TABLE OF CONTENTS Geotechnical design and execution of civil engineering structures on/in soft to very soft soils are usually associated with substantial difficulties. Since this type of soils are sensitive to deformations and possesses very small shear strength, they may lead to structural damages during the execution as well as throughout the life of the projects specially in urban areas. This can be due to:
excessive settlements or tilting of newly constructed building structures,
entrainment settlement of old structures near newly erected structures,
an adverse effect of excavations on nearby structures, etc.
Also highways and railways as well as other infrastructure projects on soft soils are frequently associated with construction problems and damages or requires a special and substantial construction measures to completely avoid or limit the damage to certain extent.
Geologically young, normal consolidated cohesive soft soils are distributed world wide along coastal areas and around lakes and rivers. For example:
Southeast Asia, Japan, Indian,
North and central America (e.g. Mexico Clay, Cancagua or lacustrine sediments; Eastern Canada),
South America and Africa (e.g. along the Nile delta, around the Victoria and Tana lakes),
Europe (e.g. in Germany along the marshy area of the river Elbe in North, and around the Bavarian Lakes and Lake Constance in South; in Switzerland around Lake Zurich, etc.)
Southern Norway, etc.
Independent from the geological definitions and terms, soft soils are defined in the following as normal consolidated or under consolidated or light overconsolidated fine grain soils with very soft to soft consistency (see also...
