To achieve durability of the embankment in southern China, a method to control the change of moisture content with the cushion and cover was proposed. A finite element model of cushion and cover considering different materials and thicknesses for a typical embankment was built, and 20 numerical analyses of transient seepage in the embankment were simulated. The results show that the sand cushion effectively blocks the effect of groundwater capillary rise and the minimum thickness of the sand cushion is 75 cm without considering the atmospheric environment. With the combination of sand cushion and clay cover, as the thickness of the clay cover increases, the duration time of the moisture content from the initial to relative equilibrium state increases, but the equilibrium moisture content is the same as that of the original embankment. Besides, with the combination of the sand cushion and sand cover, the moisture content inside the embankment remains the same, which is consistent with the optimum moisture content during construction. The combination of 75 cm sand cushion and 30 cm sand cover is a very effective method to block groundwater and atmospheric environment, and achieve the control of the humidity stability of the embankment in southern China.

To investigate the influence of confining pressures and temperatures on the seepage characteristics of fractured rocks, seepage tests were conducted on a fractured silty mudstone using a self-developed experimental system, and the effects of different factors on coefficient of permeability were discussed. The results showed that the increasing confining pressure will gradually decrease the coefficient of permeability, and this process is divided into two stages: 1) the fast decrease stage, which corresponds to a confining pressure less than 30 kPa, and 2) the slow decrease stage, which corresponds to a confining pressure larger than 30 kPa. Unlike confining pressure, an increase in temperature will increase the coefficient of permeability. It is noted that fracture surface roughness will also affect the variation of coefficient of permeability to a certain extent. Among the three examined factors, the effect of confining pressure increases is dominant on fracture permeability coefficient. The relationship between the confining pressure and coefficient of permeability can be quantified by an exponential function.

This paper presents a voxel-based region growing method for automatic road surface extraction from mobile laser scanning point clouds in an expressway environment. The proposed method has three major steps: constructing a voxel model; extracting the road surface points by employing the voxel-based segmentation algorithm; refining the road boundary using the curb-based segmentation algorithm. To evaluate the accuracy of the proposed method, the two-point cloud datasets of two typical test sites in an expressway environment consisting of flat and bumpy surfaces with a high slope were used. The proposed algorithm extracted the road surface successfully with high accuracy. There was an average recall of 99.5%, the precision was 96.3%, and the F1 score was 97.9%. From the extracted road surface, a framework for the estimation of road roughness was proposed. Good agreement was achieved when comparing the results of the road roughness map with the visual image, indicating the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed framework.

This paper focuses on understanding and evaluating the dynamic effect of the heavy-haul train system on the seismic performance of a long-span railway bridge. A systematic study on the effect of heavy-haul trains on bridge seismic response has been conducted, considering the influence of vehicle modeling strategies and dynamic characteristics of the seismic waves. For this purpose, the performance of a long-span cable-stayed railway bridge is assessed with stationary trains atop it, where the heavy-haul vehicles are modeled in two different ways: the multi-rigid body model with suspension system and additional mass model. Comparison of the bridge response in the presence or absence of the train system has been conducted, and the vehicle loading situation, which includes full-load and no-load, is also discussed. The result shows that during the earthquake, the peak moment of the main girder and peak stress of stay cables increase by 80% and by 40% in the presence of fully loaded heavy-haul trains, respectively. At the same time, a considerable decrease appears in the peak acceleration of the main girder. This proves the existence of the damping effect of the heavy-haul train system, and this effect is more obvious for the fully loaded vehicles. Finally, this paper proposes an efficient vehicle modeling method with 2 degrees of freedom (DOF) for simplifying the treatment of the train system in bridge seismic checking.

In order to analyze the effects of backfill materials, geometries and slab setting on the settlement of bridge approach embankment, scale model was built based on the structural characteristics of bridge approach embankment, and scale model tests were carried out under different conditions. The results show that when graded gravels were selected as the backfill materials, the effect of setting approach slab to reduce the differential settlement is more prominent. When lime soils were selected as the backfill material, approach slab can moderate the longitudinal settlement slope. When using different backfill materials, the ultimate settlement of the positive trapezoidal backfill geometries is less than that of the inverted trapezoid, and the backfill geometries have little effect on the settlement slope.

