Some fundamental aspects of soft clay behaviour and practical implications

Beyond classical soil mechanics in which the behaviour of soft clays depends only on their stress history, there are peculiar aspects that may have an important influence on their behaviour both in laboratory and in the field. Four of these aspects are considered in this paper: (a) non-linear stress-strain behaviour; (b) anisotropy; (c) presence of microstructure; and (d) viscosity. In each case, after generalities, some practical implications are examined.