Vacuum Technique Cuts Soil Settlement Time in Half 10/31/2005
To speed up ground settlement at the site of a Vietnamese powerplant, French engineers are vacuuming water from a 16-meter-deep layer of compressible clay. Final ground levels are due to be reached in under half the 18 months needed when using conventional gravity drainage, claims the contractor.
Under a $4.3-million subcontract, 90,000 sq m of low-lying site is being urgently prepared for a new powerplant next to the Cai Tau River near Ca Mau, in Vietnams south. Another, less urgent 110,000 sq m of the site is due for conventional treatment, costing about 25% less, says Marc Lacazedieu, deputy general manager of subcontractor Menard-Soltraitement S.A., Nozay, France.