3D Numerical Analysis of a Geogrid-Reinforced Piled Embankment: High-Speed Railway
Publication: International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 24, Issue 11
Abstract
A full-scale experimental geosynthetic-reinforced piled embankment (GRPE) and its numerical back analysis are presented in this article. The site is in Virvée (France) and is part of the new South Europe Atlantic high-speed line project. A GRPE system using geosynthetics with high tensile stiffness (≥10,000 kN/m) was proposed as an optimized solution to replace a classical pile-supported embankment (PE). Based on full-scale tests, three-dimensional finite-element models are considered to simulate both GRPE and PE solutions. The numerical results obtained are presented in comparison with in situ measurements. Settlements, pile stresses, and the geosynthetic strains are investigated. Then, a parametric study was conducted for the GRPE system to evaluate the influences of pile net spacing, geogrid tensile stiffness, and different numbers of high to relatively low tensile stiffness geosynthetic layers on the load transfer performance. The results show that the geosynthetic number of layers has less impact for the high tensile stiffness cases on the system settlement and load transfer efficiency. The use of a double-layer geosynthetic reinforcement with high tensile stiffness enhances the overall performance of the geosynthetic-reinforced piled embankment.
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Data Availability Statement
All data, models, and code generated or used during the study appear in the published article.
Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support provided by the China Scholarship Council (ID: 201908070075). The laboratory 3SR is part of the LabEx Tec 21 (Investissement d’avenir—grant agreement n. ANR-11-LABX-0030).
Notation
The following symbols are used in this paper:
- a
- pile diameter in the simulated cross section (m);
- Cc
- compression index (−);
- c
- cohesion (Pa);
- E
- Young’s modulus (Pa);
- EL
- load transfer efficiency (−);
- EM
- pressiometric modulus (Pa);
- ET
- settlement efficiency (−);
- secant stiffness in standard drained triaxial test (Pa);
- tangent stiffness for primary oedometer loading (Pa);
- unloading/reloading stiffness (Pa);
- eint
- initial void ratio (−);
- e0
- void ratio (−);
- H
- embankment fill height (m);
- J
- geogrid tensile stiffness (N/m);
- K0
- coefficient of lateral earth pressure (−);
- k
- soil permeability (m/s);
- m
- power for stress-level dependency of stiffness (−);
- nJ
- number of geosynthetic/geogrid layers (−);
- pl*
- limit pressure (pressiometric test) (Pa);
- Q
- applied load on the embankment (N);
- Qp
- load carried by piles (N);
- qc
- cone resistance (Pa);
- s
- pile net spacing (m);
- preconsolidation pressure (Pa);
- T0
- embankment settlement without reinforcement (m);
- Tr
- embankment settlement with reinforcement (m);
- W
- embankment weight (N);
- x/y/z
- coordinate system directions (−);
- ΔT′
- differential settlement (m);
- γ
- soil unit weight (N/m3);
- ν
- Poisson’s ratio (−);
- φ
- friction angle (°);
- ψ
- dilatancy angle (°); and
- ω
- soil moisture content (−).
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 24 • Issue 11 • November 2024
Copyright
© 2024 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jun 16, 2022
Accepted: May 9, 2024
Published online: Aug 21, 2024
Published in print: Nov 1, 2024
Discussion open until: Jan 21, 2025
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Analysis (by type)
- Engineering fundamentals
- Engineering materials (by type)
- Geomaterials
- Geosynthetics
- Geotechnical engineering
- Materials engineering
- Models (by type)
- Numerical analysis
- Numerical models
- Scale models
- Stiffening
- Structural behavior
- Structural engineering
- Three-dimensional analysis
- Three-dimensional models
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