Inverse analysis of a soft soil foundation based on test embankment measurements

An inverse analysis is carried out to reveal the material properties of a layered foundation under embankment loading. Identified parameters are utilized in the settlement predictions at the subsequent construction stage. At the site of an expressway, presently under construction in the northeastern part of Japan, deformation and pore pressure are measured through the installed devices in the soft foundation during the test embankment to investigate the performance of soil deposits. The Kalman filter-finite element method is herein adopted as a numerical tool for the inverse analysis. The formulation of this technique is briefly shown and the numerical modeling for the inverse analysis is described. Special focus is placed upon the influence of the system noise on parameter identification within the framework of the Kalman filtering. The identified results of and the numerical predictions for the settlement, using a set of identified parameters, are discussed.