Settlement of bridge approaches on soft soil area in Batu Pahat, Johor

Abstract

Soft soil is well known to have low bearing capacity, high water content, high differential settlement, long term settlement and not able to sustain external loads without having large deformation. A study was conducted to measure the settlement at two bridge approaches on soft soil area in Batu Pahat, Johor. The settlements not only cause uncomfort to road users but may be dangerous to road users as drivers tend to reduce speed drastically while approaching the bridges. This paper specifies and presents the settlement values of bridge approaches as well as identifies the critical areas. The result of this study indicates that the settlement value is higher in the area approaching the bridge and more critical than the settlement in the area leaving the bridge. In addition to these results, a description of the measurement technique, field data collection and procedures are presented.