Thaw Settlement Analysis of Permafrost Embankment with Different Pavement Materials

Pavement diseases are common in highway constructions through permafrost regions. In this paper, on the basis of the measured data of the Qing-Kang Highway, a typical region is selected for the embankment temperature field calculation under different pavement materials. Temperature field is imported into the embankment thaw settlement model to calculate the thaw settlement with large strain theory. The results indicate that if global temperature rise 2.6 °C in the next 50 years, the thaw depth and settlement of embankment will increase with time. In the calculation height, the maximum thaw depth under asphalt pavements is larger than that under the cement concrete pavements. The results offer valuable information for proposal of effective measurements to keep the thermal stability of highway embankments, which will decrease the occurrences of pavement diseases and cut down maintenance cost. The results may also provide valuable references for similar projects.