Experimental study of vacuum surcharge preloading for improving soft base treatment of expressway bridge head

For the foundation treatment of the experimental segment of the south shore expressway of the Hangzhou Bay Cross Sea Bridge, the in situ monitoring has been conducted for more than two years by use of vacuumsurcharge preloading. Through analyzing and comparing the experimental data and the in situ measured data before and after improvement, it can be seen that the vacuum surcharge preloading technique is successful in dealing with the deep soft base.