The traditional stability analysis method of geogrid reinforced slopes does not consider the effect of lateral swelling, so it is not applicable to reinforced expansive soil slopes. This paper reports a new stability analysis method for geogrid reinforced expansive soil slopes. The additional pullout force of the free zone due to the lateral swelling and the anti-pullout safety factor of each geogrid layer were obtained by ensuring the overall stability of the reinforced slope. The optimum design was carried out to treat an expansive soil cut slope in Hubei Province, China, by changing the spacing and length of geogrid reinforcement. Calculation results show that the additional pullout force caused by lateral swelling has a great influence on the anti-pullout stability of geogrids, and the local stability of the reinforced slope will be overestimated if the swelling effect of soil in the free zone is not considered.

In order to study the safety factor and instability process of cohesive soil slope, the discrete element method(DEM) was applied. DEM software PFC2D was used to simulate the triaxial test to study the influence of the particle micro parameters on the macroscopic characteristics of cohesive soil and calibrate the micro parameters of DEM model on this basis. Embankment slope stability analysis was carried out by strength reduction and gravity increase method, it is shown that the safety factor obtained by strength reduction method is more conservative, and the arc-shaped feature of the sliding surface under the gravity increase method is more obvious. Throughout the progressive failure process, the failure trends, maximum displacements, and velocity changes obtained by the two methods were consistent. When slope was destroyed, the upper part was cracked, the middle part was sheared, and the lower part was destroyed by extrusion. The conclusions of this paper can be applied to the safety factor calculation of cohesive soil slopes and the analysis of the instability process.

This study aims to improve the mechanical behavior of disintegrated carbonaceous mudstone, which is used as road embankment filler in southwestern China. Triaxial tests were performed on disintegrated carbonaceous mudstone modified by fly ash, cement, and red clay. Then the stress-strain relationships and shear strength parameters were analyzed. The microstructure and mineral composition of the materials were identified via scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. The results show that the stress-strain relationships changed from strain-hardening to strain-softening when disintegrated carbonaceous mudstone was modified with cement. By contrast, the addition of fly ash and red clay did not change the type of stress-strain relationships. The order of these three additives is cement, red clay and fly ash according to their influences on the cohesion. Disintegrated carbonaceous mudstone without cement all showed bulging failures, and that modified with cement exhibited shear failures or bulging-shear failures. The soil particles of the improved soil were well bonded by cementitious substances, so the microstructure was denser and more stable, which highly enhanced the mechanical behavior of disintegrated carbonaceous mudstone. The findings could offer references for the use of carbonaceous mudstone in embankment engineering.

The treatment of contaminated soil is a crucial issue in geotechnical and environmental engineering. This study proposes to incorporate appropriate polypropylene fibers and cements as an effective method to treat heavy metal contaminated soil (HMCS). The objective of this paper is to investigate the effects of fiber content, fiber length, cement content, curing time, heavy metal types and concentration on the mechanical properties of soils. To this end, a series of direct shear test, unconfined compression strength (UCS) test, dry-wet cycle and freeze-thaw cycle test are performed. The results confirm that the appropriate reinforcement of polypropylene fibers and cement is an effective way to recycle HMCS as substitutable fillers in roadbed, which exhibits benefits in environment and economy development.

