This study aims for a software tool that predict secondary settlements in soft layers on which secondary dikes are founded based on cone penetration test data. In the literature study five equations have been found that relate cone resistance and friction ratio to volumetric weight and over consolidation ratio. With the volumetric weight and over consolidation ratio the NEN-Bjerrum settlement parameters can be determined and with that the strain for a layer. After this study the focus lies on developing a software tool and the resulting output. In the end it seems, qualitatively, that the results are not useful in engineering practise because the resulting settlements are unexpectedly large.

Long-term settlement is unavoidable but by good prediction accompanied risks can be reduced. Nowadays linear isotach models belong to the state of the art but result in very small strain rates when small load increments or unloading is applied. For that reason this study has focused on the validation of those predictions using InSAR. Different causes of settlement have been studied and it was found that fluctuations in groundwater do not affect the final settlement. Another influencing factor is the presence of organic matter and its degradation. This reduction of organic matter is caused by many factors and is yet too complicated to quantify and include in predicting models. In spite of the idea that predicted strain rates by linear isotach models are too small, InSAR results show that the measured displacement rates were actually smaller than predicted some years after construction for road segments of the A2 and that a new proposed model could be used to match these displacement rates better. The C+S model by Vergote et al. (2021) is an isotach model which uses non-linear isotachs which would reduce the strain rates faster than linear isotach models and viscoplastic swell is included which also reduces the total strain rate. Results on incremental loading tests show that this model captures the behaviour in unloading stages better than the linear isotach models but for conventional incremental loading tests the two models do not differ much. For field scale embankment scenarios the results show that the C+S model with non-linear isotachs and viscoplastic swell included will predict a longer swell period with more swell, lower total strain rates after the swell period with a faster decay and in the and less residual settlement.