Evaluation of Settlement of Coastal Embankments Using Finite Elements Method

Authors: Sina Fadaie, Seyed Abolhassan Naeini

Abstract:

Coastal embankments play an important role in coastal structures by reducing the effect of the wave forces and controlling the movement of sediments. Many coastal areas are underlain by weak and compressible soils. Estimation of during construction settlement of coastal embankments is highly important in design and safety control of embankments and appurtenant structures. Accordingly, selecting and establishing of an appropriate model with a reasonable level of complication is one of the challenges for engineers. Although there are advanced models in the literature regarding design of embankments, there is not enough information on the prediction of their associated settlement, particularly in coastal areas having considerable soft soils. Marine engineering study in Iran is important due to the existence of two important coastal areas located in the northern and southern parts of the country. In the present study, the validity of Terzaghi’s consolidation theory has been investigated. In addition, the settlement of these coastal embankments during construction is predicted by using special methods in PLAXIS software by the help of appropriate boundary conditions and soil layers. The results indicate that, for the existing soil condition at the site, some parameters are important to be considered in analysis. Consequently, a model is introduced to estimate the settlement of the embankments in such geotechnical conditions.

Keywords: Consolidation, coastal embankments, settlement, numerical methods, finite elements method.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI): doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3299463

References:

[1] Muktabhant, C., Teerawong, P., and Tengamnuay, V., “Engineering properties of Bangkok subsoils”, Proc. Of Southeast Asian Conference on Soil Engineering, Bangkok, 1, 1967, pp1-7.
[2] Moh, Z. C., Nelson, J. D., and Brand, E. W., “Strength and deformation behaviour of Bangkok clay”, Proc. of 7th Int. Conf. on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, Mexico, 1, 1969, pp287-295.
[3] Eide, O., “Geotechnical engineering problems with soft Bangkok clay on the Nakhon Sawan highway project”, Pub. No 78, Norwegian Geotechnical Institute, Norway, 1968.
[4] Balasubramaniam, A. S., Chandra, S., and Bergado, D. T, "Recent Developments in Ground Improvement Techniques", A.A. Balkema Publishers, The Netherlands, 1984, pp587.
[5] Bergado, D. T., Anderson, L. R., Miura, N., and Balasubramaniam, A. S., "Soft Ground Improvement ", American Society of Civil Engineers, 1996, 427 pages.
[6] Indraratna, B., and Chu, J., Ground Improvement-Case Histories, 2005.
[7] Balasubramaniam, A. S., Bergado, D. T., Wijekulasuriya, V., and Oh, Y., “The influence of piezometric draw down on the test embankment with vertical drains and surcharge in the Bangkok sub-soils”, Proceedings of the 9th Australia New Zealand Conference on Geomechanics, Auckland, New Zealand, Volume 1, 2004, pp446-452.