Abstract: Soft soils are frequently encountered in the airport runway constructions in Southeast China. The high compressibility and low shear strength of these soft soils can often result in large areas of differential settlement and shear failure within the runways. Therefore, the soil improvement is the critical issue in the airport construction. This paper presents the code requirements of total and differential settlement, strength and stability aspects in the runway construction. The results of four different soil improvement projects and their correspondent soil improvement recommendations are also presented.

Key words: Airport Runways, Soft Soils, Soil Improvement