of these cylinders is honed to minimize friction. The
piston is made of 3 mm thick grade 316 stainless steel. It is
connected to a 40 mm diameter shaft. A 10 mm coaxial hole
is bored through the centre of the shaft to facilitate the drain-
ing of water. Water and air tightness of the piston is
achieved using a double O-ring system on its peripheral
edge. The system has been proof-tested for air and water
leakage up to a maximum pressure of 700 kPa. The friction
between the O-ring system and the inside surface of the cyl-
inder is equivalent to about 1 kPa of pressure on the piston.
Compressed air is used to apply pressure loading onto the
piston. The 30 mm thick base plate is also made of stainless
steel and is used as a platform from which various instru-
ments can be inserted into the clay layer.
2.2. Drain-installation machine
To simulate the two contrasting cases of “no smear” and
“with smear,” a motorized drain-installation machine was
developed. This machine consists of a 1.4 m diameter,
10 mm thick steel plate that can be fixed on the top of the
tank and a motorized hoist that can push or pull the mandrel
at different speeds ranging from 0.1 to 4 m/min. The man-
drel used in this study consisted of an open-end 2 mm thick
outer tube and a closed-end 50 mm diameter inner tube with
a closed bottom end. For the case of “with smear,” the two
tubes are clamped together and pushed into the clay layer as
one unit, closely replicating the commonly used field instal-
lation process. For the case of “no smear,” only the open-
ended tube is pushed and the clay trapped inside this tube is
carefully removed using an auger. Using the above-
mentioned configuration, the machine is capable of install-
ing a circular sand drain. By changing the mandrel, it is also
possible to install a commercially available PVD.
2.3. Instrumentation
The relatively large size of the consolidation tank makes it
possible to instrument a test extensively. The instrumentation
used in the present study comprised several 6.4 mm diameter
miniature pore-pressure transducers (PPTs), soil pressure
cells to monitor the vertical and lateral soil pressures, and
displacement transducers to record the settlements. The min-
iature PPTs are inserted from the base plate through cable
adapters and fixed at predetermined radial and vertical dis-
tances using 5 mm diameter bronze rods. The PPTs were not
installed along one radius but in a staggered manner close to

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Sharma and Xiao
Fig. 2. Schematic diagram of the test setup. PPTs, pore-pressure transducers. Not to scale.
Fig. 3. Schematic diagram of sampling locations for oedometer
test specimen. Not to scale.
the vertical drain as shown in Fig. 3. The data acquisition
system consisted of portable data loggers (each with 20
channels and multiplexing capability) and an IBM-
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1267
compatible personal computer that controlled the two data
loggers.
2.4. Clay and the model drain
The clay used in the present study is locally available re-
fined kaolin. The main advantages in using kaolin are its
commercial availability, relatively high permeability, and ex-
isting database of its engineering properties. Table 1 gives
key engineering properties of the kaolin.
Model sand drain used in the two tests is 50 mm in diam-
eter and consists of a cylindrical filter bag filled with Ameri-
can Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) grade 16-00
sand (Ottawa sand). The filter bag is made of a nonwoven
polyester geotextile that has a transmissivity of 10–4 m/s and
mean pore size of 80 µm.
2.5. Test procedure
A typical test in the present study was carried out in three
stages: preparation of clay deposit, installation of the drain,
and collection of oedometer and moisture-content samples.
In the first stage, kaolin powder was thoroughly mixed with
water in a custom-made slurry mixer. The amount of water
was approximately two times the liquid limit of kaolin. The
resulting slurry was then poured into the consolidation tank.
The tank was then sealed and 90 kPa of vacuum was applied
for several hours to remove air bubbles trapped inside the
slurry. A layer of filter cloth and filter paper was placed on
the top surface of the slurry before placing the piston. After
assembling the tank, vertical consolidation pressure was ap-
plied in stages up to a maximum of 100 kPa. After the com-
pletion of vertical consolidation, the upper cylinder, piston,
and top plate were removed. The top surface of the clay
layer was approximately 5 mm higher than the top edge of
the lower cylinder. This was deliberately done so that when
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Fig. 4. Excess pore-water pressures in the clay layer during mandrel insertion.
