During the construction of the guiding dike in the Yangtze Estuary, some of the caisson structures sank into the soil for 1～5 m or slid about 20 m away from the original place when a strong storm attacked this area. Dynamic triaxial tests were carried out to simulate the behavior of foundation soils under wave loading. The test results show that the excessive settlement and lateral movement of the caissons are due to the weakening of the soft clay strength during the strong storm. The test results also show that the ability of the soft clay to resist the wave force will be greatly increased when the soft soil samples are suitably improved. Based on the test results, an improvement method combining vertical drains with surcharge loading was proposed to strengthen the foundation soil. On the improved soil foundation, the dike has been reconstructed and undergone several strong storms without any damage. A finite element approach has been developed for analyzing the settlement and stability of the dike under the action of strong storm.
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