It is becoming increasingly necessary to construct road and rail networks on ground that wasonce considered unsuitable. Traditional methods of construction require prolonged construction periods and thusincreased cost. An alternative method of constructing on soft ground is the use of piled embankments, whichsignificantly reduces construction times as well as reducing differential settlements. Several design methodsare available for estimating the magnitude of arching, however significant inconsistencies between these designmethods have been found. A laboratory investigation, using a 1:3 scaled model was used to investigate theinfluence of pile and embankment geometry and embankment strength parameters on the magnitude of arching.The results from the experimental model have been compared to current design methods using the stress reductionratio, and were found to be within the range predicted by the Terzaghi (1943) and Hewlett & Randolph (1988)arching theories.
展开▼