In arid regions, water vapor diffusion predominates the total water migration in unsaturated soil, which significantly influences agriculture and engineering applications. With the aim of revealing the diffusion mechanism of water vapor in unsaturated soil, a water vapor migration test device was developed to conduct the water vapor migration indoor test. The test results demonstrate that the characteristics of water vapor diffusion in unsaturated soil conformed to Fick’s second law. A mathematical model for water vapor diffusion under isothermal conditions in unsaturated soil was established based on Fick’s law. Factors including the initial moisture content gradient, initial moisture content distribution, soil type and temperature that affect the water vapor diffusion coefficient were analyzed. The results show that there was good agreement between the moisture content calculated by the mathematical model and obtained by the indoor experiment. The vapor diffusion coefficient increased with increasing initial moisture content gradient and temperature. When the initial moisture content gradient is constant, the vapor diffusion coefficient increases with the increase of matrix suction ratio in dry and wet soil section. The effect of soil type on the water vapor diffusion coefficient was complex, as both the moisture content and soil particle sizes affected the water vapor diffusion.

To determine the distribution of active earth pressure on retaining walls, a series of model tests with the horizontally translating rigid walls are designed. Particle image velocimetry is used to study the movement and shear strain during the active failure of soil with height H and friction angle ϕ. The test results show that there are 3 stages of soil deformation under retaining wall translation: the initial stage, the expansion stage and the stability stage. The stable sliding surface in the model tests can be considered to be composed of two parts. Within the height range of 0.82H–1.0H, it is a plane at an angle of π/4+ϕ/2 to the horizontal plane. In the height range of 0–0.82H, it is a curve between a logarithmic spiral and a plane at an angle of π/4+ϕ/2 to the horizontal. A new method applicable to any sliding surface is proposed for active earth pressure with the consideration of arching effect. The active earth pressure is computed with the actual shape of the slip surface and compared with model test data and with predictions obtained by existing methods. The comparison shows that predictions from the newly proposed method are more consistent with the measured data than the predictions from the other methods.

Although the dynamic properties of subgrade soils in seasonally frozen areas have already been studied, few researchers have considered the influence of shallow groundwater during the freeze-thaw (F-T) cycles. So a multifunctional F-T cycle system was developed to imitate the groundwater recharge in the subgrade during the freezing process and a large number of dynamic triaxial experiments were conducted after the F-T cycles. Some significant factors including the F-T cycle number, compaction degree, confining pressure, cyclic deviator stress, loading frequency, and water content were investigated for the resilient modulus of soils. The experimental results indicated that the dynamic resilient modulus of the subgrade was negatively correlated with the cyclic deviator stress, F-T cycle number, and initial water content, whereas the degree of compaction, confining pressure, and loading frequency could enhance the resilient modulus. Furthermore, a modified model considering the F-T cycle number and stress state was established to predict the dynamic resilient modulus. The calculated results of this modified model were very close to the experimental results. Consequently, calculation of the resilient modulus for F-T cycles considering the dynamic load was appropriate. This study provides reference for research focusing on F-T cycles with groundwater supply and the dynamic resilient moduli of subgrade soils in seasonally frozen areas.

Black cotton soil in East Africa is not a stable engineering material for highway and railroad projects. Its strong swelling potential when it absorbs water causes distresses in subgrade of highway and railroad, and thus leads to failures of the projects. This paper presents study on the swelling characteristics of black cotton soil in East Africa. Lab tests were conducted to obtain its basic engineering properties, and the results show that black cotton soil contains high amount of montmorillonite and exchangeable cations and is strong expansive soil. Molecular modelling was exploited to further investigate water absorption ability of montmorillonite. Three different molecular models of montmorillonite were constructed and used for simulations, among which Types I and II montmorillonite represent the expansive soil montmorillonite in China, and Types II and III montmorillonite represent black cotton soil montmorillonite in East Africa. The results showed that the interlayer cations of Type III montmorillonite possessed the strongest water absorption ability based on analysis of radial distribution function (RDF) of cations. Interlayer compensatory cations of Na+ enhance the hydration ability of the other major cations, thus resulting in the strong swelling potential of East-Africa black cotton soil.

