A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering, School of Civil Engineering

Thesis (M. Eng.) - Asian Institute of Technology

The work presented in this study is mainly a detailed study on the performance of three trial embankments on Nong Ngoo Hao site. Immediate and creep components of settlement were determined and quantified during loading and consolidation stages respectively using Field Deformation Analysis (FDA). Normalized equations were formulated from these settlement components with special attention given to creep which is very important in predicting long term settlement behaviors of embankments. Undrained shear strength, coefficient of consolidation were back-calculated. Back-calculated undrained shear strength is found to be more than two times of initial undrained shear strength at depth of 0 - 6m for all embankments of NNH site by Feb. 1996 as all embankments reach a higher degree of consolidation. Back-calculated Ch values decreases significantly with increasing effective stress. The embankment site were simulated by finite element method using CRISP to compare the relative performance with respect to settlement, lateral deformation, and excess pore pressure variation. The FEM analysis has many soil constitutive models, the Modified Cam - Clay model inclusive. When creep settlement component is added to settlement predicted by CRISP, this agreed almost with measured settlement. After correcting and adding creep and immediate settlement components to settlement predicted by Terzaghi's theory of consolidation, this also agreed with measured settlement. In February 1996, the observed maximum surface settlement of TS3 was 7% and 14% higher than TS2 and TSl respectively. Predicted pore pressuSchool of Civil Engineeringres appeared to have a similar trend to the measured values. A normalized deformation behavior between lateral movements with depth and the settlements with depth was established for all embankments of NNH site.