The characteristics of subgrade mud pumping under various water level conditions

This paper presents a study regarding the influence of various water levels on the characteristics of subgrade mud pumping through a self-developed test instrument. The characteristics of mud pumping are primarily reflected by axial strain, excess pore water pressure, and fine particle migration. The results show that the axial strain increases nonlinearly with an increase in cycles number; however, the increasing rate gradually decreases, thus, an empirical model for calculating the axial strain of the samples is presented. The excess pore water pressure increases rapidly first and then decreases slowly with an increase in cycles number. Furthermore, the dynamic stress within the soil first rapidly decreases and then eventually slows. The results indicate that the axial strain, excess pore water pressure, and the height and weight of the migrated fine particles decrease significantly with a low water level. In this study, when the water level is 50 mm lower than the subgrade soil surface, the issue of subgrade mud pumping no longer exist.