Clay soil settlement: In-situ experimentation and analytical approach

On the basis of the existing relationship between soil structure and water content, and in order to avoid the multiple factors influencing the study of soil behavior in the laboratory, a full-scale in-situ testing was performed in Ouarzazate (Morocco) to quantify the soil vertical displacements according to the environmental conditions.The study presented in this paper is devoted to analyzing the load-settlement relationship of active clay soil during the drying process. A time-dependent model is presented to quantify the soil settlement amplitude according to the hydraulic and mechanical states of the soil mass.