132 Mathematical Models for Total Settlement Process of Soft Highway Foundation

Determining total settlement process of the foundation is important to highway engineering. Prediction models for this total settlement process are studied in details. Firstly, the shape of total settlement process curve is studied directly based on one-dimension soil consolidation theory. Mathematical analysis of traditional settlement models, namely Gompertz model and Logistic model, are conducted. Secondly, the mathematical deficiencies of the above two traditional models are pointed out in terms of inflect point. Weibull model is proposed to describe the total settlement process of highway foundation. This proposed model overcomes the deficiencies of the above two traditional models, and exponential model is one of its degraded expressions. It can predict the total settlement processes of both the instantaneous load and the ramp load conditions. Finally, good agreements are obtained between Weibull model simulations and field investigations