Settlement of Embankments on Soft Clays (The Thirty-First Terzaghi Lecture)

Abstract

The topic of consolidation of clays was partially chosen because it was Terzaghi's first major contribution to what we now call geotechnical engineering, as well as due to the author's years of interest in the topic. This manuscript addresses practical aspects of the prediction of time-dependent settlement of embankments on soft clays. The problems addressed include site exploration; solid modeling of field data; problems associated with taking, handling, and testing soil samples; efficient reduction, storage, and display of laboratory data; and analytical methods to handle such routine problems as effective-stress dependent coefficients of consolidation, large strains, nonlinear stress-strain curves, multidirectional flow, and secondary effects. Furthermore, this manuscript considers the lessons we have learned from analysis of full-scale case histories. In spite of the range of topics, this is not a state-of-the-art paper, in that no attempt is made to provide a cross section of references on all relevant topics.