Japanese Geotechnical Society Special Publication The 15th Asian Regional Conference on

Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering

The field test for influence of ram-compacted piles with bearing base on settlement of embankments
in China Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway on deep soft soil

Jianlin Ma i), Chunhui Su ii), Yanxin Yang iii), Mengsong Wu iv) and Bingnan Jiang v)

i) Professor, School of Civil Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, 610031, China.
ii) PhD Candidate, School of Civil Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, 610031, China.
iii) PhD candidate，yanxin yang yanxin, Southwest Jiaotong University and Arizona State University.
iv) Master Candidate, School of Civil Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, 610031, China.
v) Master Candidate, School of Civil Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, 610031, China.

ABSTRACT

The stratums along the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway are composed mainly with soft soil. The foundation of
roadbed were strengthened in hope of reducing differential and total settlement. Ram-compacted piles are mentioned
in this paper, as an example of strengthening methods. Using joint test method combining liquid level settlement
gauges and single point settlement gauges, total settlements and compressions at different depths were measured.
Field test results showed that：1. The settlements were significantly reduced. 2. The settlement of the basement with
cap at the middle of roadbed mainly appeared during filling stage, and that without cap indicated a
30-day-stablisation during preloading stage. 3. The up thorn can be decreased by pile cap. 4. The largest settlement
was found at roadbed center, whereas the smallest occurred at embankment toe. Ram-compacted piles successfully
reduced settlement of roadbed, offering reference value to high-speed railway design.

Key words: Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway, deep soft soil, geotechnical engineering, critical issues and
challenges

1 INTRODUCTION for lines from Wuqing to Cangzhou and from Danyang

to Shanghai.
The Beijing-Shanghai High-speed Railway’s design
To meet the safety and comfort requirements for
speed is 350km/h with a total length of 1318 km. It runs
operating with less train maintenance, the settlement of
through three municipalities of Beijing, Tianjin and
post-construction should be small enough. In China, the
Shanghai, four provinces such as Hubei, Shandong,
post-construction settlement should be less than 15 mm,
Anhui, Jiangsu and connects two major economic zones
the differential settlement between embankments and
including Bohai Sea and the Yangtze River Delta. The
bridges should be no more than 5mm.Strict and unique
railway passes through four major river systems that are
control of post-construction settlement is the key to
the Haihe River, Yellow River, Huaihe River, and
successful operating.
Yangtze River. Along the rail, there exist plain and low
The engineering geological along the Beijing-
hilly areas. The rail from Beijing to Jinan is located in
Shanghai high-speed railway is mainly soft soil with
North China Plain which is flat open land. In the middle
large compression. The carrier pile strengthening
of the region, the elevation is lower than that of the two
technology was adopted to reduce the road bed
ends. The rail from Jinan to Xuzhou is located in hilly
settlement. Composite foundation as main technique
terrains and plains with a high relief of topography at
matures to reduce settlement applied in road and
South Central Shandong. The rail from Qufu to
housing construction projects and many scholars have
Tengzhou is located in plains. The rail from Xuzhou to
done research on it. Chen etc. (2002) studied with test
Shanghai goes through Huang-Huai, Yangtze River
of CFG pile composite foundation. Yang etc. (2010)
delta plain area. The rail from Chuzhou to Danyang
studied with rammer carrier CFG piles composite
goes through the plain area of the lower reaches of the
foundation. Requirement for settlement of the
Yangtze River, and there are hills along the rivers
high-speed railway roadbed is very strict. It is the first
crisscrossing the regions. The poor soft soils are widely
time that using carrier pile reinforces foundation, there
distributed and respect to non-uniform depth along the
is no experience for it. Beijing-Shanghai high-speed
rail line with low strength and great thickness especially

http://doi.org/10.3208/jgssp.CHN-49 217
railway successfully used above foundation treatment liquid level settlement gauges and single point
methods that provided reference for Haqi high-speed settlement gauges.
railway construction. Based on these strength The liquid level gauges and single point settlement
technologies for high-speed railway, many scholars gauges were installed at pile top and soil around the
have done further research. Zhou (2011) researched the piles separately, the compression of the soil was
settlement deformation principle of carrier piles measured within the range from the settlement plate to
composite ground of High-speed railway. Yang etc. the end anchor of single point gauge, the arrangements
(2012) studied the behavior of carrier piles and of the gauges are shown in Figure 2. The depth of
composite ground under embankment load. Chen etc. installation for single point settlement gauges are shown
(2013, 2013) studied the construction technique and in Table 1.
reinforcement mechanism of carrier piles.
In this paper, field monitoring was conducted to

Shanghai
DD-3-3 10m
DD-3-1 16m
evaluate the reinforcement of the soil using

DD-3-2

YW-3-5
7.8m
ram-compacted piles with bearing base and predict the

YW-3-4
time for total stable settlement.