The durability of silty clay embankments is partially controlled by the moisture migration, which depends on soil hydraulic properties. This paper presents an experimental study of hydraulic properties of compacted binary silty clay. Specimens with different mixing ratios and dry densities were prepared. Scanning electron microscopy and mercury intrusion porosimetry were used to characterise the microstructure of silty clay. Thereafter, falling-head permeability tests and water retention tests were conducted to study the permeability and water retention property, respectively. The results demonstrate that clay particles are dispersed and show preferred arrangements after compaction when the clay content is 100%. As the clay content decreases, the arrangement of clay particles is gradually disturbed because of the existence of silt particles, causing the formation of large pores around silt particles. When the dry density increases, the pores around silt particles significantly decrease. Moreover, the permeability of silty clay decreases but the water retention capacity increases with increasing clay content and dry density. This is because the silty clay with larger clay content and dry density has fewer large pores, which greatly restrains the flow of water. Both the permeability and water retention property of silty clay can be predicted from pore size distribution parameters.

To reveal the influencing factors and changing rules for the hydrothermal interaction process of highway subgrade, the field measurements of Shiwei-Labudalin Highway in Inner Mongolia, China was conducted for 3 years, based on which the freezing-thawing rules and water content changing characteristics were analyzed. The main results show the subgrade presents a frequent freezing-thawing alternation, and the water content of subgrade exhibits an obvious seasonal alternation. The subbase has the maximum water content, while the base has the minimum water content. The change of water flux is concentrated in the thawing period and consistent with the change of temperature gradient. The subbase layer has the most active water flux due to the heat absorption and impermeability of pavement that easily causes the water accumulation in this layer. Therefore, the prevention and treatment for the freezing-thawing disease should be started from heat insulation and water resistance.

In piled and geosynthetic-reinforced (PGR) embankment, the arching behavior determines the overburden load on piles and subsoils. Placement of geosynthetic is effective in reducing the relative displacement between pile and subsoil. When the mobilized shear stress is less than the shear strength, partially developed arching will occur. Consequently, existing analytical methods, adopting the ultimate shear strength failure criterion, need to be improved. This study developed a simplified 2D analytical method, which is based on the developing arching effect, to evaluate the load redistribution of the PGR embankment. Then, the influences of embankment height and internal friction angle, subsoil depth, ratio of pile cap width to pile clear spacing (RPC) and geosynthetic tensile stiffness on the critical height ratio, stress concentration ratio, soil arching ratio, geosynthetic tension and axial strain were investigated. This study suggests that a RPC of 1:1.0 and a one-way of single-layer geosynthetic tensile stiffness of 2000 kN/m should be considered as the sensitivity thresholds for the PGR embankment.

Frothing is a main disease of highways in Yellow River Flood Field, due to the loss of dynamic strength of roadbed soils under the couple effects of temperature, salt, and vehicle traffic load. This is strongly linked to the dynamic characteristics of silt in this region. To analyze these couple effects on the dynamic characteristics of silt, a series of tests (i.e., freeze-thaw cycling tests, vibration triaxial tests and ultrasonic wave velocity tests) were conducted and two kinds of silt (i.e., salt-free and 3%-salt silt) were designed. The results indicate that the dynamic shear strength and dynamic modulus decrease with increasing freeze-thaw cycles, while the damping ratio simultaneously increases. Furthermore, compared to salt-free silt, the decrement of dynamic shear strength and dynamic modulus of silt with 3% salt is more significant, but the damping ratio of 3%-salt silt is larger. In ultrasonic wave velocity tests, ultrasonic wave velocity of frozen soil specimens decreases as the number of freeze-thaw cycles increases. Based on the results of ultrasonic wave velocity tests, a preliminary model is proposed to evaluate damage of silt through field measurement ultrasonic data. The study could provide a theoretical basis for the treatment of silty soil highway.

Several potential failure modes generally exist in rock slopes because of the existence of massive structural planes in rock masses. A system reliability analyses method for rock slopes with multiple failure modes based on nonlinear Barton-Bandis failure criterion is proposed. The factors of safety associated with the sliding and overturning failure modes are derived, respectively. The validity of this method is verified through a planar rock slope with an inclined slope top and tension crack. Several sensitivity analyses are adopted to study the influences of structural-plane parameters, geometric parameters, anchoring parameters and fracture morphology on the rock slopes system reliability.

