A numerical study of time effects on the stability of a test embankment on sensitive soft clay
A numerical study of time effects on the stability of a test embankment on sensitive soft clay
The Ultimate Limit State (ULS) of embankments on soft and sensitive soils has long been a focus in geotechnical research, but primarily in the short-term. How the ULS and the bearing capacity changes with time have not much studied so far. In this paper, the Haarajoki test embankment was modelled using the Finite Element method and the advance constitutive model Creep-SCLAY1S. The model was able to match the settlements and the long term dissipation of the excess pore pressure. The bearing capacity was evaluated at different time steps by bring the embankment to failure with an additional line load on top. The calculated initial bearing capacity calculated by the model matched the bearing capacity calculated using the undrained shear strength profile of the soil. After one year of consolidation, the bearing capacity had not increased, after four years it had increased about 5% and after 104 years about 40%. During this time, the failure mechanism changed from Prandtl shaped initially to a punching failure after 104 years. The analyses also highlight the trigger levels for failure in terms of the excess pore pressure and horizontal displacements.
Hannes Hernvall; Mats Karlsson; M. Karstunen
10th European Conference on Numerical Methods in Geotechnical Engineering (NUMGE2023)
7. Dams, embankments and slopes
https://doi.org/10.53243/NUMGE2023-313
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