Soil improvement at Stockholm-Arlanda Airport

At Stockholm-Arlanda Airport a new, third runway is under construction. The project comprises a 2500 m long runway, new taxiways, areas for de-icing and surface water treatment, new public roads, bridges, a new traffic control tower, etc. The conditions at the site of the airport are difficult from a geotechnical standpoint and have necessitated different types of soil improvement techniques. Amongst these, vertical drainage in combination with preloading, consisting of 14–20 m of fill, has been used along the runway/taxiway over an area of 250 000 m2 containing clay and organic deposits. In this paper, a description and theoretical analysis of the vertical-drain project are presented. The load of the fill has caused a relative compression of 22–29%, corresponding to total settlements of 1·6–2·6 m. Une nouvelle et troisieme piste d'atterrissage est en construction a l'aeroport de Stockholm. Le projet comprend une piste d'atterrissage d'une longueur de 2500 m, des nouvelles voies d'acces, des zones de degi...