To relieve the increasing traffic load, many early built highways need to be widened or reconstructed. The rapid performance detection to existing subgrades is important to their reasonable evaluation and maximized utilization. Based on five kinds of soils taken from an existing highway in southern China, three commonly detecting methods were used to determine their moisture contents, compaction degrees and resilient moduli. The results showed that the measured moisture contents were greater than the design value, and the compaction degrees decreased sharply compared to the original ones. The moisture and heat exchange produced a decrease in the resilient modulus of plate loading test (PLT) from the standard 60 MPa down to 40 MPa. Afterwards, the portable falling weight deflectometer (PFWD) and dynamic cone penetrometer (DCP) were used to evaluate the subgrade performances. The measured PFWD moduli and the DCP penetration rates were correlated with the resilient moduli of PLT, deflections of the Beckman beam test, compaction degrees and moisture contents. The correlation analysis indicates that both of two methods are suitable in rapid detecting subgrade performances, but PFWD method is more recommended for it has higher accuracy and efficiency.

The commonly used Mohr-Coulomb (M-C) failure condition has a limitation that it overestimates the tensile strength of cohesive soils. To overcome this limitation, the tensile strength cut-off was applied where the predicted tensile strength is reduced or eliminated. This work then presented a kinematical approach to evaluate the active earth pressure on subgrade retaining walls in cohesive backfills with saturated seepage effects. An effective rotational failure mechanism was constructed assuming an associative flow rule. The impact of seepage forces, whose distribution is described by a closed-form solution, was incorporated into the analysis. The thrust of active earth pressure was derived from the energy conservation equation, and an optimization program was then coded to obtain the most critical solution. Several sets of charts were produced to perform a parameter analysis. The results show that taking soil cohesion into account has a distinct beneficial influence on the stability of retaining walls, while seepage forces have an adverse effect. The active earth pressure increases when tensile strength cut-off is considered, and this increment is more noticeable under larger cohesion.

When roadways are constructed above or adjacent to heavily mined regions, the ground subsidence caused by pillar collapse inflicts severe damage on these roadways. In this study, some surface subsidence events were first reviewed to present roof caving characteristics caused by pillar failure. The bearing characteristic and failure pattern of a single pillar with or without effect of discontinuity were further numerically simulated using distinct element code (3DEC). It was found that the spalling of pillar or slippage of discontinuity would damage the bearing capacity of pillar during the failure process. The stress at the pillar core could be greater than uniaxial compressive strength of the pillar. However, when a discontinuity runs through a pillar, the slippage of discontinuity would significantly degrade the bearing capacity of the pillar. In pillar support system, if any pillar unexpectedly degrades or loses its bearing capacity, the load transferred from the degraded pillar acts on neighboring pillars, and the shear force also increases at relevant positions. However, the roof cutting and surface subsidence characteristics would perform in different patterns. In some cases, surface subsides slowly; in the worst scenario, shock bump may be induced by pillar and roof collapse.

During the compaction of a road subgrade, the mechanical parameters of the soil mass change in real time, but current research assumes that these parameters remain unchanged. In order to address this discrepancy, this paper establishes a relationship between the degree of compaction K and strain ε. The relationship between the compaction degree K and the shear strength of soil (cohesion c and frictional angle ϕ) was clearly established through indoor experiments. The subroutine UMAT in ABAQUS finite element numerical software was developed to realize an accurate calculation of the subgrade soil compaction quality. This value was compared and analyzed against the assumed compaction value of the model, thereby verifying the accuracy of the intelligent compaction calculation results for subgrade soil. On this basis, orthogonal tests of the influential factors (frequency, amplitude, and quality) for the degree of compaction and sensitivity analysis were carried out. Finally, the ‘acceleration intelligent compaction value’, which is based on the acceleration signal, is proposed for a compaction meter value that indicates poor accuracy. The research results can provide guidance and basis for further research into the accurate control of compaction quality for roadbeds and pavements.