Estimating the groundwater effects of a road cutting

The finite element method was applied to a road building project in the Oulu Road Administration District for the first time in the case of the planned rebuilding of the Raitotie intersection. A finite element model was constructed to represent the existing situation, in order to test the reliability of the soil parameters and boundary conditions estimated on the basis of the substrate investigations. At the testing stage the current situation as described by the finite element model was compared with field observations and the model adjusted accordingly m several steps. Corresponding models were then constructed to depict the future situation, taking the calculation parameters and boundary conditions for the substrate materials (including the amount of precipitation seeping into the ground) from the ’current’ model and superimposing upon these the data on the road cutting and underpasses to be constructed under the new plans.