What is wick drain?

The wick drain, also known as a prefabricated vertical drain (PVD), is a relatively simple device which is used to provide drainage paths for water fluid in the soil or between rocks.

Where are wick drains used?

Wick drains are typically used in soft saturated fine- grained soils, such as silts, clays, organic silts, organic clays, peat, sludges, mine tailings, and dredge fills. The geotechnical investigation should include continuous sampling to identify any sand drainage layers that may contribute to faster consolidation.

What are the advantages of wick drains over sand drains?

Advantages and Disadvantages of Wick Drains Comparison to sand drains: Economic competitiveness, less disturbance to the soil mass compared to displacement sand drains, and the speed and simplicity of installation. Also feasible to be installed in a nonvertical orientation.

How does a wick work?

A candle wick works by capillary action, conveying (“wicking”) the fuel to the flame. When the liquid fuel, typically melted candle wax, reaches the flame it then vaporizes and combusts. The candle wick influences how the candle burns.

What is drainage blanket?

A drainage blanket is a very permeable material used to remove water or to control groundwater seepage from cut slopes or beneath fills.

What is sand drain?

The sand drain system uses to reinforce good to poor soils, including soft to stiff clay and silt, loose to dense sand, organic silt and peat. Sand drains are used to reinforce and stiffen compressible foundation soils and increase the time-rate of settlement in order to control post-construction settlement magnitudes.

What is a sump drain?

a drain consisting of an outer tube vented to the outside with a smaller tube within it that is attached to a suction pump; both have multiple perforations that allow fluid and air to be carried away through the suction tube.

What is drain blanket used for?

The functionality of the drainage blanket in a zoned earthen dam is to collect the seepage water and maintain the phreatic surface away from the downstream face, so that the downstream slope can be prevented from failure.

What factors affect the effectiveness of wick drains?

The rate of soil consolidation or settlement is controlled by how rapidly the pore water can escape from the soil. The controlling variables are the spacing between the wick drains and the permeability of the soil.

Are wick drains removed?

The drain is fed down through a hollow mandrel mounted on an excavator or crane mast, connected at the bottom to an expendable anchor plate. A vibratory hammer or static method is used to insert the mandrel to design depth. It’s then removed, leaving the wick drain in place.

What is a candlewick made of?

The most common core materials for wicks are cotton, paper, zinc or tin. Cored wicks can be found in jar candles, pillars, votives and devotional lights.

What are wicks coated in?

Wax Coating The first step in making wick assemblies is to coat (or prime) raw wick with wax in a coating machine. The machine feeds wick through a bath of melted coating wax filled with a number of pins that bend the raw wick, forcing out any air as the wax fully saturates the fibers.

What is sand blanket?

A blanket deposit of sand or sandstone of unusually wide distribution, typically an orthoquartzitic sandstone deposited by a transgressive sea advancing for a considerable distance over a stable shelf area; e.g., the St. Peter Sandstone of the East-Central United States.

What is a band drain?

Band drains are an economical solution for treating large areas beneath road and rail embankments and across estuarine areas where levels are being raised for flood protection or reclamation.

What is a sand Wick?

The Sandwick series consists of very deep, poorly drained soils that formed in a mantle of sandy glacial outwash or eolian material and underlying loamy till or lacustrine sediments. These soils are on lake plains or moraines.

What are the disadvantages of sand drains?

The surface of such soil deposits is so soft that it is difficult to use heavy construction equipment for construction of structures over such soils. The progress of construction is often delayed or halted for several weeks, shooting up the project costs if conventional foundation techniques are used in such soils.

How deep should a sump pit be?

The typical pit is 30 inches in depth and 18 to 24 inches across. The standard sump pit inserts available in home improvement centers is 26 gallons and 18 inches in diameter. In many cases, the pit needs to be a minimum of 24 inches and up to a depth of 36 inches. But some builders just use a common 5-gallon bucket.

What is a Blake drain?

Blake drains (Ethicon, Sommerville, NJ) are white radiopaque silicone tubing with a solid core and four channels running the length of the drain (Fig 1). They are flexible, noncollapsible, round drains that exude constant suction over the length of the channels by capillary action.

Why are sand drains used?

What is a wick drain?

Wick drains are three-dimensional drainage structures that drain water in vertical and horizontal applications. Wick Drain (also referred to as strip drain or prefabricated vertical drain) is used in both vertical and horizontal applications.

What are the advantages of vertical wick drains?

Vertical wick drains, in conjunction with a preload, provide a drainage path for water-saturated areas to speed up settlement. This can save the project time and money compared to a preload alone or having to use piles. A horizontal wick drain (strip drain) offers three advantages over a sand blanket for providing lateral drainage.

How do you install a vertical wick drain?

Installation. Vertical wick drain (which comes in rolls roughly 300 m long) is installed utilizing specialized wick drain installation equipment. The equipment is typically mounted on an excavator or crane (depending on the depth of installation) and pushes a mandrel into the ground which carries the wick drain inside to protect it.

What is the difference between sand blanket and wick drain?

Product Description. Horizontal wick drain (strip drain) offers three advantages over a sand blanket for providing lateral drainage. Horizontal wick drains are less expensive, may be installed more quickly and easily with less manpower and equipment and provides a more consistant drainage pathway with less clogging.