Date of Award

Spring 2026

Document Type

Thesis

Terms of Use

© 2026 Jalyn Miller, Madeline Mountcastle, and Elijah Santos. This work is freely available courtesy of the author. It may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) license. For all other uses, please contact the copyright holder.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Engineering Department

First Advisor

Daniel Adeleke

Abstract

Alaska’s Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta is one of the largest intertidal wetlands in North America and serves as the ancestral homeland to over 50 indigenous communities. The Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta is currently facing a climate crisis causing a myriad of environmental issues including increased flooding, rises in sea levels, and an escalation of storm surges.[3] One primary concern has been the large scale permafrost degradation which is causing freeze-thaw induced settlement and contributing to infrastructural failure. To address these foundation failures, a soil profile design layered with an Ultra Light Foam Glass Aggregate (UL-FGA) was developed to reduce freeze-thaw settlement of pile foundations used for residential homes in Bethel, Alaska. Initial steps included classifying soil using prior literature and performing Proctor Compaction and Direct Shear testing based on in-situ soil conditions. Soil profile design was informed by load calculations for residential homes in Bethel, effective stress and bearing capacity of aggregate and soil layers, and analysis of UL-FGA’s insulative properties. The redesigned profile was analyzed using Consolidation testing and then modeled and cycled through freeze-thaw testing in an environmental control chamber. Results supported the ability of the redesign to reduce settlement with the soil profile settling within allowable limits and roughly 0.2” less than the control profile. Additionally, temperature trends in thawing conditions indicated potential for the aggregate’s insulative properties. The soil profile design successfully reduced the magnitude of freeze-thaw settlement and ultimately provides a promising solution for reducing settlement of pile foundations for residences in Bethel, Alaska.

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