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Soft clays are generally recent sediments laid down by rivers, sea or lakes. These deposits are
characterized by bedding and laminations, sometimes intercalated with sand or silt seams and are
usually subject to repeated desiccation and wetting near the surface. Soft soils exist in following
environments-
In low land areas near sea coasts where marine sediments are often found.
In the vicinity of rivers, especially those which have been subjected to meandering.
In local depression where the runoff is restricted and the soil contains appreciable amount
of organic matter.
Soft soils are characterized by low shear strength, high compressibility and low bearing capacity.
Due to these factors, construction of road embankment on these soils poses formidable challenge.
To visualize and provide some interpretation there are several simulating software. PLAXIS is
one of them. It is Finite Element based software. We have created some model and analyzed.
Results of the analysis are given here.
Models:
Two model are created.
1. Embankment on Soft Ground
2. Embankment on Soft Ground having PVD (Prefabricated Vertical Drains)
CL
ML
PVD
Material Properties:
Stage Construction:
-339.56358 -635.93281
-354.44628 -645.99845
Within a year the settlement almost stop if PVD used if we dont use PVD it will take about
6660 days.
b. Pore Water Pressure:
During Stage construction porepressure increases and during settlement pore pressure
decreases due to dissipitation of pore water.
Graph 2: Comparison of pore pressure under the embankment with and without PVD.
c. Factor of Safety:
At initial stage factor of safety is higher and as the height of the embankment increases factor
of safety decreases. After final stage when settlement stops the factor of safety increases.