Professional Presentations:

Performance of Test Fill Constructed on Soft Peat; Tillis, R. Kevin, Michael Meyers and Edwin M. Hultgren; Proceedings  - Stability and Performance of Slopes and Embankments, ASCE Specialty Conference, Berkeley, California; June 1992.

A test fill embankment was constructed over soft peat on Bouldin Island in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.  The site is underlain by 10 to 12 feet of peat.  The 350-foot-long, 200-foot-wide embankment was designed so that a plane strain condition existed in its central portion.  One side of the embankment was rapidly loaded to failure.  The other side was loaded in stages, and settlement, lateral deformation, and pore pressure were monitored.  The undrained shear strength was back-calculated, using simple geometry, and compared with laboratory test values.  This paper includes selected data from key instrumentation located on both sides of the test fill.