Soft soil deposits of coastal regions and lowland areas pose many geotechnical problems but it is indispensable to utilize these grounds to meet the growing demand for infrastructure with ever increasing urbanization and industrial development. Soft soils are generally associated with high compressibility and low strength characteristics which augment the risk of huge settlements and foundation failure. It is essential to understand the complex behaviour of the ground consisting of soft clays as construction and maintenance of infrastructure in these areas is challenging. Marine sediments mostly possess open microstructure irrespective of the differences in their mineral composition and sedimentation environment. Also this particular microstructure in marine sediments is generally accompanied by the presence of a great amount of organic residues and fragments of marine organisms. Formation of pyrite is also possible because of the presence of decomposable organic matter, dissolved sulfate and reactive iron minerals. These soils due to their inherent mineralogy and microstructure have high void ratios and consequently high water holding capacity which explains the reason for their low shear strength and high compressibility characteristics. And often the formation environment is conducive for incorporation of organic content in the soft clay deposits which further aggravates the problem. A complete characterization of the soil can enhance the understanding of soil behavior and therefore can play a crucial role in suggesting suitable and sustainable ground improvement method. Soft clay deposits of Kuttanad area in Kerala, India extending to varying depths below the ground level, present a challenge as a foundation soil due to low bearing capacity and high settlement. Geologically Kuttanad is considered as a recent sedimentary formation. In the geological past, the entire area was a part of the Arabian Sea. Presently Kuttanad area covers an area of about 1,100 km2. Many intriguing reports of distresses to structures founded on this soil are available. An over view of specific characteristics of soft clays along with the comprehensive description of soft clays from various parts of the world is presented in the introductory Chapter. Deep soil mixing and mass stabilization methods are found to be relatively advantageous in reducing differential settlements and in achieving expeditious construction. A more detailed review of literature on Kuttanad soil problems and various ground improvement methods adopted are presented. The different ground improvement techniques attempted are soil reinforcement, stone columns, preloading etc. Soil mixing can be relatively advantageous over the other conventional ground improvement methods. Laboratory studies carried out earlier with different binders such as cement, lime and lime fly ash combinations did not exhibit appreciable improvement in soil strength. It is reasoned that the lack of understanding of the soil characteristics is responsible for the limited success of these attempts. Based on the review of literature the detailed scope of the work is presented at the end of Chapter 1. The method of collection of the soil from Kuttanad region, methods adopted for characterization of soil, characteristics of various binders used and testing procedures adopted for assessing the geotechnical behavior with and without binders are described in Chapter 2. In order to characterize the soil for understanding its behaviour under different conditions as well as to gauge its response to different stabilizers, a detailed physico¬chemical, mineralogical, morphological and fabric studies are carried out and presented in Chapter 3. An attempt has been made to explain the role of components of soils such as organic substances, pyrite and sesquioxides for variations in its properties with change in water content. The high water holding capacity of the soil reflected in its Liquid limit along with relatively low plasticity characteristics of the soil has been explained as due to the presence of minerals such as metahalloysite and gibbsite, the flocculated fabric, porous organic matter and water filled diatom frustules (amorphous silica). Based on the study conducted on the plasticity characteristics of Kuttanad soil under different conditions of drying and treatment, it was brought about that the organic content plays a dominant role in particle cementation and aggregation causing a substantial reduction in plasticity upon drying. Further, the presence of minerals such as pyrite and iron oxides also account for the plasticity changes. The significant changes in soil properties upon drying have also been successfully explained in Chapter 4. Attempts made to stabilize the soil using conventional chemical stabilizers are described in Chapter 5. The effect of binders on the strength improvement of soil has been explained based on the changes occurring in the composition, fabric and physico-chemical characteristics of soil upon addition of the binders. Lack of strength development in soil with lime has been attributed to the inherent composition of the soil hindering the formation of pozzolanic compounds and unfavourable modification of the fabric. On the other hand the soil responded well to cement stabilisation. The influence of various parameters such as Water/Cement (W/C) ratio, Initial water content, curing period and additive dosage on the strength development of cement treated soil has been examined. Cement improved the strength of