Micromechanical Analysis of Soil Arching in Geosynthetic-Reinforced Pile-Supported Embankments

Geosynthetic-reinforced pile-supported embankments have been used as an economic and rapid construction technique for earth structures, such as embankments and retaining walls over soft soil. They have limited total and differential settlements and increase load transfer from soft soil to piles thereby leaving less load to the soil. Two key mechanisms of this technique are: soil arching within the embankment fills when a differential settlement occurs to mobilize the fill shear strength and tension membrane effects of geosynthetic reinforcement when it deforms. This study focuses on understanding the complex load transfer mechanisms by performing a numerical study using the Discrete Element Method (DEM). The granular backfill material was modeled using cylindrical rods. The geogrid reinforcement was modeled using bonded particles. At the end of the simulation, the displacements of granular particles were plotted for the illustration of soil arching.