Simulation of large-scale deformation of ultra-soft peaty ground under test embankment loading and investigation of effective countermeasures against residual settlement and failure

The construction of a test embankment on ultra-soft ground containing an approximately 50-m-deep soft peat layer with N-values of 0 to 1 did not result in catastrophic slip failure during construction but did cause substantial deformation of the adjacent ground. In addition, large-scale settlement in excess of 11 m occurred in the approximately 3 years following embankment construction. Based on field observations, it became evident that this large settlement was attributable to delayed compression of the deep peat layer, which was assumed at the design stage not to be subject to settlement. Based on laboratory tests and site investigations, it was deduced that due to depositions under continuous artesian conditions, this peat layer had an extremely low consolidation yield stress and was in a state such that even a slight increase in stress would result in large-scale compression. After confirming the ability of the analysis code based on soil–water coupled finite deformation theory, which included an elasto-plastic constitutive equation describing the behavior of the soil skeleton, to reproduce the observed ground behavior, the code was used to predict future settlement. These simulations were then used to evaluate the effectiveness of countermeasures aimed not only at improving stability during construction, but also at reducing residual settlement. The results of these analyses were applied in the planning of large-scale repair work performed on the test embankment. Also, when an embankment was subsequently constructed near the test embankment on similar ultra-soft ground, ground improvements were conducted prior to embankment construction as a countermeasure against residual settlement. In this paper, valuable field data related to these latter construction efforts is also presented.