the soil by binding the soil particles without depending on the interaction with the soil. It was observed that the role of initial water content is insignificant and the strength improved with reducing W/C ratio. The dependence of strength development with cement addition on the fabric at different W/C ratios has been assessed. Also the role of other additives such as Lime, Sand, Fly Ash, Ground granulated blast furnace slag, Silica fume and Sodium silicate to enhance the strength of cement treated soil has been analysed in Chapter 5. It was shown that only Sodium Silicate (NS) along with cement meets with good success. The studies on the undrained shear strength and compressibility characteristics of cemented soil carried out to understand the strength and deformation behaviour of the cemented soil are presented in Chapter 6. It is clear from the compressibility characteristics of the cemented soil that there is a well defined yield stress demarcating the least compressible pre-yield zone and more compressible post yield zone. Generally the yield stress increases with reducing water cement ratio. It is interesting to note that the post yield compressibility of the cemented soil is controlled more by the fabric of soil than by cementation effect. The study on the undrained shear behavior of cemented soil revealed that the cohesion intercept and angle of internal friction increases with addition of cement. However the impact of cementation is reflected more as increase in cohesion intercept with increasing cement content. The uniqueness of failure envelope observed for the cemented soil irrespective of whether the confining stress is above or below the yield stress has been explained in detail. A case study on the performance of embankment founded on Kuttand soil improved with Deep mixed cement columns (DMCC) has been evaluated through numerical simulations using FLAC 2D and this forms the subject matter of Chapter 7. For this work the soil properties of the Kuttanad soil determined by experimental investigations have been used. The simulation results showed that the introduction of DMCC columns improved the factor of safety against failure and reduced settlements. This study clearly endorses the analysis and the results of the test carried out on Kuttanad soil. The final chapter summarizes the details of the work carried out which brings out the importance of characterization of the soil in terms of soil components, physico-chemical environment as well as the micro structure of the soil in predicting the behaviour of the soil in changing environment and to understand the stabilization response of the soil with different binders which intern helps to select appropriate binder and or binder combinations.

Efficient road network and connectivity play vital role in the development of any country. Majority of the rural roads are unpaved and connectivity of rural roads is always a major challenge. Unpaved roads are also used for temporary transportation facilities like access roads, haul roads for mines, forest roads and parking lots. Since these roads do not have asphalt surfacing, they are subjected to early failures due to distresses like rutting, pot holes and depressions . Stabilization of unpaved roads using geosynthetics has been proved to be promising in increasing the lifespan of these roads because they facilitate economical, aesthetic and effective design of the roads. Inclusion of geosynthetic layers at the interface of subgrade soil and granular sub-base, reduces the surface heave, ensures a better stress distribution and reduces the stresses transferred to the subgrade soil, as demonstrated by earlier researchers. Wide variety of geosynthetics like woven and nonwoven geotextiles, uniaxial and biaxial geogrids and geocells are used as reinforcement in road sections. Geotextiles improve the strength by interfacial friction, lateral restraint and membrane effect. Geogrids provide additional benefit of interlocking. Geocells are honeycomb shaped geosynthetic cellular confining systems filled with aggregates in which the reinforcement action is derived not only by friction and interlocking, but also by confinement. Load-deformation characteristics of reinforced soil-aggregate systems under static, repeated and cyclic loads is a potential topic of interest considering the fact that the design of geosynthetic reinforced unpaved roads is still under development and experimentation. The objective of the present study is to understand the beneficial use of geosynthetics in unpaved roads and to provide clear insight into the influence of geosynthetics on the cyclic loading characteristics of unpaved roads through laboratory experiments. California Bearing Ratio (CBR) tests were carried out on unreinforced and reinforced soil-aggregate systems to study the effect of various parameters such as type of reinforcement, form of reinforcement, quantity of reinforcement, and water content of the subgrade soil on the load-penetration response of the various systems. Modified CBR tests were also carried out to understand the influence of boundary of the mould and anchorage of reinforcement on the behavior of reinforced soil-aggregate systems. Behavior of unreinforced and reinforced soil-aggregate systems under repeated and cyclic loading is also studied to understand the resilience of the composite systems. From the measured stress-strain response, the elastic and plastic strains developed in various systems are compared. Different moduli such as secant