Effect of Anisotropy and Destructuration on the Behavior of Murro Test Embankment
Publication: International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 5, Issue 2
Abstract
This paper investigates the influence of anisotropy and destructuration on the behavior of a test embankment on soft clay. The test embankment at Murro, Finland, was commissioned in 1993 by the Finnish Road Administration and has been monitored for over . The construction and consolidation of Murro test embankment is analyzed with finite element method using three different constitutive models to represent the soft soil. The results are compared with field observations. The constitutive models used include two recently proposed constitutive models, namely S-CLAY1 that accounts for initial and plastic strain induced anisotropy and its extension, called S-CLAY1S. The S-CLAY1S model accounts, additionally, for interparticle bonding and degradation of bonds. For comparison, the test embankment is also analyzed using the isotropic Modified Cam Clay model. The simulations demonstrate that for this type of problem, it is important to account for the anisotropy, whereas destructuration appears to have less influence on predicted deformations. However, only a model incorporating destructuration can explain the decrease in undrained shear strength during consolidation that was measured in field.
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Acknowledgments
The work presented was carried out as a part of a Research Training Network “Soft Clay Modelling for Engineering Practice” supported by the European Community through the program “Improving the Human Research Potential and the Socio-Economic Knowledge Base.” The experimental programme was funded by the Academy of Finland (Grant Nos. UNSPECIFIED53936 and UNSPECIFIED78569) and by the Finnish Road Administration. The second author is sponsored by Donaldson Associates Ltd. (United Kingdom) and a Faculty of Engineering Scholarship at the University of Glasgow. The writers would like to thank the staff at Helsinki University of Technology, in particular, Laboratory Manager Matti Lojander, for their support. In addition, the writers would like to give credit to the staff at the Finnish Road Administration who had the foresight to finance the construction of Murro test embankment, and hence invest in fundamental geotechnical research that might, in the long term, enhance geotechnical design practice.
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Information
Published In
International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 5 • Issue 2 • June 2005
Pages: 87 - 97
Copyright
© 2005 ASCE.
History
Received: Feb 18, 2004
Accepted: Oct 25, 2004
Published online: Jun 1, 2005
Published in print: Jun 2005
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