PREDICTION OF LATERAL DISPLACEMENT OF GROUND IMPROVED BY MERNARD VACUUM CONSOLIDATION METHOD BASED ON CHARACTERISTICS OF SOFT SOIL AND SETTLEMENT OBSERVATION RESULTS

High lateral displacement of ground improved by Mernard Vacuum Consolidation Method (MVCM) is sometimes caused by quick consolidation and much settlement. Using the data collected from real project at the Thu Thiem and Nguyen Son urban areas, Ho Chi Minh City (Viet Nam), we predicted the lateral displacement of ground under the vacuum pressure and additional surcharge load the MVCM based on the equations of Ong et al (2013) and finite element method using Plaxis 2D/V.8.2 software with Hardening soil (HS) model. The results show that the lateral displacement of ground predicted is much closer with those determined from observation results, and it is better than the one determined by analytical method.