Behaviors of pile-supported embankments in highway engineering

Based on the variational approach for pile groups embedded in soil modeled using a load-transfer curve method, a practical method was conducted to estimate the settlement of symmetric pile group supported embankments. The working mechanism of composite foundations improved by rigid or semi-rigid columns is analyzed by this method. Under equivalent strain conditions, the pile-soil stress ratio approaches the pile-soil modulus ratio up to a limited value of pile stiffness （Rm〈10）; in the subsequent stages of high pile stiffness （Rm〉10）, a further increase in the pile-soil modulus ratio cannot lead to a significant increase of stress transferred to the columns in composite foundations. The major influencing factor of the stress concentration from soil to pile in a high pile-soil modulus ratio is the padding stiffness. For the composite foundation improved by cement mixing columns, the effective column length is about 15 to 20 m and it is a more economical and effective design when the column length is less than 15 m.

Lateral displacement of silty clay under cement-fly ash-gravel pile-supported embankments: Analytical consideration and field evidence

Based on back analysis of lateral displacements measured in situ by using the analytical solution, a useful method for estimating stress concentration ratio of geosynthetic-reinforced and pile-supported(GRPS) embankments was proposed. In order to validate the proposed method, a full-scale high-speed railway embankment(HSRE) with four instrumented subsections over medium compressibility silty clay was constructed in three stages. The soil profile, construction procedure and monitoring of settlements and lateral displacements of the four test sections were described. The field deformation analysis results show that 1) the combined reinforcement of CFG piles and geosynthetic layer perform well in terms of reducing lateral displacements; 2) the development of lateral displacements lags behind the increase of fill load, which can be attributed to the vertical load transfer mechanism of the pile foundation; and 3) pile length has a dominant effect on the stress distribution proportion between piles and surrounding soils. The comparison between predicted and experimental results suggests that the proposed analytical solution and the back analysis-based method are capable of reasonably estimating the lateral deformation and the stress concentration ratio, respectively, if the appropriate soil elastic modulus is chosen.

A semi-analytical method for the analysis of pile-supported embankments

In this paper,a semi-analytical method for the analysis of pile-supported embankments is proposed.The mathematic model describes the cooperative behavior of pile,pile cap,foundation soil,and embankment fills.Based on Terzaghi's 1D consolidation theory of saturated soil,the consolidation of foundation soil is calculated.The embankments with two different types of piles:floating piles and end-bearing piles are investigated and discussed.The results of axial force and skin friction distributions along the pile and the settlements of pile-supported embankments are presented.It is found that it takes a longer time for soil consolidation in the embankment with floating piles,compared with the case using end-bearing piles.The differential settlement between the pile and surrounding soil at the pile top is larger for the embankment with end-bearing piles,compared with the case of floating piles.

Numerical analysis of geosynthetic-reinforced embankment performance under moving loads

The performance of geosynthetic-reinforced embankments under traffic moving loads is always a hotspot in the geotechnical engineering field.A three-dimensional(3D)model of a geosynthetic-reinforced embankment without drainage consolidation was established using the finite element software ABAQUS.In this model,the traffic loads were simulated by two moving loads of rectangular pattern,and their amplitude,range,and moving speed were realized by a Fortran subroutine.The embankment fill was simulated by an equivalent linear viscoelastic model,which can reflect its viscoelasticity.The geogrid was simulated by the truss element,and the geocell was simulated by the membrane element.Infinite elements were utilized to weaken the boundary effect caused by the model geometry at the boundaries.Validation of the established numerical model was conducted by comparing the predicted deformations in the cross-section of the geosynthetic-reinforced embankment with those from the existing literature.On this basis,the dynamic stress and strain distribution in the pavement structure layer of the geosynthetic-reinforced embankment under a moving load was also analyzed.Finally,a parametric study was conducted to examine the influences of the different types of reinforcement,overload,and the moving load velocity on the geosynthetic-reinforced embankment.

