The significance of rate effects in modelling the Sackville test embankment

It has been reported that conventional methods of analysis could not adequately describe all aspects of the behaviour of a geotextile-reinforced test embankment constructed to failure on a soft clayey silt with some organics at Sackville, New Brunswick (Canada). This paper presents the results of an analysis of the Sackville embankment using a fully coupled elasto-viscoplastic constitutive model with an elliptical cap yield surface. The importance of modelling the rate sensitive characteristics of the Sackville foundation soil is demonstrated. A comparison of calculated and measured behaviour of the Sackville test embankment demonstrates that the single elasto-viscoplastic yield surface model adequately described much of the measured time-dependent behaviour of the Sackville test embankment including post construction increases in pore pressure, deformation and reinforcement strain.