5.4         Summary and conclusions

Two types of field sensors are used in the embankment, pressure cells and extensometers. The results obtained from the pressure cells may be affected by the stress concentration on the cell or be stress release by the recesses of the cell in the embedding layer. For the extensometer the following conclusion is obtained:

·         The total strains obtained in the embankment did not exceed 1.5% since the start of construction.

·         The strains obtained since the end of the construction did not exceed 0.3%

·         It’s believed that most of the settlement is due to closing the gaps between the layers that can be related to the tolerance of the height of the blocks with the 90 degree orientation between the successive layers. The creep effect appeared only during the construction period and can be considered to be negligible after that.

·         Although both the field results and the lab results match with each other that can be related to the errors in obtaining both results. The lab results errors can be related to the sample size effect of these 0.05m cube specimens while the gaps between the foam layers are the major error in the field results.

·         Even by allowing for both lab and field result errors, the creep can be considered negligible for the design lifetime of the structure. Avoiding these errors in future projects will decrease creep more.