This Webinar is aimed at discussing the behavior of embankments on soft soils, ground improvement methods, site investigation, instrumentation and monitoring. The introduction shows what could go wrong in a poor design. The first part covers site investigation and in situ (SPT, CPTU, VST) and laboratory tests and discusses how to obtain reliable soil data for further analy< /br>sis and design. The second part presents a series of trial embankments used to analyze the behavior of ground improvement techniques, like wickdrains, stone columns, DSM, and jet grouting columns.  This part covers instrumentation and monitoring, design errors and lessons learned. The Webinar is backed by over 50 years of experience from methods used in many countries in Europe, the Far East, North and South America. The Webinar is tailored to engineers, geologists, and undergraduate and research students interested in soft soils. This Webinar embeds over 50 years of experience on the design and construction of embankments on soft soils.

Date: Wednesday | May 14. 2025 |  2 - 4 pm ET

Credits: 2 PDH Units

Learning Objectives

At the successful conclusion of this course, you’ll be able to identify and discuss:

• Typical common defects and failures of embankment of soft soils;
• Discussion of site investigations tools most used in soft soils, like SPT, CPTU and VST;
• Instrumentation and monitoring tools
• Trial embankments.
• Stability control.

Special Webinar Instructions After payment, please visit this webinar page, click “Start Course” and fill out the Webinar Registration Form.  You’ll receive email notification and details on how to join the webinar.  You will then be able to access the webinar slides, test your system and receive webinar reminders.  After completing the webinar requirements, your certificate of completion will be saved and available for download in your profile. We value your feedback! Please rate this webinar after completion.

Group Discounts Available

Presenter Biography: Alberto Ortigao, PhD, FICE, CEng, PE is a senior geotechnical consultant with 50 years of experience in a variety of projects from tailings and water dams, slopes, embankments, foundations, excavations structures and tunnels. He is a Fellow and Chartered Engineer of the Institute of Civil Engineering, London, and holds a PE license in NC, USA. He received his first degree in Civil Engineering in 1971 from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), followed by a PhD in 1980.   From 1978 to 2003 he was an academic at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.  From 1982 to 1984, he was a researcher on offshore foundations at the Building Research Establishment, UK, followed by work on offshore foundation design at Fugro UK Ltd. He has been a Visiting Professor at the following universities: UBC University of British Columbia, Canada, City University of Hong Kong and University of Western Sydney, Australia. He worked in several countries, including the UK, Canada, Hong Kong, Malaysia and all South American countries.  This is a result of his language skills: English, Spanish, German, Portuguese and French. He authored over one hundred technical papers and two books “Soil mechanics in the light of critical state theories” by Balkema in 1995 and, in 2004, the Handbook of slope stabilization by Springer Verlag, Heidelberg.