Study On Evaluation Methods Of Ground Bearing Capacity For Highway Embankment In Loess Area

Owing to the complicated topography in loess area, there are more and more high fills and deep cuts in high-grade highways of mountain area, and some embankments up to dozens of meter are nothing new now. It s obviously that the ground of high embankment should satisfy certain requirements of strength and deformation in order to guarantee the whole stability of embankments and pavements. But up to now, there is no criterion of ground bearing capacity for highway embankments in China. As highway construction experience accumulated in loess area, more and more people realize the importance of ground bearing capacity. In order to avoid the destructions of embankments and pavements due to insufficiency of the ground bearing capacity, it is necessary to study the evaluation of ground bearing capacity for highway embankments.Based on some results of related fields and industries, this paper researches systematically on the evaluation method of ground bearing capacity for highway embankments in loess area. Investigation on present situation of embankment ground design and defects of high-grade highway in loess area demonstrated the necessity to strengthen the reconnaissance of high-grade highway, especially the high embankment. The ground bearing capacity in four testing fields of loess area was conducted, and the adaptability of each testing methods was also analyzed. When the ground bearing capacity is evaluated for highway embankments in loess area, the large-scale bearing tests are not suitable and the compressuremeter tests are better. According to a great quantity of test data, the influence factors of ground bearing capacity in loess area were discussed. The loess ground bearing capacities are not same in the different regions. The water content of loess is the most sensitive factor to affect the ground bearing capacity. The liquid limit and the void ratio of loess are more sensitive factor to affect the ground bearing capacity. The correlation between the ground bearing capacity and the compression modulus of loess is good. Based on the above results, the ground bearing capacity districts of loess area were divided into four regions. The non-linearity regression formulas in the four regions and the tables of ground bearing capacity were established with the water content, the liquid limit...