TECHNICAL PAPERS
Oct 15, 2002

Some Design Considerations for Embankments on Rate Sensitive Soils

Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 128, Issue 11

Abstract

Both the short-term and long-term behavior of reinforced embankments constructed on rate sensitive foundation soils is investigated. Factors such as the rate sensitive properties of the foundation soil, reinforcement stiffness, construction rates, and different foundation soil profiles are considered. The strain rate at which the foundation soils deform during and after embankment construction is examined. For embankments on these soils the analysis indicates that the critical stage with respect to stability occurs during a period of creep and stress relaxation in the foundation soils after construction. The strain rate corresponding to this critical stage controls the operational shear strength of rate sensitive foundation soils and this strain rate falls into a relatively small range of values for the wide range of conditions examined. A technique that allows a conventional undrained limit equilibrium analysis to be modified to allow the design of reinforced embankments over rate sensitive foundation soils is proposed based on the critical stage concept.

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Go to Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 128Issue 11November 2002
Pages: 885 - 897

History

Received: Feb 13, 2001
Accepted: Mar 22, 2002
Published online: Oct 15, 2002
Published in print: Nov 2002

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Authors

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Allen Lunzhu Li
Postdoctoral Fellow, GeoEngineering Centre at Queen’s-RMC, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Queen’s Univ., Kingston ON, Canada K7L 3N6.
R. Kerry Rowe, F.ASCE
Professor and Vice-Principal (Research), Queen’s Univ., Kingston ON, Canada K7L 3N6 (corresponding author).

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