Settlement Prediction of Surcharge Preloaded Low Embankment on Soft Ground Subjected to Cyclic Loading

This article studies the effect of dynamic cyclic loading and surcharge preloading method on the post-construction settlement of low embankments. Soil samples obtained from the soft ground under an embankment were consolidated by surcharge preloading followed by static and dynamic cyclic loading in the odometer. The results show that the consolidation deformation of the soil samples is independent of the frequency of the dynamic cyclic loading, which was simulated to follow the half-sine wave, and this is consistent with the energy concept. The post-construction settlement increases with increasing amplitude of cyclic load and the effectiveness of surcharge preloading depends on the difference between magnitude of surcharge and amplitude of the cyclic load. Based on the consolidation theory combined with the test results, a formula has been proposed to compute the post-construction settlement of a low embankment under cyclic loading.