Modeling Studies To Assess Long Term Settlement Of Light Weight Aggregate Embankment

Abstract

Expanded clay and shale (ECS) is a low weight material derived from clay and shale, and has been used in large quantities throughout the world. Very few studies have been performed to investigate the behavior of ECS and how it can reduce the settlements of embankments when used as a fill material. This thesis presents research findings of numerical modeling to assess the long term settlements of ECS embankment on a soft clay deposit and supports both pavement and traffic loading. Observed settlements near the pavement of a light weight ECS embankment built on soft clay indicated that this material is adequate in reducing settlements when compared to a normal fill embankment. Laboratory investigations were conducted on both embankment materials and these results showed that normal clayey fill with low plasticity have high compressible properties when compared to the ECS granular material. Numerical modeling followed by the hyperbolic formulation showed that the ECS embankment and normal embankment on soft clay could provide adequate information to interpret long term settlements. Analyses showed that the ECS embankment is efficient in minimizing the long term settlements when compared to normal fill embankment.