Study on the Reasonable Height of Embankment in Qinghai–Tibet Highway

A reasonable height of embankment is beneficial for maintaining the thermal and mechanical stability of highway in cold regions. This paper firstly introduced theoretical models for two main sources of settlement, including an improved consolidation theory for thawing permafrost and a simple rheological element based creep model for warm frozen soils. A modified numerical method for living calculating thaw consolidation and creep in corresponding domains and for post-processing the proportion of each source in total settlement based on the effective thaw consolidation time. Two typical geological sections underlain by warm permafrost layer were selected from the Qinghai–Tibet highway. The heat transfer and continuing settlement for two sections were modeled by assuming that the height of embankment ranges from 0 to 6.0 m. The reasonable critical height for two sections are 1.63 and 1.35 m, respectively, by comparing maximum thawing depth, mean annual temperature and settlement in the roadbed center. For two sections with design height of embankment, the proportions of thaw consolidation and creep to the total settlement were analyzed. For sections at higher ground temperature, thaw consolidation accounts for a major part while thaw consolidation of section L is a little larger than that of creep.