Settlement of Building on Deep Compressible Soil

Six methods of settlement determination were used to provide a comparison with the observed settlement of a 2-story building erected in 1890 on estuarine silts and clays about 70 ft thick. All methods which were based upon oedometer data significantly underestimated the observed settlement. Lambe’s method involving the laboratory duplication on a soil sample of the estimated field stress path provided a calculated settlement which was about 75% of the observed settlement of 31 in. The Davis-Poulos method involving special laboratory testing and the use of elastic displacement theory provided the closest estimate, about 90% of the observed settlement. Probably the most uncertain feature associated with the use of the techniques used relates to the reliable determination of the field stresses.