Pile-Reinforcement Behavior of Cohesive Soil Slopes: Numerical Modeling and Centrifuge Testing

摘要

Centrifuge model tests were conducted on pile-reinforced and unreinforced cohesive soil slopes to investigate the fundamental behavior and reinforcementmechanism. A finite element analysismodel was established and confirmed to be effective in capturing the primary behavior of pile-reinforced slopes by comparing its predictions with experimental results. Thus, a comprehensive understanding of the stress-deformation response was obtained by combining the numerical and physical simulations.Theresponse of pile-reinforced slope was indicated to be significantly affected by pile spacing, pile location, restriction style of pile end, and inclination of slope. The piles have a significant effect on the behavior of reinforced slope, and the influencing area was described using a continuous surface, denoted as W-surface.The reinforcementmechanism was described using two basic concepts, compression effect and shear effect, respectively, referring to the piles increasing the compression strain and decreasing the shear strain of the slope in comparison with the unreinforced slope.The pile-soil interaction induces significant compression effect in the inner zone near the piles; this effect is transferred to the upper part of the slope, with the shear effect becoming prominent to prevent possible sliding of unreinforced slope.