Investigation of Soil Arching Effect and Accumulative Deformation in Pile-Supported Embankments Subjected to Traffic Loading Using Numerical Modeling
Publication: International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 24, Issue 7
Abstract
Pile-supported embankments, with advantages of high bearing capacity and effectiveness, have been widely used for constructing embankments on soft ground. The long-term load transfer and cumulative deformation mechanism caused by traffic loading are crucial to pile-supported embankment design and maintenance. A three-dimensional (3D) finite-element model of a pile-supported embankment to investigate its long-term load transfer and cumulative deformation mechanism under traffic loading is presented in this paper. The dynamic nonlinear behavior of the soft ground is considered by a simplified dynamic constitutive model that that has been effectively incorporated into the Abaqus program. In comparison with the results of published literatures, the applicability and accuracy of the proposed finite-element model are well verified at first. Then, the long-term load transfer and deformation mechanism are revealed by investing the soil arching and the cumulative deformation with a series of 3D numerical modeling. Furthermore, the influences of traffic loading type, speed of the vehicle, pile spacing, and total number of layers of grid on the long-term load transfer and deformation mechanism of the pile-supported embankment are investigated.
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Data Availability Statement
All data, models, and code generated or used during the study appear in the published article.
Acknowledgments
This work is funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 52008286, 52078336, 42277133) and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2022M721000).
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 24 • Issue 7 • July 2024
Copyright
© 2024 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Apr 9, 2023
Accepted: Jan 26, 2024
Published online: May 8, 2024
Published in print: Jul 1, 2024
Discussion open until: Oct 8, 2024
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Continuum mechanics
- Deformation (mechanics)
- Design (by type)
- Engineering fundamentals
- Engineering mechanics
- Foundations
- Geomechanics
- Geotechnical engineering
- Load factors
- Load transfer
- Models (by type)
- Numerical models
- Pile foundations
- Piles
- Soft soils
- Soil deformation
- Soil mechanics
- Soils (by type)
- Solid mechanics
- Structural design
- Structural mechanics
- Traffic models
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