The construction of embankment of highway can be regarded as a linear loading process
during which the soils are filled gradually on the ground. Based on the stress-strain relationship of the soil mass
the characteristics of settlement~time curve (s-t) of the ground under instant loading
linear or approximately linear loading are analyzed respectively. The results show that the s-t curve is inversely S-shaped. According to the behavior of s-t curve
the Gompertz model is established to predict the ground settlement. The three parameters in the model
a
b and c can be easily solved by SAS program. This model is used to study 4 cases. The comparisons illustrate that the settlement predicted by Gompertz model keeps good agreement with the measured data.