modulus, cyclic modulus and resilient modulus are computed for different systems and compared. To investigate the effectiveness of geosynthetics in improving the load - bearing capacity, repeated load tests were carried out on model sections of unpaved road constructed in a steel test tank of size 750 mm × 750 mm × 620 mm. The effect of various parameters like the form of reinforcement, quantity of reinforcement, height of geocell layer and the position of geocell layer on the load-deformation behaviour of the unpaved model road sections was studied. Static and cyclic triaxial tests were carried out on unreinforced and reinforced granular sub-base materials to understand their stress strain behavior under static and cyclic loading conditions. The influence of quantity and form of reinforcement on the stress-strain behaviour of these materials was studied. From the studies it is observed that the use of reinforcement increases the CBR value of the soil-aggregate systems. Studies with two different sizes of CBR moulds indicated that the boundary effect in the standard CBR mould leads to the overestimation of the CBR value, resulting in unconservative design of road sections. Providing anchorage to the reinforcement in CBR tests did not produce an appreciable change in the load-penetration behavior. From the repeated load tests it was observed that the reinforced systems did not show any improvement in the load-deformation behaviour at low levels of rut depth. At higher rut depths, the reinforced systems developed less plastic settlements and more elastic settlements and low resilient modulus compared to unreinforced systems. From the model tests on unpaved road sections, it was observed that the improvement in the cyclic load resistance of the road due to the inclusion of geocell layer depends on the height of the geocell layer and its position. Increasing the height of geocell layer resulted in improved performance up to certain height of the geocell layer, beyond which, further increase in the height reduced the load resistance because of the inadequate granular overlay thickness and inadequate compaction of aggregate within the geocell pockets. Static and cyclic triaxial tests showed that the geogrid and geocell reinforced granular sub-base material sustained higher peak stresses and exhibited increase in modulus compared to the unreinforced specimens. Results of element and model tests carried out in this study gave important insight into the load-deformation characteristics of reinforced soil-aggregate systems under static, repeated and dynamic loads. The results provide guidelines regarding the selection of type, quantity and configuration of geosynthetic reinforcement while designing unpaved roads and the expected performance of these reinforced unpaved roads.

The thesis is devoted to analysing of flexible buried arch structures. Modelling of the flexible concrete arch is carried out via a nonlinear finite element model that accounts for soil constitutive relations, soil-structure interactions, sequential construction stages and soil compaction. Advanced FE-model was verified by measurement obtained by full-scale field testing of two buried arches. Mathematical optimization methods of genetic algorithms and Levenberg-Marquardt method are applied to already calibrated complex computational models in order to reduce bending and associated flexural stresses in the concrete section of buried arch. Centre line of the arch is parameterized by cubic Bezier curve to reach interpolation of thrust line. Optimization technique is applied with extensive parametrical study which shows the optimal shapes for buried arches of various span/rise ratios, backfill depths and foundation soil types. For practical application are given coordinates of Bézier curve control polygons of particular resulting shape. Subsequently is applied optimization method for a theoretical reduction of tensile stresses obtained by shape optimization of previously verified numerical model of buried arch. Comparisons of earth pressure, bending moment axial force and deflection of flexible structure during sequential construction of different span/raise ratios of buried arches are presented. The behaviour of flexible buried arch with effect of local traffic load model LM1 has been analysed via 3D finite elements model with respect to different depth of backfill above crown.

Soft soil reinforcement by inclusion is a growing technique caracterized by a pile grid and a granular embankment introduced between the reinforced soil and the structure. Unlike traditionnal methods, the load is partially transferred to the pile heads by arching in the embankment. The application area of this research focuses on the shallow foundations case, in which the thickness of the embankment is small. The litterature review shows that only a few studies were dedicated to that case, and that fundamental questions remains concerning the load transfer in the embankment. Chosen method for this research consists in two-dimensionnal physical modelling, analysis of the conducted simulations, and development of an analytical model in order to predict the load transfer to the piles by arching in the embankment. The results of this PhD thesis provide original elements of evidence of the load transfer in the studied system, proposes an analytical model based on block division of the granular embankment by shear bands - which is in good agreement with experimental data - and lead to a better understanding of arching in soils.

