A methodology is presented for evaluating past and future settlements of an area where fill was placed over soft clay some time before the site development – a situation frequently encountered in engineering practice. The proposed approach integrates field and laboratory tests to assess the consolidation stage and estimate settlement development over time. The case study addresses a fill constructed to raise the grade of an area of the campus of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which was subsequently developed as a Technological Park. The company leasing the land for a 50-year period required an assessment of the magnitude and rate of settlements expected during the lease term. The testing programme was designed to be cost- and time-effective while still providing results with reasonable accuracy. The consolidation stage was evaluated using in situ pore-pressure measurements obtained with a small-diameter piezometric probe, while the clay consolidation properties were determined from laboratory tests. Established consolidation theories were used to estimate settlement development over time, considering both primary and secondary consolidation.
Lopes et al. (Mon,) studied this question.