Analytical models and procedures are presented for the evaluation of peak and residual compaction‐induced lateral earth pressures either in the free field or adjacent to vertical, nondeflecting soil‐structure interfaces. A hysteretic model for the stresses generated by multiple cycles of loading and unloading is presented, along with recommendations regarding the determination of suitable model parameters. This model is then adapted to incremental analytical methods for the evaluation of peak and residual earth pressures resulting from the placement and compaction of soil. Compaction loading is considered as a transient moving surficial load of finite lateral extent. Simplified hand calculation procedures are presented for cases in which all soil layers are identically compacted. Finally, a series of case studies are presented in which analytical results are compared with full‐scale field measurements in order to verify these analytical methods.

Analytical models and a finite element analysis methodology are presented for evaluation of compaction‐induced soil stresses and resulting soilstructure interaction effects. These analytical methods model the incremental placement and compaction of soil, and are based on a hysteretic model for residual soil stresses induced by multiple cycles of loading and unloading. Compaction loading is realistically considered as a transient, moving, surficial load of finite lateral extent, which passes one or more times over some specified portion of the fill surface at each stage of backfill compaction. Multiple compaction passes at a given fill stage are modeled using a single solution increment. Several case studies are presented in which analytical results are compared with full‐scale field measurements of compaction‐induced stresses and deformations in order to verify the analytical methods presented.

A method is presented for evaluating the earthquake‐induced permanent displacements for sliding blocks. Given the distributions of the limiting accelerations and the ground motion parameters, this method will give the probability distribution of the permanent displacements. The mechanism by which the permanent displacements are induced in a step‐wise fashion is incorporated. In addition, an equivalent stationary motion model is employed for ground accelerations. To facilitate general applications, conditional distributions for permanent displacements are also given based upon site soil conditions. A numerical example is also worked out in detail.

The basic objective of a self‐boring pressuremeter (SBPM) test is to insert a cylindrical probe into the ground with a minimum of disturbance and expand the membrane covering the probe so as to load the soil to failure. The test data from the expansion phase allows the determination of lateral earth pressure, shear strength, stress‐strain behavior, and, in some cases, coefficient of consolidation. In spite of its considerable potential, as more investigators have utilized the SBPM, inconsistencies have been reported in the test results. To help resolve some of the uncertainties, 32 SBPM tests were conducted in soft San Francisco Bay Mud wherein key parameters were varied one at a time to isolate their influence. The parameters considered included: expansion rate, cutter position, cutting rate, and cutting shoe dimension. Furthermore, a microcomputer data acquisition system and loading technique were developed that allowed the test to be carried out automatically while recording a high density of data. The results of this study indicate that disturbance is the factor that has the greatest influence on the interpreted results from the SBPM test.

The presence of boulders in a soil stratum could pose problems during construction and affect satisfactory performance of a geotechnical system. Statistical description of boulders can be useful in assessing the reliability of satisfactory geotechnical performance and in decision making. Statistics of boulder size and volume fraction may be inferred from boring logs. However, the dimension of each boulder recorded in a boring log does not necessarily represent its diameter (assume spherical boulder); moreover, larger boulders are more likely to be encountered. Bayesian method is applied to treat this censored sampling problem, with the objective of determining the distribution of the in situ boulder population from the observed chord length of boulders intercepted by borings. The spatial variation characteristic of the fraction of boulder volume across a given site can also be inferred from the boring logs at scattered locations. A method for updating these statistics established for a macro region with additional local data in a specific construction site is developed. The technique is applied to a site in Singapore where a large number of borings through a boulderous stratum has been reported.

A simple method is developed for determining the unsteady state phreatic surface in earth dams as a function of time. The method is useful for the stability analysis of temporary dams where the steady state seepage condition may not be reached during the life span of the dams. Although the method is based on the results of transient flownets by Cedergren and yields only approximate results, the uncertainty in determining the permeability and effective porosity of soils usually precludes the use of other more refined methods and thus makes this simple method particularly attractive. The development of the method by extending the results from a specific case to more general cases is described. It is shown that the factor of safety of a dam may increase significantly if it is used only temporarily because of the much lower phreatic surface as compared to permanent dams.