Field performance of transition rigid piled embankment with surcharged vertical drain over soft ground

Abstract

Commonly, thick filling works over soft clay is aided with piled embankment at bridge approach to reduce differential settlement between the piled abutment and embankment over soft ground. However, long stretched thick filling works over soft ground requires substantial resources and time to construct rigid piled embankment. Generally for such long stretched and thick filling development over soft ground, other ground treatment such as prefabricated vertical drain (PVD) with surcharge is introduce to reduce the cost of construction. However, excessive total and differential settlement at the surcharged prefabricated vertical drain (SPVD) and rigid piled embankment intersection during post construction period may leads to rectification works over the time. This paper presents the field performance of an alternative design approach for long stretched thick filled embankment over soft clay at structure approach to control the differential settlement between the two conventional ground treatment approaches. With the introduction of the alternative ground treatment approach at the intersection of the two conventional ground treatment, post construction total settlement and differential settlement is reduced significantly.