This thesis studies the role accounting plays in the monitoring and reporting of soil quality in one sector of the agricultural industry, broadacre farming. A survey was conducted with broadacre farmers in the Loddon Catchment, Victoria, Australia. The primary aim was to determine the effectiveness accounting plays in providing information to decision makers relative to the productive capacity in soil quality and not just on profits. The capital asset in this study was defined as soil quality. Soils and soil quality in particular, are major elements in determining land value. The concern is decisions are being made by potential buyers and other decision makers, particularly policy makers, with regards to soil quality on the basis of incomplete and often misleading information. It is proposed that a major reason is due to the fact that different participants in the agricultural and accounting industries require and use different information. The accounting systems used by farmers are those that have been developed for the manufacturing sector which may not be appropriate for managing long-term, complex resources such as soil. The farmers themselves did not find formal accounting reports useful for decision making because these reports are based on uniform standards and market prices. The topic of soil quality and land degradation is viewed from two perspectives. In one perspective, the proprietary view; the accounting emphasis is on the ownership of assets and the change, both in income and capital, in these assets over time. In this case the accounting equation is seen as assets - liabilities = equities. The proprietor takes all the risk. A more recent perspective in accounting, the entity view, emphasises the assets whether financed from equity or debt and where the accounting equation is seen as assets = equities. The emphasis changes to the income flow from these assets and more interest is shown in current market prices as a reflection of the future value of these assets Profit is not necessarily a good indicator of what farmers are doing for their capital asset. There needs to be greater emphasis on costs undertaken for the conservation of soil. Those costs should be considered an investment and put into the balance sheet and not the profit and loss statement. The major finding of study demonstrates that decision making groups have different

This thesis presents validation and application of advanced soil constitutive models in cases of seismic loading conditions. Firstly, results of three advanced soil constitutive models are compared with examples of shear stack experimental data for free field response in dry sand for shear and compression wave propagation. Higher harmonic generation in acceleration records, observed in experimental works, is shown to be possibly the result of soil nonlinearity and fast elastic unloading waves. This finding is shown to have high importance on structural response, real earthquake records and reliability of conventionally employed numerical tools. Finally, short study of free field response in saturated soil reveals similar findings on higher harmonic generation. Secondly, two advanced soil constitutive models are used, and their performance is assessed based on examples of experimental data on piles in dry sand in order to validate the ability of the constitutive models to simulate seismic soil-structure interaction. The validation includes various experimental configurations and input motions. The discussion on the results focuses on constitutive and numerical modelling aspects. Some improvements in the formulations of the models are suggested based on the detailed investigation. Finally, the application of one of the advanced soil constitutive models is shown in regard to temporary natural frequency wandering observed in structures subjected to earthquakes. Results show that pore pressure generated during seismic events causes changes in soil stiffness, thus affecting the natural frequency of the structure during and just after the seismic event. Parametric studies present how soil permeability, soil density, input motion or a type of structure may affect the structural natural frequency and time for its return to the initial value. In addition, a time history with an aftershock is analysed to investigate the difference in structural response during the earthquake and the aftershock.

Le sol présente une variabilité spatiale des propriétés physiques et mécaniques dont les effets sur des structures légères avec semelles filantes et sur les conduites enterrées ne sont pas bien pris en compte dans leur dimensionnement. Cette variabilité naturelle peut être très importante dans le cas de ces ouvrages car elle induit des tassements différentiels, dont les conséquences peuvent être dommageables : fissures dans les murs, les poutres ou encore des fuites dans les réseaux d’assainissement. La variabilité naturelle du sol et l'incertitude liée à la connaissance imparfaite des propriétés du sol et/ou du béton ou de l'acier de la structure sont les principales sources d'incertitude dans le choix des paramètres de calcul pour le dimensionnement de ces structures. Dans cette thèse, une approche analytique avec les méthodes probabilistes (FOSM et SOSM) et le modèle de Winkler, puis numérique avec le couplage de la méthode des éléments finis avec des approches géostatistiques ont été successivement menées pour modéliser le comportement des semelles filantes et des conduites enterrés lorsque les incertitudes sur les propriétés mécaniques du sol et de la structure sont prises en compte dans leur dimensionnement. Il apparait ainsi, l’importance du comportement longitudinal de ces ouvrages et du poids des incertitudes dans leur dimensionnement. / Soil exhibits spatial heterogeneities resulting from the history of its deposition and aggregation processes that occur in different physical and chemical environments. This inherent or natural variability can be very important in the case of the superficial geotechnical works inducing differential settlements, whose consequences on structural response can be harmful: local failures, cracking in beams or walls, leakage in sewers. Natural variability of soil and uncertainty related to imperfect knowledge in soil properties and/or of concrete or steel of the structure, are the major source of uncertainty in the choice of the design parameters. In this thesis the probabilistic methods in geotechnical engineering, the analytical Winkler model and the coupling of the finite element method with geostatistical approaches were successively used to model the behavior of shallow foundations and buried pipe networks when soil and structure uncertainties are considered in their design.