Numerical modelling of a test embankment on soft ground

The construction of an embankment situated on soft subsoil with a high groundwater level leads to a rise in pore pressure. This “undrained behaviour” can made the effective stress to remain low and intermediate consolidation periods to be adopted so that the construction of the embankment is safe. During a consolidation process the dissipation of the excess pore pressure is observed in order to increase the shear strength of the soil to continue the construction process [4]. The behaviour of a test embankment founded on a soft soil in Warsaw, on the Ursynowska Scarp, in the Campus SGGW (Warsaw University of Life Sciences) site was simulated with a use of a finite element analysis [6]. This study presents an experimental work, a construction of a flood-control embankment on organic soil represented by peat. The modelling of an embankment behaviour is carried out by the program PLAXIS (Finite Element Code for Soil and Rock Analysis). Measurements were taken of pore pressure, dissipations rates and displacements in the foundation peat. Predictions of these were made using a simple Soft Soil Model. Moreover, the calculation of the safety factor, the eff ect of the drains on the consolidation process and an update mesh analysis were investigated. The results suggest the signifi cant impact of drains on the speed of the consolidation course. The commonly accepted Mohr-Coulomb Model and Soft Soil Model, which involve typical parameters obtained from in-situ and laboratory testing, can be successfully selected for examination the behaviour of fl ood-control embankment situated on soft soils. The Updated mesh and Updated water pressure analysis reduces the settlements and allows for a more realistic study of settlements, while the positive effects of large deformations is considered. However, there is a great need to compare the numerical simulation with the real existing embankments located on problematic soils.