Soil Improvement Wick Drain

What is wick Drain ?

Long term settlement of soft silt and clay often creates serious problems in construction. Many years it may be required for consolidation of thick compressible layers of soil. This design problem can be overcome by creating closely-spaced artificial vertical drainage paths to which the pore water can flow, thus decreasing the consolidation time to a matter of months. These artificial drainage paths, called wick drains, consist of a central plastic core, which functions as a free-draining water channel, surrounded by a thin geosynthetic filter jacket.  We are manufacuring  wick drain from 16 meter to 32 meter  in length

Using wick drain ? 

Wick drains are installed with specialized equipment, called stitchers. The stitchers, which are mounted on either backhoes or excavator  consist of a vertical mast housing a special installation  mandrel. The mandrel, containing the wick drain, is hydraulically pushed or vibrated into the ground to the desired treatment depth, typically to the bottom of the soft-soil stratum. As the mandrel is withdrawn back into the mast, the undamaged wick drain is left in place within the soil mass.

Wick Drain stitcher  application ?

The most common application of wick drains is for accelerating the settlement rate of compressible soils. At some sites, the primary purpose of wick drains is to increase the shear strength of underlying soft soils. As soil consolidates, the shear strength increases due to a reduction in the water content. This application is particularly important when high area fills have to be placed over soft soils with low shear strength. Potential instability problems can be overcome by loading the site in stages and allowing the soft soils to gain in strength under each stage before placement of the next stage of fill.