Table 1. Some engineering properties of kaolin.
Liquid limit (%) 70
Plastic limit (%) 40
Particle distribution (%)
Clay (<2 µm) 30
Silt (<10 µm) 100
Specific gravity 2.61
Void ratio* 1.4
Water content (%)* 65
* After consolidation at 100 kPa.
the drain-installation machine is mounted, it is possible to
apply surcharge at the clay surface by tightening the bolts
connecting the drain-installation machine to the lower
cylinder. A total stress cell located at the bottom of the clay
layer recorded the magnitude of the applied surcharge.
In the second stage, the drain-installation machine was
mounted on top of the lower cylinder. As mentioned earlier,
for the case of “with smear” both the outer and inner tubes
of the mandrel were pushed into the clay deposit. The rate of
insertion was 0.3 m/min. Once the mandrel reached the bot-
tom plate, the inner tube was withdrawn and the space was
filled with the sand drain. For the case of “no smear,” only
the open-ended outer tube was pushed into the clay deposit.
The rate of insertion was 0.3 m/min. The clay trapped inside
the tube was then removed using an auger. The sand drain
was then placed inside the tube. During the entire process of
installation, excess pore-water pressures in the clay deposit
were monitored continuously.
After the excess pore-water pressures due to the insertion
of the mandrel dissipated, the test was stopped and the entire
clay deposit was removed from the lower cylinder. Vertical
and horizontal undisturbed samples were taken from the
middle section of the clay deposit at seven different loca-
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Can. Geotech. J. Vol. 37, 2000
tions as shown in Fig. 3. Oedometer tests were performed on
these samples to establish the permeability and compress-
ibility of the clay deposit. In addition, a large number of
moisture-content samples were collected at various locations
in the clay deposit.
For all the tests, the geotextile filter of the vertical drain
was visually inspected for signs of clogging by kaolin parti-
cles. No signs of clogging were found.
3. Test results
3.1. Excess pore-water pressure in the clay layer
The excess pore-water pressures (u) at different radial dis-
tances in the clay deposits during the process of mandrel in-
sertion are shown in Fig. 4. The distribution of u was
recorded using miniature PPTs embedded in the clay layer at
mid-depth. As expected, the test simulating the case of “with
smear” (test T1) experienced much higher u compared with
the case of “no smear” (test T2). The maximum excess pore-
water pressure (um) in test T1 was 80 kPa, whereas for test
T2 it was only 30 kPa. There are three significant instances
in both tests, denoted t0, t1, and t2 and shown in Fig. 4. The
beginning of mandrel insertion is represented by t0 and it is
the zero on the time scale. The instance at which the man-
drel reaches the level of the PPTs is represented by t1, and t2
indicates that the mandrel has reached the bottom of the
tank, i.e., the end of mandrel insertion. For test T1, um was
reached at t1, whereas for test T2, um was reached at the end
of mandrel insertion (t2). This can be explained on the basis
of the difference in the way the clay layer is stressed by the
closed-end and the open-end mandrels. For the closed-end
mandrel, the mechanism consists of significant lateral defor-
mation in the clay layer surrounding the bottom end of the
mandrel and a shear (slip) failure around the outer surface of
the mandrel. For the open-end mandrel, the mechanism
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Sharma and Xiao
Fig. 5. Radial distribution of excess pore-water pressures in the
clay layer. t1, same as t1 in Fig. 4; t2 same as t2 in Fig. 4; t3 is
150 s after t2.
predominantly consists of shear failure around its outer and
inner surfaces. It is obvious that the lateral displacement of
the clay layer surrounding the bottom end of the mandrel is
the major contributor to excess pore pressure. The relatively
slow drop in u from t1 to t2 for test T1 is a combination of
dissipation of u and an increase in u due to the continuing
application of shear stress by the outer surface of the man-
drel.
