Creep characteristics and pore water pressure changes during loading of water storage tank on soft organic soil

摘要

Peat ground is widely distributed throughout the southern part of Iraq. Peat contains a large amount of organic matter and has a very high natural water content. This study discusses results of settlement of water storage tank constructed in southern oilfield of Iraq. The first part of this study deals with field experimental works, which included drilling boreholes and evaluating the mechanical soil properties. The second part is conducted using finite element method through the 3D software, adopting the Soft Soil Creep Model and Soft Soil Model. Results showed that the secondary settlement has greatly affected the behaviour and final settlement of the tank, and the Soft Soil Creep Model is a better representative to the field settlement than Soft Soil Model. The results of Soft Soil Creep model are greater than those of Soft Soil Model for vertical displacement, horizontal displacement and pore water pressure because of secondary compression effect.