Assessment of Embankment Behaviour on Soft Clay from Measurements of Pore Pressure and Lateral Deformation

摘要

Tavenas and Leroueil (1980) present methods for assessing stability of embankments duringrnconstruction, assessing the maximum lateral deformation at the toe of embankments as a percentagernof settlement and assessing yield pressure from pore pressure measurements. These methods havernbeen used to assess the behaviour of an embankment on a deep deposit of soft clay constructedrnusing vacuum consolidation in one section and wick drains in another section. The ratio of incrementrnof lateral deformation to increment of settlement was used as a measure of stability duringrnconstruction. It was found that, for a given embankment height, the ratio was greater for wick drainsrnthan vacuum consolidation showing the beneficial effect of vacuum consolidation on embankmentrnstability. The lateral deformation at the toe of the embankment is plotted against the settlement andrnshowed that the lateral deformation after completion of filling was greater than reported by Tavenasrnand Leroueil (1980) despite the presence of stability berms and structural geofabric. Project widernvibrating wire piezometer data was used to estimate yield pressures in the soil which are comparedrnwith estimates from piezocone tests.