Cement-gravel Piles for Highway Soft Soil Settlement Treatment in Yunnan Province

Highway in Yunnan Province, China, was known to suffer from local settlement due to the soft red soil foundations. This paper proposed cement-gravel piles to treat the settled foundations before paving the surface layer in highway repair and maintenance, in order to enhance the overall highway bearing capacity. Finite element software ANSYS was used to study the effect of cement-gravel piles on soft soil reinforcement and water reduction. The cement-gravel pile design parameters (9 to 10m for pile length, 1.2m to1.6m for pile spacing and 0.8m for pile diameter)are determined for different fill height, compactive effort and settlement magnitude. This research will provide helpful guidance to highway repair and maintenance of highway built in soft soil regions.