ABSTRACT
Large ground settlements in Singapore are mainly connected with soft marine clay which covers a large part of Singapore Island, including part of the downtown Central Business District (CBD) where a large number of highrise buildings have been constructed during the last 15 years as well as the MRT subway. Settlements can be caused by fills, deep excavations, tunnelling or by a lowering of the groundwater level as discussed below. The settlements caused by a fill or by a lowering of the groundwater level depend mainly on the compressibility and the preloading of the soil while the settlements caused by tunnelling or deep excavations depend mainly on the depth of the tunnels or of the excavation and the shear strength of the clay.
