Amp. Wedage et al., SIMULATION OF TIME-DEPENDENT MOVEMENTS IN SYNCRUDE TAILINGS DYKE FOUNDATION, Canadian geotechnical journal (Print), 35(2), 1998, pp. 284-298
Foundation movements at the Syncrude tailings dyke continued over seve
ral years in response to the construction of the dyke. Major movements
have been observed in a relatively narrow layer of previously sheared
clay-shale material of the Clearwater Formation. The residual strengt
h of this highly plastic clay increases with the rate of shear. By rev
iewing the existing literature on the rate effects on residual strengt
h and using data from new experiments on Clearwater Clay Shale, a gene
ral correlation between soil plasticity and rate effects is found. Thi
s rate dependence of the residual strength of Clearwater clay shale ha
s been incorporated into a deformation analysis, which made it possibl
e to compute time-dependent movements of the foundation soil to a sati
sfactory level. By using a rate-dependent plasticity model, a predicti
on of anticipated foundation velocities and how I,hey decrease with ti
me may be achieved.