Master's Dissertation at the Div. of Structural Mechanics

Div. of Structural Mechanics · Lund University · Box 118 · SE-221 00 · Lund · Sweden · Tel: 046-222 73 70 · Fax: 046-222 44 20 · www.byggmek.lth.se · xp5161(0807)

Bahatin Gündüz

PresentationWinter 2008

Reportwill be published asreport TVSM-5161

SupervisorsLars JohanssonRamböll Sverige AB, Malmö

Ola Dahlblom, Prof.

Div. of Structural Mechanics, Lund

ANALYSIS OF SETTLEMENTS OFTEST EMBANKMENTS DURING50 YEARS - A Comparisonbetween Field Measurementsand Numerical Analysis

For a little more than 50 years, theSwedish Geotechnical Institute (SGI)has had test embankments at differentlocations in Sweden. The aim with thetest embankments has been to followup settlements by field measurementsin order to improve both the generalknowledge and calculation methods.The purpose of this Master Thesis is thatsettlements will be calculated bynumerical methods by use of the finiteelement program PLAXIS and comparethe calculated result with fieldmeasurements. The main objective is tocreate a numerical model whichdescribes the current field situation asrealistic as possible.

The compared objects in this work willbe test embankments at Lilla Mellösaand Skå-Edeby, located in Stockholm.At Lilla Mellösa two test fills wereconstructed by SGI in 1945 – 1947 whileat Skå-Edeby four test fills wereconstructed in 1957. The background tothe building of test fills was the searchof a place for a new international airportoutside Stockholm. The soil condition inboth areas consisted of very com-

pressible soil layers with largethickness.The two-dimensional version of Plaxiswill be used for computing settlements.Plaxis is very practical for solvingcomplex geotechnical problemsinvolving settlement or slope stability.Those elements are then connected bynodes. The stress and tension in everyelement can later be calculated. Thework will be carried out in several steps.The first part of the work will be aliterature study in order to find relevantinformation on the topic. One importantphase of this step is to identify previouswork adopting the same or a similarmethod. Analyses will be carried out forembankments placed on different soillayer profiles. Different methodologieswill be adopted, i.e. separationbetween the mechanical and the porewater phase, and incorporation of bothat the same time (consolidation),respectively. Also different soil modelscan be adopted in order to describe thesoil behaviour as correctly as possible. Araw presentation of the results withoutany interpretations or judgements willbe given.

ExaminerPer Johan Gustafsson, Prof.Div. of Structural Mechanics, Lund

In cooperation withRamböll Sverige AB

The work is performed atRamböll Sverige AB,Malmö