Monitoring of the settlement of Portumna flood protection banks has been carried out since construction in 1929, producing unique long-term data. Analyses show that it is possible to make accurate predictions of such long term settlements, provided issues such as lateral squeezing of the soils and creep are accounted for. It is also shown that sample disturbance effects play a significant role in obtaining parameters for calculations. The samplers commonly used in Ireland and the UK may not be adequate for important works on soft soil. Finite element analyses suggest that the state of stress in the ground beneath the embankments is such that future loading is feasible.
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