Stochastic Medium Model for the Settlement Calculation of Prefabricated Vertical Drains of Soft Soil Foundations in the Coastal Area of South China
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The manuscript addresses the settlement of soft soil foundations in coastal areas of South China. For this purpose, a new settlement calculation method of prefabricated vertical drain (PVD) in soft soil foundations is applied, it is based on the stochastic medium model. The results were compared to actual values of settlement obtained by monitoring.
The topic is noteworthy but before recommendation for the final acceptance of this paper by this Reviewer, minor revisions are suggested.
1.- Figure 4 label missing.
2.- English language and style are fine/minor spell check required. Please revise the whole manuscript.
E.G. Excessive word repeating, it is clearly stated in the abstract that the study is conducted in South China, it is not necessary to continuously mention it.
Author Response
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Reviewer 2 Report
A study was carried out on prefabricated vertical drains to mitigate the settlement of soft soil foundations. Settlements were calculated by the stochastic medium model relies on the assumption that only vertical compression occurs in soft soil during consolidation. The model proposed it was validated with a real problem for the soft soil foundation in coastal of South China. I think the paper topic is very interesting. However, several issues must be explained before publication.
- Lines 39-40, I didn't understand when you wrote, "Construction projects involving soft soil foundations in coastal area of South China around the world are increasing [11-18]", please rewrite this sentence.
- Please, make a symbol table.
- Line 250, the title numbering has an error. Please correct this.
- Line 292, the use of equation 5, is not well explained. Please explain this.
- It is not well explained the advantages of stochastic medium model and which are the differences from traditional methods where models influence. For example, the change of the radial position.
- In section 2, the parameter influence of the equations is not well explained, and sensitivity analysis of these parameters is not done to know how they control the settlement. Also, how can these parameters be calibrated?
- Can the model proposed by you be used in other soft soils?
Author Response
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Reviewer 3 Report
The article aims to look at interesting and important problem. However, there are serious aspects that needs to be addressed to clarify the work.
Below are these points/questions that I have.
PVC are normally used with soft soils which are commonly susceptible to creep deformations. The article makes no reference as to how the creep behavior is considered or assumed to be. In that case, elasto-viscoplaticity approach could be the right approach. So, this needs to be clarified in the article. Based on the parameters given I n Table 2 – I suspect that the material has significant tendency for creep deformations.
What is the creep behavior of soft soils in coastal area of South China? This must be clarified and explained in the article. After that, how have the authors tried to address it must be clear.
In figure 3 – it is not clear what “Three times” mean? Please clarify.
It is not clear how “Compressibility (Mpa-1) is defined as given in Table 4? I think the results should also be plotted in figure.
Again, it is not clear how compressibility coefficient (? (MPa-1)) is defined. Please explain and preferably illustrate with a sketch of what it means.
What is Figure 9 plotted with “Pressure kPa”? Is it not common to present void ration with effective stress?
What is the Figure 9 not showing any form of pre-consolidation pressure? The authors should evaluate the quality of the consolidation tests to be sure that they give representative value of settlements. It is important that the authors evaluate the quality of the samples using internationally established sample disturbance criteria.
Table 5 – what is the basis the specific pressure and void ration as given in Table 5?
Author Response
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Round 2
Reviewer 2 Report
I think the reviewed manuscript can be accepted in its present form.
Author Response
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Reviewer 3 Report
Line 162 tha Uthors stated that “Three times” means the area of the red triangle should be calculated three times.
Still the authors should explain with few sentences WHY it has to be calculated three times. I still think that elaboration helps readers who are not expert in this topic.
The tables could have a thing vertical lines separating various parts. This is a suggestion to increase clarity of results given in the tables.
Author Response
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