For the past 17 years, The Port of New York Authority has been reclaiming compressible marshland by filling and surcharging with and without the aid of sand drains. Responsibility for the maintenance of these areas has enabled the Authority to construct buildings and paved areas over marshlands, allowing for tolerable post-construction settlements of structures built over compressible organic soil deposits. Laboratory tests show that these soil exhibit substantial rates of secondary compression. All sites were stabilized by surcharge fills, one sit involving the use of sand drains and one without. Surcharge settlement records and pedometers data are evaluated to estimate the effective consolidation pressures which were achieved due to surcharging.
Abstract