The objective of this project is to investigate the combined effects of hydrodynamic lag and creep on the long-term performance of excavations in saturated soils addressing the issues of stability and deformation behavior. To achieve this objective, a recently developed excavation analysis solution algorithm proposed by Borja, Lee and Seed which provides a theoretically correct and analytically efficient solution to the basic problem of nonlinear elasto-plastic modelling of incremental excavation will be extended to incorporate hydrodynamic log and creep effects. No theoretically correct solution is presently available for modelling important phenomena associated with the problem of incremental excavation below the water table such as hydrodynamic lag, free surface flows, and the viscous behavior of the soil skeleton itself. The Finite Element program thus developed will be used to investigate the influence of the above phenomena on the long-term performance of excavations in saturated, creep susceptible soils.
