Book Description
The objective of this investigation was to develop procedures for conducting finite element analyses of stresses and movements in embankments during construction. The procedures developed involve incremental analyses, simulating successive stages during construction of the embankment, and employ nonlinear stress-strain parameters determined from the results of laboratory tests. Previous studies of the nonlinear, stress-dependent stress-strain behavior of soils were extended during this investigation to include variations of Poisson's ratio values as well as modulus values for use in incremental analyses. In order to examine the suitability of these procedures for representing the stress-strain characteristics of a wide variety of soils under both drained and undrained test conditions, the procedures were applied to 46 different soils, ranging from cobble sizes to highly plastic clays, for which stress-strain information had been published or was available from other sources. In each case it was found that the simple procedures developed for representing nonlinear, stress-dependent soil stress-strain behavior were convenient and provided reasonably accurate representations of the actual soil behavior. (Author).