SETTLEMENT OF EMBANKMENTS ON SOFT CLAYS

The topic of consolidation of clays was partially chosen because it wa s Terzaghi's first major contribution to what we now call geotechnical engineering, as well as due to the author's years of interest in the topic. This manuscript addresses practical aspects of the prediction o f time-dependent settlement of embankments on soft clays. The problems addressed include site exploration; solid modeling of field data; pro blems associated with taking, handling, and testing soil samples; effi cient reduction, storage, and display of laboratory data; and analytic al methods to handle such routine problems as effective-stress depende nt coefficients of consolidation, large strains, nonlinear stress-stra in curves, multidirectional flow, and secondary effects. Furthermore, this manuscript considers the lessons we have learned from analysis of full-scale case histories. In spite of the range of topics, this is n ot a state-of-the-art paper, in that no attempt is made to provide a c ross section of references on all relevant topics.