Seismic response and correlation analysis of a pile-supported wharf to near-fault pulse-like ground motions

Earthquake investigations have shown that near-fault pulse-like(NF-P)ground motions have unique characteristics compared to near-fault non-pulse-like(NF-NP)and far-field(FF)ground motions.It is necessary to study the seismic response of pile-supported wharf(PSW)structures under NF-P ground motions.In this study,a three-dimensional finite element numerical model is created to simulate a PSW.By imparting three types of ground motion,the engineering demand parameters(EDPs)of PSW under NF-P ground motions were analyzed and compared,in which EDPs are the maximum displacement and bending moment of the piles.Twenty intensity measures(IMs)were selected to characterize the properties of ground motions.The correlation between IMs and EDPs was explored.The results show that the piles present larger displacement and bending moment under NF-P ground motions compared to NF-NP and FF ground motions.None of the IMs have a high correlation with EDPs under NF-P ground motions,and these IMs are more applicable to FF ground motions.The correlation coefficients between EDPs and IMs under three types of ground motion were obtained,which will provide a valuable reference for the seismic design of PSWs.

Wind-sand flow simulation and radius optimization of highway embankment under different vertical curve radius

It is of great practical value to explore the correlation between the vertical curve radius of desert highway and the increase of sand accumulation in local lines,and to select the appropriate vertical curve radius for reducing the risk of sand accumulation.In this study,three-dimensional models of desert highway embankments with different vertical curve radii were constructed,and Fluent software was used to simulate the wind-sand flow field and sand accumulation distribution of vertical curve embankments.The results show that:(1)Along the direction of the road,the concave and the convex vertical curve embankments have the effect of collecting and diverging the wind-sand flow,respectively.When the radius of the concave vertical curve is 3000 m,5000 m,8000 m,10000 m and 20000 m,the wind velocity in the middle of the vertical curve is 31.76%,22.58%,10.78%,10.53%and 10.44%,higher than that at both ends.When the radius of the convex vertical curve is 6500 m,8000 m,10000 m,20000 m and 30000 m,the wind velocity at both ends of the vertical curve is 14.06%,9.99%,6.14%,3.22%and 2.41%,higher than that in the middle.The diversion effect also decreases with the increase of the radius.(2)The conductivity of the concave and convex vertical curve embankments with different radii is greater than 1,which is the sediment transport roadbed.The conductivity increases with the increase of radius and gradually tends to be stable.When the radius of the concave and convex vertical curves reaches 8000 m and 20000 m respectively,the phenomenon of sand accumulation is no longer serious.Under the same radius condition,the concave vertical curve embankment is more prone to sand accumulation than the convex one.(3)Considering the strength of the collection and diversion of the vertical curve embankment with different radii,and the sand accumulation of the vertical curve embankment in the desert section of Wuma Expressway,the radius of the concave vertical curve is not less than 8000 m,and the radius of the convex vertical curve is not less than 20000 m,which can effectively reduce the sand accumulation of the vertical curve embankment.In the desert highway area,the research results of this paper can provide reference for the design of vertical curve to ensure the safe operation of desert highway.

Prediction of high-embankment settlement combining joint denoising technique and enhanced GWO-v-SVR method

Reliable long-term settlement prediction of a high embankment relates to mountain infrastructure safety.This study developed a novel hybrid model(NHM)that combines a joint denoising technique with an enhanced gray wolf optimizer(EGWO)-n-support vector regression(n-SVR)method.High-embankment field measurements were preprocessed using the joint denoising technique,which in-cludes complete ensemble empirical mode decomposition,singular value decomposition,and wavelet packet transform.Furthermore,high-embankment settlements were predicted using the EGWO-n-SVR method.In this method,the standard gray wolf optimizer(GWO)was improved to obtain the EGWO to better tune the n-SVR model hyperparameters.The proposed NHM was then tested in two case studies.Finally,the influences of the data division ratio and kernel function on the EGWO-n-SVR forecasting performance and prediction efficiency were investigated.The results indicate that the NHM suppresses noise and restores details in high-embankment field measurements.Simultaneously,the NHM out-performs other alternative prediction methods in prediction accuracy and robustness.This demonstrates that the proposed NHM is effective in predicting high-embankment settlements with noisy field mea-surements.Moreover,the appropriate data division ratio and kernel function for EGWO-n-SVR are 7:3 and radial basis function,respectively.

Proposal of a Method to Easily Understand Rainfall Infiltration in Railway Embankments

Slope failures due to heavy or prolonged rain have been occurring frequently in Japan in recent years.In railway embankments,even small-scale surface collapse can result in track deformation.Currently,train operation during rainy periods is regulated according to empirical rules based on rainfall and disaster history.However,the validity of operation regulations is lacking because the rainfall infiltration circumstances inside the slope are unknown.We have been attempting to understand rainfall infiltration in railway embankments by applying a method of predicting surface collapse from observations of volumetric water content in the soil.We used previous field monitoring and model experiments to propose a method for easily understanding the state of rainfall infiltration in the surface layer of an embankment using the relative history of volumetric water content at different depths.In this study,we applied this simple determination method to railway embankments with different topography and geological environments to demonstrate the versatility of the method.