YW-3-3

Sideline
YW-3-2
2 SUBSURFACE SOIL CONDITIONS AND

YW-3-1

Beijing
LAYOUT OF PILES
As shown in Figure 1, the site is found mainly on a
complex soil deposit of Quaternary Holocene alluvium
Center line
(Q4al) and upper Pleistocene alluvium (Q3al) , parts are
Quaternary Holocene sedimentary layer artificial (Q4ml)
at the borehole depth. Beneath the ground, there are soft
silty clay soil and clay extending to 8.4m. At the range
from 8.4m to 12m below the ground, the layer 2-a. Test section without cap
consisting of medium density-dense sand and it is
underlain by silt, silty clay and clay. In Figure 1, the
Center line

deposits below the surface are shown.

Square arrangement of the ram-compacted piles with
Shanghai
DD-4-3 30m

bearing base were applied to foundation strengthening,

DD-4-1 40m

the settlements of piles with caps and the piles without

YW-4-1

Sideline
caps in test regions were measured, four test sections
were selected for the measurement, for piles with caps,
YW-4-5
Beijing

there were two sections and the other two test sections
YW-4-2

YW-4-4
YW-4-3
DD-4-2 7.8m

were for the piles without cap respectively.

DIK59+000.0

DIK59+100.0

DIK59+200.0

Reinforced area by
carrier pile without Reinforced area by 2-b. Test section with cap
cap carrier pile with cap Note: DD stands for single point settlement gauge, YW stands for liquid level
Surface layer settlement gauge.
Reinforced C30 concrete slab
Legend: ○: pile wtihout cap, ◎: pile with cap
Subgrade bed Fig.2 Plane layout of liquid level settlement gauges and single
Cushion Clay Reinforced area point settlement gauges
σ=110~160kPa Silty clay Pile bottom
8.4
al
12.0 Q4 Fine sand σ=210kPa Table 1 Depth of installation for single point settlement gauges
al
14.5 Q4 Silty clay σ=140kPa Horizontal Horizontal
al
17.0 al
Q4 Clay σ=150kPa Test Distance to Depth Distance to
Q4 Silt σ=200kPa Number Number
18.4 Section center line (m) center line
al
Q4 Clay σ=140kPa
σ=180kPa (m) (m)
21.9
Clay σ=180~220kPa DD3-1 2 16 YW3-1 1
25.5 Section
Silty clay DD3-2 1 7.8 YW3-2 0
Silt without DD3-3 0 10 YW3-4 10
cap - - - YW3-5 16
Fig.1 soil condition of Langfang station
DD4-1 2 40 YW4-1 1
In order to monitor the settlement of each test section Section
DD4-2 1 7.8 YW4-2 0
and determine the thickness of compression, a joint with cap
DD4-3 0 30 YW4-3 4
monitoring system was adopted, which consists of

218
3 MONITORING RESULTS ANASYSIS Monitoring value by DD-3-2 showed that the
compression was 8.3mm within reinforced soil. The
3.1 Ram-compacted piles with bearing base without
cumulative compression of the soil deeper than 16m
cap
below pile top was 28mm and accounted for 28.1% of
The settlement value measured by single point
the total settlement. According to monitoring data at
settlement gauges and liquid level settlement gauges are
second test section, the cumulative compression at the
shown in Figure 3.
depth more than 32m from the pile top was 9.65mm,
150
Loading (kPa)

which was 12.1% of the total settlement.

100
50 Time (day)
30 60 90 120 150 180 210 240 270 300 3.2 Ram-compacted piles with bearing base with cap
0
The settlement of the pile top measured by liquid
-20 level settlement gauges and compression of soil at
different depth below pile top measured by single point
Settlement (mm)

-40
settlement gauges and are shown in Figure 4 and table
-60 3.
150

Loading(kPa)
-80
100
-100 50 Time(days)
Loading DD-3-2 DD-3-3 DD-3-1 30 60 90 120 150 180 210 240 270 300
YW-3-1 YW-3-2 YW-3-4 YW-4-5 0

