Effects of Filter Material on the Permeability of Sapric Peat in Flexible Wall Permeability Tests

Installation of Prefabricated Vertical Drains (PVDs) is one of the alternatives for ground improvement used in peatland deposits. However, filter paper is commonly used as standard filter material to determine the permeability of peat rather than the PVD material itself.

This paper presents preliminary data on the effect of using two different filter materials on the permeability behavior of Sapric peat.

A series of flexible wall permeability tests (FWPTs) was conducted to evaluate the peat permeability behavior under compression using two filter materials. This study compared Whatman standard filter paper and Prefabricated Vertical Drain (PVD), which is a non-woven geotextile filter material.

The results showed that both tests using filter paper and a PVD filter exhibited a high initial coefficient of permeability, which depends on the hydraulic gradient. The coefficient of permeability significantly decreased until a certain period and then diminished with time. The coefficient of permeability from PVD filter tests was found to be approximately 2.6 times higher than that of the standard filter paper under the same compression. The duration required to reach a semi-steady state flow condition from the PVD test was 0.9 times faster than the standard filter paper. The random error of the coefficient of permeability data from the tests using the PVD filter was lower than the data of the standard filter paper.

This preliminary result suggests that standard filter material might not represent the actual coefficient of permeability of Sapric peat. The coefficient of permeability value was less consistent compared to the PVD filter. The selection of filter material plays a crucial role in ensuring accurate and reliable results, especially when dealing with PVD construction in peat. Using the PVD filter in FWPT appears to be suitable for the design of PVD in peat. The findings of this study contribute to evaluating the correct parameters for engineers to design and analyze the effectiveness of the ground treatment method using PVD in peat.