Soft ground improvement techniques have evolved substantially in Brazil in recent years. However, their application in soft and very soft clays requires a good understanding of the fundamentals of ground improvement techniques suited to the problem as well as the actual field behavior when implemented on a real scale. This paper describes some of the mo...

In this lecture the interpretations of fully instrumented tests embankments and their role in the development of appropriate ground improvement techniques for highways, motorways and airfields on soft clay deposits is illustrated through well documented case studies in Bangkok, Thailand and Muar Flat Site in Kuala Lumpur. For the Bangkok Plain and with ...

The practice of soil-cement reinforced layers to bear shallow foundations is a feasible option in low bearing capacity soils. This paper addresses the interpretation of plate load tests bearing on compacted artificially cemented sand layers of distinct sizes and shapes (cylindrical and prismatic) overlaying a weakly bonded residual soil stratum. Static ...

The paper corresponds to the Manuel Rocha Lecture delivered by the author in October 2009. It is divided into three main parts. Part 1, Practice and Design, summarizes the most relevant excavations performed in Portugal since the 1950s, with emphasis on selected case histories. Part 2, Design and Research, discusses research work and original approaches...