During staged construction of embankments on clay foundations, the undrained shear strength su increases due to consolidation during the construction process. The increase is usually related to the pre-consolidation pressure [Formula: see text] by way of the ratio [Formula: see text] and is important when assessing the stability of an embankment. Properties controlling the increase are usually associated with various unknowns that can be difficult to predict before construction. A case involving a large embankment built on vertically drained sulfide clay is presented. Empirical knowledge and experience of similar constructions on sulfide clay were limited, therefore there were uncertainties of the soil–drain interaction and how the soil would behave under the embankment load. A trial embankment was built to gather knowledge and experience of this particular soil and the observational method was adopted. The study presents how embankment stability was predicted at design stage and controlled during construction. It highlights the importance and usefulness of obtaining measurement data from different types of measurements. Laboratory tests and a large number of in situ tests at different stages during construction were performed to assess [Formula: see text] ratios in the sulfide clay. The mean [Formula: see text] ratio was estimated by means of statistical analysis to 0·25 for a large stress interval.
In Swedish practice, there is a long tradition of evaluating undrained shear strength from fall-cone tests and field vane tests. During the last 20 years cone penetration tests have also become widely used. However, the results from all these test methods have to be evaluated using empirical factors. The factors generally used for Swedish clays are related to liquid limit and overconsolidation, but they are not applicable to all types of fine-grained soils and can often be improved by local calibration for the particular type of soil in the area of current interest. For this calibration, the results of direct simple shear tests and/or triaxial tests in the laboratory are normally used. This paper presents an evaluation for Swedish fine-grained sulphide soils, for which a general correction factor of 0.65 for field vane tests and fall-cone tests, a cone factor N kt of 20.2 for cone penetration tests and a relation c u,DSS /(σ′ c OCR −0.2 ) of 0.28 have been found. No correlations were found between these empirical factors and the clay content, liquid limit or organic content, but a relationship was found between the overconsolidation ratio and both the cone penetration test and the field vane test. The sulphide soils in question are found in northern Sweden along the coast of the Gulf of Bothnia. They are mostly classified as organic silt or organic clay, which is normally silty.
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