Effect of vacuum preloading and road base surcharge on the lateral displacement of surrounding soil in highway ground improvement

The application of vacuum preloading to the construction of highway road base can reduce the amount of lateral displacement of the surrounding soil, improve the stability of road base and mitigate the impact on the environment, Based on the experiences gained through a detailed study of highway road base construction project where a combination of vacuum and surcharge preloading was employed as a soil improvement technique a significant amount of data was obtained through insitu tests, and performance monitoring results were analysed in detail, From the results of the analysis of the data of lateral displacements of the surrounding soil at the highway road base, the characteristics of the mode of soil mass deformation on the sloping region of the highway were identified, and hence the relationship between the slope behaviour and the lateral displacement of the surrounding soil was also identified, These findings may be used as a reference guide for the design, construction and performance prediction of the construction of a highway road base of a similar nature.