The lateral drainage blanket or drainage layer used with a prefabricated vertical drain (PVD) system is an essential component to successfully transporting water away from a project site. Traditionally, as the PVDs discharge excess pore water vertically from the soil, the water is collected in the lateral drainage blanket. This drainage layer is created by installing a layer of open-graded granular material, such as stone or sand, across the entire consolidation area to collect the water as it comes to the surface from the PVDs. However, the high cost of sourcing, transporting, and spreading the drainage material has led many projects to find more economical way to collect this water by using geocomposite strip drains.

SITEDRAIN Strip Drain, installed horizontally, acts as a collector for the discharged pore water. The Strip Drain is positioned in layers or grids where the PVD outlets are connected to the Strip Drain. The Strip Dain removes the pore water from the consolidation area and transports the water to an outlet (i.e. drainage ditch or sump) reducing or eliminating the need for granular materials, while dramatically improving the efficiency and performance of the drainage layer.