Field study on performance of new technique of geosynthetic-reinforced and pile-supported embankment at bridge approach

Vehicle bumps at a bridge approach caused by the differential settlement between a bridge and an adjacent backfill embankment are one of the most difficult problems in geotechnical engineering. Large vehicle bumps make drivers uncomfortable and cause large impact loads on vehicles and the bridge abutment. A new ground-improvement technique called fixed-geosynthetic-reinforced and pile-supported embankment(FGT embankment) was developed and used to alleviate vehicle bumps at a trial bridge-approach site located in central China. To distribute the differential settlement between the bridge and adjacent backfill embankment over a long transition zone, the following three techniques were used at the trial bridge-approach site:(a) the FGT embankment,(b) conventional geosynthetic-reinforced and pile-supported embankment(CT embankment), and(c) geosynthetic-reinforced embankment without piles(GR embankment). The performance of all three techniques in the field trial was investigated by field measurements involving earth pressure cells, geosynthetic deformation sensors, and settlement gauges. The FGT and CT embankments exhibited better performance than the GR embankment. Compared with the CT embankment, the FGT embankment was more effective at ground improvement. At an elevation of 4.0 m from the base of the embankment, the pressures below the geosynthetic were smaller than those above the geosynthetic at the closest measurement point. The difference between the pressures between above and below the geosynthetic tended to increase with the embankment height.

Investigating the performance of passageway corridor for ground reinforced embankments against rockfall

Rockfall disasters can result in damages to various structures such as highways and buildings.Ground reinforced embankments(GRE) are one of the barrier types used to prevent rockfall. GRE absorb the impact energy of the hitting rock blocks by the movement of fine soil particles triggered by the penetration of the rock in the soil. In this process,stresses in the wall are distributed in both the transverse and longitudinal directions. GREs on the valley slopes can be hundreds of meters long, so such structures cause difficulty in transition to valley slope behind the embankments. Especially, access to areas such as agricultural, pasture or forest lands behind the GRE becomes a challenge. The current paper presents the design of passageways in GRE using the finite element method to provide safe corridors at several different parts within the hundreds of meters long structures. A total of 4 different passageway designs for GRE were developed. Each finite element model was subjected to rockfall with different kinetic energies of 500, 1000 and 3000kJ. The obtained results showed that 44% increase in structure volume increased the impact capacity from 500 kJ to 3000kJ.Furthermore, the critical displacement caused by rockfall impact with an energy of 3000 kJ was reduced by 31%. It was determined that the support applied with the reinforced concrete wall did not reach the desired energy absorption value due to its rigid structure, and even collapsed at 3000 kJ.

Seepage influence of supra-permafrost groundwater on thermal field of embankment on Qinghai-Tibet Plateau,China

As a unique hydro-geological phenomenon in permafrost regions,the seepage of supra-permafrost groundwater will carry a large amount of heat and cause differential settlement in the embankment.This paper presents the results of a field study monitoring the supra-permafrost groundwater levels on both sides of an embankment in permafrost regions.It describes a two-dimensional coupled hydro-thermal model and uses it to analyze the influence of seepage on its temperature field considering climate warming.The results show that seepage exacerbates permafrost thawing and thickens the active layer.The thermal influence on the sunny side of the embankment toe is more significant than that on the shady side,which will cause differential settlement in the embankment.After 50 years of operation,the embankment soil temperature with seepage during freezing is 0.2
C warmer than that without seepage,and the thermal influence diminished with the increase in depth.Additionally,seepage influences the thermal regime in vertical and horizontal directions of the embankment.During freezing seasons,the thaw depth increases,and the horizontal thaw range decreases.During thawing seasons,the thaw range grows both vertically and horizontally.

