Effects of embankment height and vehicle loads on traffic-load-induced cumulative settlement of soft clay subsoil

In order to study the traffic-load-induced cumulative settlement of soft clay subsoil under the low embankment, in situ tests are carried out, and based on the undrained cumulative deformation model and cumulative pore pressure model of Shanghai soft clay proposed by Huang and Li, the cumulative settlement was calculated and analyzed. The calculated cumulative settlement agrees well with the measured result. The cumulative settlement is mainly caused by the undrained cumulative deformation and the pore-pressure-dissipation-induced consolidation deformation, and the former is major. The effects of the embankment height and vehicle loads on traffic-load-induced cumulative settlement are studied. For the embankment less than 1.5 m high, the cumulative settlement of subsoil quickly increases with the decrease of the embankment height. The greater the vehicle loads, the more rapidly the cumulative settlement grows. When the vehicle loads rise by 20 % than the standard, the cumulative settlement increases by 44 %. Therefore, limiting the vehicle overload is critical to control the cumulative settlement. Considering the effects of road embankment height and vehicle loads, the model for predicting cumulative settlement is put forward.