Embankments Over Soft Soil and Peat

Abstract

In the analysis of the behavior of embankments on clay foundations it has commonly been assumed that the behavior is perfectly undrained during construction and that drainage and consolidation start only after the end of construction. This approach has been widely used and has generally performed well for conventional design situations. However, observations during construction have shown that while this approach may often provide reasonable designs, the actual behavior may be more complicated and that conventional undrained analyses may overpredict pore pressures and lateral displacements. Thus, if one wishes to predict the actual behavior of an embankment on clay, it is essential to have a good knowledge of the mechanical behavior of natural clays, as described in Chapter 2, and to understand what may happen under an embankment during construction as described in Section 16.1.1.