Dynamic soil arching in piled embankment under train load of high-speed railways

Piled embankments have many advantages that have been applied in high-speed railway construction engineering.However,the load transfer mechanism of piled embankments,such as soil arching and tension membranes,is still unclear,especially under dynamic loads.To investigate the soil arching and tension membrane under dynamic train loads on high-speed railways,a large-scale piled embankment model test with X-shaped piles as vertical reinforcement was performed,in which twenty-eight earth pressure cells were installed in the piled embankment and an M-shaped wave was adopted to simulate the high-speed railway train load.The results show that dynamic soil arching only occurs when two bogies of a carriage pass by and disappears at other times.The dynamic soil arching and membrane effect are the most significant under the concrete base.The arching height,stress concentration ratio and pile-soil load sharing ratio have a minimal value at 25 Hz.The dynamic soil arching degrades severely at 25 Hz,whose height at 25 Hz is only 0.35 times that at 5 Hz.The arching height fluctuates over a narrow range with increasing loading amplitude.The stress concentration ratio and the pile-soil load sharing ratio increase monotonically as the loading amplitude increases.

Performance analyses of two-phase closed thermosyphons for road embankments in the high-latitude permafrost regions

Two-phase closed thermosyphons(TPCTs)are widely used in infrastructure constructions in permafrost regions.Due to different climatic conditions,the effectiveness of TPCT will also be different,especially in the extremely cold region of the Da Xing'anling Mountains.In this study,a series of three-dimensional finite element TPCT embankment models were established based on the ZhanglingMohe highway TPCT test section in Da Xing'anling Mountains,and the thermal characteristics and the cooling effect of the TPCTs were analyzed.The results indicated that the TPCTs installed in the northeastern high-latitude regions is effective in cooling and stabilizing the embankment.The working cycle of the TPCTs is nearly 7 months,and the cooling range of the TPCTs can reach 3 m in this region.However,due to the extremely low temperature,the TPCT generates a large radial gradient in the permafrost layer.Meanwhile,by changing the climate conditions,the same type of TPCT embankment located in the Da Xing'anling Mountains,the Xiao Xing'anling Mountains,and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau permafrost regions were simulated.Based on the comparison of the climate differences between the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and Northeast China,the differences in the effectiveness of TPCTs were studied.Finally,the limitations of using existing TPCTs in high-latitude permafrost regions of China were discussed and the potential improvements of the TPCT in cold regions were presented.

Finite Element Modeling of Geotextile Reinforced Embankments on Soft Clay

The use of geotextiles as a reinforcement material for improving the factor of safety against slope failure in embankments built on soft clay is becoming a common practice. This work is intended to help understand the effect of the geotextile reinforcement has on such embankments and to provide a design aid for civil engineers that enables them to quickly estimate the factor of safety against slope failure. Seventy four different cases were modelled and analyzed using a finite element software, GeoStudio 2018 R2. The results showed that the optimum improvement was achieved when using a single layer of geotextile reinforcement placed at the base of the embankment, by which the factor of safety increased by up to 40%. Adding a second layer, a third layer and a fourth layer, increases the safety factor by 2.5%, 1% and 0.5% respectively. Different charts for different heights of embankments were presented to aid in finding the most suitable slope angle and number of reinforcement layers required to achieve a certain safety factor.

Earthquake response of wrap faced embankment on soft clay soil in Bangladesh

A wrap-faced embankment model on soft clay soil subjected to earthquake motion was investigated in this study.The study was conducted both experimentally using a shaking table and numerically using PLAXIS 3D software.The amplification of acceleration,displacement,pore water pressure,and strain response were measured while varying input accelerations and surcharge pressures.Time histories of the Kobe record of the 1995 Hanshin earthquake were used as the input seismic motion.The input acceleration was 0.05 g,0.1 g,0.15 g,and 0.2 g,and different surcharge pressures were 0.70 kPa,1.12 kPa,and 1.72 kPa with relative density of Sylhet sand fixed to 48%.The output data from the shaking table tests and the numerical analysis performed through the PLAXIS 3D software were compared,and these findings were also compared with some earlier similar studies.The acceleration amplification,displacement,pore water pressure,and strain(%)changed along the elevation of the embankment and acceleration response increased with the increase in base acceleration.The increase was more noticeable at higher elevations.These findings enrich the knowledge of predicting the dynamic behavior of wrap-faced embankments and enable the design parameters to be adjusted more accurately.

