Analysis of Replacing High-Volume Fill Material on A Ramp With Expanded Polystyrene (Eps) Geofoam on Soft Soil
Keywords:
Bridge Approach Embankment, Consolidation, EPS Geofoam, PLAXIS 2D, Settlement.Abstract
Bridge approach embankments constructed on soft soil are susceptible to excessive settlement and instability due to the low strength and bearing capacity of the foundation soil. This study aims to evaluate the performance of Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) Geofoam as an alternative to conventional soil-fill embankments in terms of settlement, differential settlement, stability, and consolidation time. Analytical calculations and numerical modeling using PLAXIS 2D were conducted based on soil parameters obtained from the Terboyo Kulon site, Genuk District. The results show that the EPS embankment produced a vertical settlement of 0.31 m, compared with 0.71 m for the conventional soil-fill embankment. Differential settlement was reduced from 0.37 m for the soil-fill embankment to 0.18 m for the EPS embankment, representing a reduction of approximately 51%. The EPS configuration also produced a safety factor of 3.77, considerably higher than the 1.52 obtained for the conventional soil-fill embankment. Furthermore, the EPS embankment reached 90% consolidation within approximately 9.5 years, whereas the conventional soil-fill embankment required 68.49 years. The use of EPS Geofoam therefore provides a lightweight embankment solution that can improve the overall performance of bridge approaches constructed on soft soil. These findings indicate that EPS Geofoam can effectively reduce settlement and differential deformation while improving embankment stability and accelerating the consolidation process on soft foundation soil.
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