Performance and Energy Consumption of Electric Vertical Drains Used in Soft Clay Consolidation

Abstract

With the advent of conducting polymers, electric vertical drains (EVDs) have been employed as electrodes in a small number of electro-osmosis trials. The design philosophy of EVDs is based on corrosion resistance, electric conduction, and drainage abilities. This paper summarizes the laboratory investigations of the electro-osmosis methods with different electrodes in kaolin clay. The electro-osmosis drainage time of EVDs was longer than the metal electrodes, which is beneficial to the strengthening effect. The filter membrane and drainage path of EVDs confers an obvious improvement on the drainage effect. The energy consumption of electro-osmosis by EVD is acceptable.