Application of a Viscoelastic Model to Creep Settlement of High-Fill Embankments

In order to predict the creep settlement of high-fill embankments, the time-dependent viscoelastic model of Poynting–Thomson (the standard linear solid) has been chosen to represent the creep behavior of soils. In the present study, the hereditary integral was applied to calculate the strain while the load increase is varied with time. Calculation expressions of the creep settlement of an embankment during and after construction were obtained under one-dimensional compression conditions. Using this approach, the three parameters of every layer can be determined and adjusted to accommodate in situ monitoring data. The calculated results agreed well with those from the field, which imply that the method proposed in this paper can give a precise prediction of creep settlement of high-fill embankments.

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