Reliability assessment for serviceability limit states of stiffened deep cement mixing column-supported embankments

The reliability and deterministic analyses of wood-cored stiffened deep cement mixing and deep cement mixing column-supported embankments(referred to as WSCSE and DCSE,respectively)considering serviceability limit state requirements are presented in this paper.Random field theory was used to simulate the spatial variability of soil
cement mixing(SCM)material in which the adaptive Kriging Monte Carlo simulation was adopted to estimate the failure probability of a column
supported embankment(CSE)system.A new method for stochastically generating random values of unconfined compressive strength(qu)and the ratio(Ru)between the undrained elastic modulus and qu of SCM material based on statistical correlation data is proposed.Reliability performance of CSEs concerning changes in the mean(μ),coefficient of variation(CoV),and vertical spatial correlation length(θv)of qu and Ru are presented and discussed.The obtained results indicate that WSCSE can provide a significantly higher reliability level and can tolerate more SCM material spatial variability than DCSE.Some performance of DCSE and WSCSE,which can be considered satisfactory in a deterministic framework,cannot guarantee an acceptable reliability level from a probabilistic viewpoint.This highlights the importance and necessity of employing reliability analyses for the design of CSEs.Moreover,consideration of only μ and CoV of qu seems to be sufficient for reliability analysis of WSCSE while for DCSE,uncertainties regarding the Ru(i.e.both μ and CoV)and θv of qu cannot be ignored.

Settlement Control Technology of High Filled Soil-Rock Embankment in Alpine and High-Altitude Areas

China's infrastructure has gradually achieved large-scale development,and transportation construction has also shifted from east to west,transitioning from plains to mountainous areas.High-fill embankments of different sizes in mountainous areas are unavoidable,and the settlement of high-fill embankments is usually the most concerned issue in high-fill projects.According to the current research of highway projects,most of the high embankments in mountainous areas are soil-rock mixed embankments or rock-filled embankments,and their post-construction settlements are directly related to construction technology and the type of filler used.In this paper,the problems in the settlement control of earth-filled embankment and related factors are analyzed in detail.The settlement control technology of high-fill embankment in high-cold and high-altitude areas is also discussed,so as to ensure the overall quality of high-fill embankment.

Performance of fixed geosynthetic technique of GRPS embankment

Geosynthetic-reinforced and pile-supported （GRPS） embankment has been increasingly constructed in a large number of regions and for a wide range of projects in the past decades. However, many disadvantages are exposed through a lot of applications on conventional technique of GRPS embankment （called CT embankment）, i.e., intolerable settlement and lateral displacement, low geosynthetic efficiency, etc. In view of these disadvantages, the fixed geosynthetic technique of GRPS embankment （called FGT embankment） is developed in this work. In this system, the geosynthetic is fixed on the pile head by the steel bar fulcrum and concrete fixed top. The principles and construction techniques involved in the FGT embankment are described firstly. Then, the numerical analysis method and two-stage analysis method are used to study the performance of FGT embankment, respectively. It is shown that the FGT embankment can provide a better improvement technique to construct a high embankment over soft ground.

Numerical analysis of crack generation within embankment built on expansive soil foundation

In order to analyze the initial cracking behavior of highway embankment in the regions of expansive soil, the changes in peaks of tensile stress and their location on top of the embankment for a typical highway embankment section were simulated by ABAQUS. The simulation results indicate that the matric suction was a concave distribution on top of the expansive soil foundation and that it induced differential deformation of foundation and embankment. The peaks of tensile stress on top of the embankment are not located at a fixed site, but gradually move towards the shoulder following the evaporation duration. When the evaporation intensity is larger, the peak of tensile stress on top of embankment increases at a faster rate following the evaporation duration,and its location is closer to the shoulder. The thicker expansive soil layer helps the peaks of tensile stress to reach the critical tensile stress quickly, but the embankment cannot crack when the expansive soil layer is no more than 1.5m after 30d soil surface evaporation; the higher the embankment, the smaller the peak of tensile stress occurring on top of the highway embankment, and its location will be further away from the shoulder. Therefore, a higher embankment constructed on a thinner expansive soil layer can reduce the crack generation within the highway embankment.

Behavior of soil lateral deformation under embankments

Based on analysis of additional horizontal stress in the soil underembankment load, the behavior of the lateral deformation of the soil along the depth is studied. Theresult shows that the distribution of lateral deformation along the depth is arch-shaped, whichcorresponds nicely with the observed data. According to this, a new prediction model is establishedto forecast the lateral deformation. The shapes of the model curve with three parameters in themodel a, b and c are presented. The three parameters can easily be determined by three measured data(s_0, 0), (s_1, h_0)and (s_2, 2h_0). This model is applied to study two cases. The comparisonsillustrate that the displacement predicted by the model corresponds nicely with the measured data.