Abstract: Firstly, an assumption that the compressibility curve of soft soil fits in with the hyperbolic equation is adopted; and it is validated by a series of data in a certain project. Since there are only a few parameters of hyperbolic equation,it is simple and feasible to use data fitting.Thus a simplified calculation can be introduced to the practical calculation of soft soil foundation and meets the accuracy requirement of a project.And then under the circumstance of not having adequate e-p experimental data in a geological report, a simplified approach is put forward to determine parameters of e-p hyperbolic equation with initial void ratio e0 and compressive modulus Es. Finally, based on the above-mentioned method of e-p curve, we acquire tangential modulus(Et) of Duncan-Chang model and with the Layer-wise Summation method(LST) apply it to the nonlinear settlement calculation of soft soil foundation. By comparing the tested settlements with the calculated ones, it is shown that the simplified method is capable and practicable.

Key words: e-p curve, soft soil foundation;nonlinearity, settlement calculation