ABSTRACT
The 49 m high Wuping rockfill dam is constructed on fully saturated weak clay foundation in the Yunnan Province of China. The 26 m.deep foundation material is comprised of lacustrine silty clay with landslide deposit. To improve the engineering properties of foundation, vibro replacement technique was adopted. This paper describes the geotechnical properties of the foundation material based on field and laboratory test results. The two-dimensional consolidation analysis by Biot theory was conducted using both Duncan-Chang and Cambridge model. The calculation results of pore pressure and settlement as a function of construction process were compared with the field measured information. In the analysis, the effect of the vibrofloatation piles on the improvement of bearing and drainage capacity was evaluated by a smeared model. The authors discuss some key issues relating to the rate of pore pressure dissipation and stability of the foundation, such as the role of the vibrofloatation piles and slow-down of the embankment construction process.
