Prediction of Post-Yield Strain from Loading and Unloading Phases of Pressuremeter, Triaxial, and Consolidation Test Curves for Sustainable Embankment Design

Ammad Hassan Khan, Zia ur Rehman, Wasim Abbass, Zubair Masoud, Abdeliazim Mustafa Mohamed, Dina Mohamed Fathi, Mubashir Aziz and Safeer Abbas
Additional contact information
Ammad Hassan Khan: Department of Transportation Engineering and Management, University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore 54890, Pakistan
Zia ur Rehman: Department of Transportation Engineering and Management, University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore 54890, Pakistan
Wasim Abbass: Department of Civil Engineering, University of Engineering and Technology Lahore, Lahore 54890, Pakistan
Zubair Masoud: Independent Researcher, Lahore 54810, Pakistan
Abdeliazim Mustafa Mohamed: Department of Civil Engineering, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Alkharj 16273, Saudi Arabia
Dina Mohamed Fathi: Department of Structure Engineering and Construction Management, Future University, Cairo 11835, Egypt
Mubashir Aziz: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia
Safeer Abbas: Department of Civil Engineering, University of Engineering and Technology Lahore, Lahore 54890, Pakistan

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 5, 1-27

Abstract: Exponential development of post-yield strain (Ԑ post ) is a pivotal indicator of failure in embankments constructed on soft saturated clays. This paper characterizes saturated clay stratum comprising very soft to very stiff stratigraphy, with plasticity index (PI) ranging from 19% to 31%, by performing widely used geotechnical engineering tests, i.e., the prebored pressuremeter (PMT) test, the triaxial (TXL) test, and constant-rate-of-strain (CRS) consolidation. PMT, TXL, and CRS tests were performed at a strain rate range of 0.18%/min to 0.21%/min to explore the yield stress (σ′ y ), the pre-yield strain (Ԑ pre ), and the post-yield strain (Ԑ post ). Results indicate that Ԑ post /Ԑ pre for PMT, TXL, and CRS stress–strain curves range from 2.7 to 19 in the loading phase and 2 to 21 in the unloading phase. An exponential increase in Ԑ post /Ԑ pre is observed in the range of 10 to 21 for very soft to soft clay which is congruent with the realistic sustainable range of 4 to 30 for embankment failure on soft clays worldwide. The evaluated Ԑ post /Ԑ pre can be applied for sustainable prediction of post-failure evolution of strains in embankments on soft clays. Simplistic correlations are developed for approximation and prediction of Ԑ post as a function of σ′ y , Ԑ pre and maximum applied pressure (P max ) for loading and unloading phases with reasonable accuracy. The intuitive zone of critical ℇ post is quantified for impending failure in embankments for maximum applied pressure (P max ), ranging from 36 kPa to 100 kPa for very soft to soft clay for use in sustainable embankment design and construction. Variation in predicted versus measured results of an individual site is observed to be within ±10% of line of equality.

Keywords: geotechnical engineering; clay; sustainability; embankments; strain; stress; pressuremeter; triaxial; consolidation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/5/2535/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/5/2535/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:5:p:2535-:d:755889

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().