Performance of Pile-Supported Embankment over Soft Soil: Full-Scale Experiment
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 138, Issue 4
Abstract
This paper describes a full-scale experiment of pile-supported embankments on soft soil, which is conducted within the French national research project, Amélioration des Sols par Inclusions RIgides (ASIRI), to provide a new design method. This experiment shows the great influence of a granular platform reinforced with geosynthetics in load-transfer mechanisms. The measurements of geosynthetic strains highlight that the maximum strain takes place at the vicinity of pile heads during the construction of an embankment. Measurements also show that the load-transfer behavior of a platform reinforced by a single geotextile is different from that of a platform reinforced by two geogrids, although the final settlement is the same in both sections. From the important measurement data of this full-scale experiment, some considerations on the design and the efficiency evaluation have been proposed.
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Acknowledgments
The authors wish to acknowledge their collaborators J. Andromeda (Ménard) and G. Faucheux (CNAM) for their work on the experimental site. They would also like to thank the French national project (ASIRI) for funding this research within the partnership between Fondasol, IREX, Keller, LCPC, EGIS, Socotec, and Tencate Geosynthetics. This work was made possible thanks to the financial support of Drast and RGCU and the “Conseil Général de Seine et Marne” who kindly allowed us to use the experimental site. The authors would also like to thank the reviewers for their valuable suggestions.
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© 2012. American Society of Civil Engineers.
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Received: Sep 30, 2009
Accepted: Apr 26, 2011
Published online: Apr 29, 2011
Published in print: Apr 1, 2012
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