Stability of High Embankments Founded on Soft Soils

Abstract

With the rapid urbanization and development of infrastructure, construction of structures must be carried out on all soil types. When problematic soils like soft clayey expansive soils are encountered, sound knowledge of the geotechnical properties of the soft soil must be required to carry out the construction over such deposits. This thesis focuses on the stability of high embankments found on soft soil deposits like saturated Marine clays. Staged construction of embankments over Marine clay and the use of Prefabricated Vertical Drains (PVD’s) as means of ground improvement are studied in detail. It is seen that staged construction of embankments improves the shear strength of foundation soils, and the PVD’s shorten the drainage paths for the excess pore pressures, thus improving the global stability of the embankments significantly. The embankment stability is studied in terms of settlements, factor of safety, excess pore pressures and lateral displacements.