Field studies of a technique to mitigate ground settlement of operating highways

In the eastern coastal region of China, many operating highways built over soft ground are vulnerable to severe post-construction settlement. In this study, a technique using jet grouted piles is developed to mitigate post-construction settlement. The piles are installed by drilling boreholes throughout the embankment. The principal stages of the construction process are described, and two field tests in China, on the Lianyan and Linhai highways, are presented. The results revealed that ground heaves of up to 219 mm and 337 mm induced during a short construction period were able to mitigate the settlement of the embankment. The average settling rate was significantly reduced from 60 mm/y to 9 mm/y on the Lianyan highway. Lateral ground displacement on the Linhai highway increased with time during construction, but after construction showed a slight reduction associated with the dissipation of excess pore water pressure. An analytical method was adopted to describe the ground heave due to the jet grouted piles. The ground heave increased with grout pump pressure, but decreased as the embankment load and distance from the pile center increased.