Behavior Analysis of Pile Supported Embankments

Construction of embankments on soft or liquefiable ground is a common problem in road construction. An option gaining in popularity is to build the embankment on a grid of piles or columns that are constructed by ground improvement techniques like deep mixing and jet grouting overlaid by a bridging layer of granular soil and one or more layers of geosynthetic reinforcements. In this way the excessive settlements is prevented. In this study a tridimensional model of ground-pile-geosynthetic layers are considered. Model is developed using ABAQUS code. The Interfaces between the different elements of the system such as rigid piles, surrounding ground and geosynthetic layers are considered in model. The results show an arching effect which could be due to the large stiffness of the piles in comparison to the surrounding media. The settlement and the effectiveness of embankment on floating piles are studied. It could be concluded that generally an embankment on floating piles is an effective method for soft soil improvement.