Melt shrinkage, salt bulge, and corrosiveness are common problems with saline soils, which damage highway foundations and cause huge financial losses. In order to improve the saline soil subgrade, dynamic compaction(DC) and rolling compaction(RC) technology were applied on the Qarhan-Golmud Highway in Qinghai Province, China. A field experiment was conducted in which shear strength, deformation modulus, and the working mechanism of the composite foundation were analyzed after reinforcement. Both the DC and RC methods were found to be effective and helped to improve the foundation strength of saline soils, although the ultimate bearing capacity and deformation modulus of the RC method were lower than that of the DC method.
On the basis of on-site measured data of the newly constructed Gonghe-Yushu Highway in a permafrost region, this paper analyzed thermal conditions of the subgrade with XPS insulated board according to different selected monitoring sections in various locations. We also summarized the geothermal distribution and change rules of subgrade with XPS insulation board under the asphalt pavement in summarized a high temperature frozen soil region. It is suggested that the shoulder of subgrade with XPS insulation board be widen to a reasonable width so as to keep the subgrade stable.
BoWen TaiJianHong FangLei LiuAnHua XuJianKun LiuYa Hu Tian
In order to maintain the thermal stability of very wide highway embankments in permafrost regions, the thermal isolation material EPS is often utilized. To examine the effects of this insulation on the China National Highway (G214), two-dimensional finite element analysis of temperature fields was conducted for varying widths of highway embankments with and without EPS insulation. The numerical results show that in permafrost regions the effect of thermal aggregation on asphalt pavement is more obvious when highway embankments are wider, and, specifically for the G214 highway, the insulation should be more than 25 cm thick for 24-m-wide embankments. However, considering other factors such as the structural rationality of the embankments and high engineering costs, it might not be feasible to install EPS insulation in 24-m-wide embankments of the G214 highway when the height of the embankments is less than 3.65 m.
