Full-scale load tests to assess the bearing capacity of peat at Zegveld

Great lengths of railway embankments are constructed on organic clay and peat layers, which are highly susceptible to significant deformations under train loading. The growing demand for transportation necessitates a re-evaluation of the stability of railway embankments constructed on peat. Current national railway stability design codes require the undrained shear strength of soils as a key strength parameter. However, the intrinsic heterogeneity of peat, coupled with the presence of fibres and peat's exceptionally high friction angle, complicates laboratory-scale characterisation. Consequently, full-scale field load tests are increasingly essential as critical benchmarks to validate laboratory findings. This study introduces a method for conducting load tests on peat soil at an instrumented benchmark peatland site in Zegveld, the Netherlands. The site setup is described in detail, and selected results from static load tests and in situ probe tests are presented and correlated. These results are then used to conduct a preliminary analysis of the in situ operational shear strength of the peat layer.