Figure 5 shows the radial variation of u due to insertion of
the mandrel. Since test T1 is very similar to a typical pile-
driving test, the measured radial distribution of u can be
compared with that computed from the procedure for insen-
sitive clays suggested by Poulos and Davis (1979). For the
computed u distribution, the value of um was taken equal to
80 kPa and the radius at which it occurs (R) is taken equal to
four times the radius of the mandrel, following the recom-
mendation for insensitive clays by Nishida (1963). The com-
puted u distribution is superimposed on the measured u
distribution as shown in Fig. 5. There is close agreement be-
tween the computed and measured trends in u along the ra-
dial direction.
As mentioned previously, the large diameter of the consol-
idation tank ensures that the outer radial boundary has a
minimum influence on the test results. This is evident from
the output of the PPT installed close to the outer boundary
(at radius 450 mm). There is no appreciable change in its
reading during the process of mandrel insertion as shown in
Fig. 5.
3.2. Moisture-content profile of the clay layer
As mentioned earlier for test T1, significant excess pore
pressures were induced in the clay layer due to the insertion
of a closed-end mandrel. It is logical to anticipate that these
excess pore pressures will eventually dissipate and result in
consolidation of the clay layer surrounding the mandrel. To
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1269
Fig. 6. Radial moisture-content profile of the clay layer. H, loca-
tion of moisture content sample.
confirm this, moisture-content samples were collected at
four different vertical levels and at seven different radial lo-
cations. The moisture-content profiles for tests T1 and T2
are shown in Fig. 6. For test T1, in the annular region of
clay layer surrounding the mandrel and extending up to a ra-
dius of 100 mm, there is a significant drop in the moisture
content of the clay layer. For test T2, the variation of mois-
ture content in the radial direction is negligible.
3.3. Permeability of the clay layer
As stated previously, several horizontal and vertical speci-
mens were collected from the clay layer at the end of the
test. Oedometer tests were performed on these samples to
ascertain the variation of horizontal permeability (kh) of the
clay layer in the radial direction. Figure 7 shows the varia-
tion of kh in the radial direction for test T1 for various
oedometer consolidation pressures. Figure 7 shows that in
the annular region of the clay layer surrounding the mandrel
and extending up to a radius of 100 mm, there is a signifi-
cant drop in kh for low consolidation pressures. The turning
point of 100 mm is in close agreement with that obtained
from the moisture-content profile in the radial direction
(Fig. 6).
Figure 8 shows the results of all oedometer tests plotted in
e – log kh space, where e is the void ratio. The data in Fig. 8
show very little scatter and plot along a straight line given
by e = 5.7458 + 0.6221 log(kh). This observation confirms
that the drop in kh is mainly due to localized change in the
void ratio resulting from the dissipation of excess pore pres-
sures.
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Fig. 7. Radial variation in the horizontal permeability of the clay
layer.
4. Discussion
From the measurement of excess pore pressure, moisture
content, and permeability of the clay layer, it is clear that in
the annular region of the clay layer surrounding the mandrel
and extending up to a radius of 100 mm, the properties are
quite different from those of the relatively intact clay outside
this region.
On the basis of the results presented here and using the
terminology of the classic two-zone theory of horizontal
consolidation (Barron 1948; Hansbo 1981), it is logical to
infer that the radius of the smear zone (rs) extends up to
100 mm, i.e., s = rs /rw = 4. The other control parameter for
the smear zone, i.e., η = kh /ks, can be estimated by taking
the ratio of the average kh values in the intact zone and in
the smear zone. It should be noted that the difference be-
tween the kh value in the intact zone and that in the smear
zone reduces at higher consolidation pressures (Fig. 7) and
the value of η changes from 1.75 at 19 kPa consolidation
pressure to only 1.03 at 1102 kPa consolidation pressure.
