Settlement Prediction of the Ballina Embankment, Australia, Considering Creep

The prediction of time-dependent deformations of embankments constructed on soft soils is essential for preloading or surcharge design. The predictions can be obtained by Bayesian back analysis methods progressively based on measurements so that practical decisions can be made after each monitoring round. However, the effect of creep is typically ignored in previous settlement predictions based on Bayesian back analysis to avoid the heavy computational costs. This study aims to fill this gap by combining the Bayesian back analysis with a decoupled consolidation constitutive model, which accounts for creep to perform long-term settlement predictions of the trial embankment with prefabricated vertical drains (PVDs) constructed in Ballina, Australia. The effect of creep on settlement predictions is illustrated by the comparisons of the cases with and without considering creep. The results show that good settlement predictions could be obtained if creep is ignored and could be further improved if creep is incorporated when the monitoring settlement data is applied in the Bayesian back analysis. Ignoring creep could lead to an underestimation of the ultimate consolidation settlement. The swelling index κ and the compression index λ need to be adjusted to larger values to match the measurements if creep is ignored. Four updating schemes (using surface settlement data only, using settlement data at all monitoring depths, using pore water pressure data only, and using both settlement and pore water pressure data) are applied to study the effects of monitoring data on the accuracy of settlement prediction. The results show that the variability introduced by the noisy pore water pressure data result in fluctuating settlement predictions. Incorporating both settlement and pore water pressure observations into the Bayesian updating process reduces the variability in the updated soil parameters.