A New 'GREEN' Method of Slope Stabilization Using Plate Piles or Why Hasn't Someone Thought of this Before???

摘要

Shallow (1- to 6-foot-deep) soil slips and mud flows are a common seasonal occurrence throughout cut, fill and natural slopes underlain predominantly by clay-rich soils and bedrock. Although typically not life threatening, these translational-type (infinite slope) landslide failures cause millions of dollars in property damage. Plate Piles, a new patented slope stabilization and slope reinforcement method and product, has been developed to increase the Factor of Safety against sliding as well as to reduce the effects of creeping soils and reinforce oversteepened slopes. The plate pile concept consists of placing plate piles, which are galvanized steel plates affixed to steel angle iron, into the slope on an offset grid pattern. Plate piles are pushed or vibrated into the ground utilizing a standard backhoe or excavator and a single laborer. Plate piles do not require removal of existing vegetation and once installed are not visible, resulting in a "green" approach to slope stabilization.rnPlate piles have been used at several sites in Northern California and have been through rigorous tests both in controlled field experiments and by numerical modeling. Approximately 18,000 plate piles have been installed to date. The field experiment and case studies, including a commercial site where 13,000 plate piles have been successfully installed on 6-acres of slopes (at a cost savings of $4 million) and a recent APWA project-of-the-year designed to reduce the risk of undermining of a soldier pile wall, will be discussed.rnIn addition, the various applications, the significant cost savings relative other conventional slope stabilization and how the method can be used by geotechnical community at large will be presented. The plate pile concept has recently been approved for trial by Caltrans on a highway intersection site in Northern California.