This seems to suggest that the smear effect decreases with
an increase in the consolidation pressure. In the field, the
clay that is being improved using a vertical drain is usually
in a normally consolidated state and the loading imposed by
the surcharge is typically between 50 and 100 kPa. There-
fore, to obtain a representative value of η, kh values obtained
from the virgin compression stage of an oedometer test (one
at the preconsolidation pressure and one at a pressure equal
to preconsolidation pressure plus the loading imposed by the
surcharge) should be used. Since the maximum
preconsolidation pressure for the clay layer is 100 kPa, aver-
age kh values in the intact and smear zones at oedometer
consolidation pressure increments of 70–140 and 140–
277 kPa are used to obtain an average η = 1.3. The relatively
low value of η may be attributed to the fact that the clay
layer used in the present study did not show significant
structure, and therefore there was not much difference be-
tween its horizontal and vertical permeability. A natural clay
that is highly structured would have a horizontal permeabil-
ity that is much higher than its vertical permeability. For
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Fig. 8. Variation of horizontal permeability of the clay layer with
void ratio e.
such clays, it is quite reasonable to anticipate that, due to
significant remoulding, the drop in horizontal permeability
in the smear zone would be much greater.
The change in the properties of the clay layer due to man-
drel insertion is brought about by a combination of
reconsolidation due to dissipation of excess pore pressure
and remoulding of the clay layer due to shear applied by the
outer surface of the mandrel. From the results presented
here, the process of reconsolidation has a much greater in-
fluence on the properties of the clay layer than the process
of remoulding. This may be attributed to the fact that the
clay used in the present study is neither sensitive nor highly
structured, and therefore remoulding has a limited effect on
its properties. However, this is not the case. The process of
reconsolidation dominates the process of remoulding, even
more for sensitive, structured clays. Field measurement of
excess pore pressure in natural clays due to pile driving has
indicated that the magnitude and extent of excess pore pres-
sures generated in sensitive, structured clays can be twice as
much as those for clays of low or medium sensitivity
(Poulos and Davis 1979). It is logical to expect that signifi-
cant excess pore pressures will be generated in natural clays
due to the installation of vertical drains. The so-called smear
zone around these vertical drains may be further divided into
two zones: a remoulded zone of rather limited extent located
close to the drain, and a reconsolidated zone of much wider
extent located between the remoulded zone and the intact
clay. The value s = rs/rw = 4 obtained from the results pre-
sented here represents the outer boundary of the reconsoli-
dated zone. The outer boundary of the remoulded zone
cannot be established from these results, but its radius is
likely to be of the order of 1.5–2 times the radius of the ver-
tical drain.
5. Conclusions
The extent and characteristics of the smear zone surround-
ing the prefabricated vertical drains are successfully exam-
ined using two contrasting tests in a newly developed large-
scale test apparatus. The results from these two tests were
supplemented by several oedometer tests and moisture-
content tests. Insertion of mandrel induces a smear zone
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Sharma and Xiao
around the vertical drain in which the properties of the clay
layer are significantly different from those in the intact zone.
The radial extent of the smear zone was four times the ra-
dius of the vertical drain. The average permeability of the
clay layer in the smear zone was 1.3 times smaller than that
in the intact zone. The change in the properties of the clay
layer due to mandrel insertion is brought about by a combi-
nation of reconsolidation due to dissipation of excess pore
pressure and remoulding of the clay layer due to shear ap-
plied by the outer surface of the mandrel. The effect of
reconsolidation on the properties of the clay layer is much
more significant than that of remoulding. It is proposed that
the smear zone could be further divided into two zones: a
remoulded zone of rather limited extent located close to the
drain, and a reconsolidated zone of much wider extent lo-
cated between the remoulded zone and the intact clay. The
value s = rs/rw = 4 obtained from the results presented may
then represent the outer boundary of the reconsolidated
zone.
References
Barron, R.A. 1948. Consolidation of fine grained soils by drain
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clay. Journal of Geotechnical Engineering, ASCE, 117(10):
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Chai, J.C., and Miura, N. 1999. Investigation of factors affecting
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© 2000 NRC Canada