The unexpected softening of the undrained shear strength of organic and silty clays in Rhine delta: a conceptual study: Determining the Undrained Shear Strength of soft Dutch soils using conventional laboratory equipment

The current Dutch norms for the macro-stability of ood protection embankments and more specifically the determination of SHANSEP parameters has been subject of debate since its implementation in 2017. The main concerns arise from the apparent over-conservative nature of the guidelines and the apparent underestimation of shear strength of organic...

Analysis of undrained soil behaviour of Dutch organic clay in K0-consolidated triaxial tests

In 2017 new guidelines concerning macro stability calculations were implemented by the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment. These guidelines are formulated in “Wettelijk Beoordelingsinstrumentarium” (WBI). The largest difference with the previous version of the guidelines concerns the material model that is prescribed to determine...