Fig.3 Curve of loading-time-settlement for pile without pile cap -20

Settlement(mm)
When the monitoring was carried out, the downward -40
movement of pile top measured by YW-3-2 was -60
94.9mm, maximum settlement of soil around piles
measured by YW-3-1 was 99.6mm, the differential -80
settlement was 5mm and which was attributed to “up -100
dip” (the pile go upward through the reinforced soil Loading
YW-4-1
DD-4-2
YW-4-2
DD-4-3 DD-4-1
YW-4-3
when it settle) and “down dip” (the piles move Fig.4 Curve of settlement-loading-time for piles with cap
downward through the reinforced soil when it settle),.
Table 3 Monitoring results of accumulated settlement
Measured values with time are shown in Table 2. deformation with cap
Table 2 Monitoring results of accumulated settlement without cap First 30
Completion of
days of Completion of
First 30 embankment
Completion of Number Preloading Monitoring
days of Completion of filling
embankment duration (mm)
Number Preloading monitoring (mm)
filling (mm)
duration (mm)
(mm) YW-4-1 58.30 78.68 88.11
(mm)
YW-3-1 21.2 86.6 99.6 YW-4-2 47.62 65.28 85.49
YW-3-2 16.9 81.6 94.9 YW-4-3 41.58 57.50 75.08
YW-3-4 13.8 59.3 65.5 DD-4-1 40.38 79.16 85.06
YW-3-5 15.4 39.6 52.4 DD-4-2 6.44 8.04 8.69
DD-3-1 21.9 65.9 71.6 DD-4-3 36.96 68.11 71.47
DD-3-2 6.8 8.2 8.3
The monitoring results showed that the settlement
DD-3-3 9.5 13.4 13.9
occurred mainly during the surcharge fill. When
surcharge fill ended, the cumulative settlement reached
According to the results in Table 2, embankment around half of the total. More than 76% of the total
settled drastically at the beginning of preloading by settlement was estimated to occur in the following 30
heaping soil on the embankments; more than 75% of the days, there was no more settlement when the surcharge
total settlement (obtained at the end of monitoring) was reaches to a stable given load. The differential
estimated to occur in the following 30 days, 85% of the settlement of the top of pile-soil was 3mm at the center
settlement was estimated during the preloading period, line of the test section based on the measurements by
that is to say, settlement occurred mainly at the duration YW-4-1 and YW-4-2, which attribute to “up dip” and
of preloading. After the removal of surcharge, the “down dip” along the piles. According to the measured
embankment continued to settle but at a slow speed. values by DD-4-1 and YW-4-1, the accumulative
When the monitoring finished, no more settlement compression of soil deeper than 40m under the pile top
occurred and the embankment was basically stable. was 3.05 mm, which was only 0.036 times of

219
compression (85.06mm) at the range 0-40m below pile
top. Settlement of the reinforced soil was 8.7mm by
DD-4-2.
3.3 Summary
The largest settlement occurs at the embankment
crest followed by the settlement of the shoulder and the
smallest settlement occurs at the embankment toe. The
settlement of soil around piles is greater than that of pile
top. Preloading can decrease the time of consolidation,
unloading do not have too much impacts on the
settlement of soil. From the monitoring result analysis it
can be known, the settlement for the first 30days after
the surcharge fill accounts for more than 75% of the
total settlement obtained at the end of monitoring, the
settlement for piles without caps mostly occurs during
the surcharge period, the settlement for piles with caps
occurs in surcharge filling period. The piles with caps
dip (a relative movement between the reinforced soil
and the piles when it comes to the total settlement) less
than the piles without caps.
comments are also greatly acknowledged.
REFERENCES
1) Chen Dongzuo and Liang Renwang (2002): Exprimental Study on Pile
Composite Foundation, Journal of Building Structures, 23(4), 71-75. (In
Chinese)
2) Chen Hongyun, Ma Jianlin, and Wang Gongbo (2013): Technology of
Composite Foundation of Piles with Bearing Base in High-speed Railway.
Construction technology, 42(17), 104-107. (In Chinese)
3) Chen Hongyun, Ma Jianlin and Yang Yanxin (2013): Experimental study of
reinforcement mechanism of composite foundation using ram-compacted
piles with bearing base in high-speed railway, Building Structure, 43(22),
73-77. (in Chinese)
4) Yang Hongmei, Liu Shengjun and Liu Hongpo (2010): Research and
Analysis of Engineering Characteristics of Rammer Carrier CFG Pile
Composite Foundation, Journal of Railway Engineering Society, (2), 32-36.
(in Chinese)
5) Yang Qi'an, Chu Zihua (2012): Bearing mechanism analysis and research
on ram-compacted piles with bearing base and composite foundation under
the soil foundation, Geotechnical Investigation ＆ Surveying, (11), 44-49.
(in Chinese)
6) Zhou Bin (2011). Study on settlement regularity of pile with bearing base
composite foundation in High-Speed railway, South West Jiao Tong
University. (in Chinese)

4 CONSLUSIONS
Strengthening technique using ram-compacted piles
with bearing base which has been proved to be a very
effective way to reduce embankment settlement is
adopted in construction of Beijing-Shanghai high-speed
railway, thus the critical requirement of
post-construction settlement in high-speed railway is
fulfilled. Finally, it comes to the following conclusions:
1. The settlement of the embankment base center
occurred during the surcharge filling for the piles with
caps, which is estimated to 50% of the total settlement
during the monitoring. While for the embankment base
center without pile caps, the settlement occurs during
the surcharge period, which is only 20% of the total
settlement during the monitoring. Both of them reach
more than 75% of the total settlement 30 days after the
surcharge filling. In addition, the upward dip can be
reduced by pile caps. The settlement of reinforced soil
with pile cap is 9.9% of the total settlement and the
settlement of reinforced soil without pile cap is 8.3% of
total settlement.
2. The settlement profile is a convex curve with a
larger settlement at the center and smaller settlement at
two ends, the differential settlement between the pile
top and soil around soils is smaller relatively due to the
coordination of the cushion.
3. Preloading by heaping soil can greatly reduce
consolidation time.

5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The work reported here is supported by Major
Research Project Foundation of China’s Ministry of
Railways. The authors wish to express their gratitude
for the financial assistance. The anonymous reviewers’

220