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Investigating Soil Arching in Pile-Supported Embankments through Physical Experiments and DEM Simulations

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Abstract

Pile-supported embankments are typically composed of soil-rock mixtures. within these structures, while the soil arching effect is crucial for effective load transfer, it remains incompletely understood, particularly when the impact of various loading conditions needs to be considered. This study investigates this problem using a 1 g physical experimental modeling approach. Subsequently, a DEM model for a full-scale pile-supported embankment of high-speed railways, accounting for multiple pile interactions, is established with proper model calibration. Numerical simulations are conducted to explore the load transfer mechanism and soil arching processes under self-weight, embankment preloading, and train-induced dynamics influences. The findings indicate that under self-weight, fully developed soil arching structures can be achieved with a sufficiently high embankment height, although they can diminish as the soil-pile relative displacement increases. However, during embankment preloading processes, represented by static loading, pressure can be transferred from pile caps to subsoil regions, potentially compromising the integrity of soil arching structures. Train-induced dynamics effects are modeled as cyclic loading inputs, revealing that an increase in loading frequency leads to weakened dynamic pressure fluctuation for both pile caps and subsoil regions, with a limited impact on the valley values of the pressures. Additionally, a higher loading frequency corresponds to smaller accumulated loading plate settlements.

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Acknowledgements

The financial support from the Guangxi Key Technologies R &D Program (No. 2021AB22170) is gratefully acknowledged. The technical support from Zhejiang Communications Construction Group and Tongji University is highly acknowledged by the authors.

Funding

The authors declare that no funds, grants, or other support were received during the preparation of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Zhejiang Communications Construction Group Co., Ltd., Hangzhou, 310000, Zhejiang, China

    Yiyue Ma

  2. Key Laboratory of Geotechnical and Underground Engineering of Ministry of Education, Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China

    Yiyue Ma, Dawei Xue & Xilin Lü

  3. Ship and Construction Engineering Branch, Jiaxing Nanyang Polytechnic Institute, Jiaxing, 314031, Zhejiang, China

    Junxia Hu

  4. McCormick School of Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA

    Dawei Xue

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  1. Yiyue Ma
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. The methodology, formal analysis, and first draft were performed by Yiyue Ma and Junxia Hu. The visualization, and polished writing were performed by Dawei Xue and Xilin Lü. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Dawei Xue.

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Ma, Y., Hu, J., Xue, D. et al. Investigating Soil Arching in Pile-Supported Embankments through Physical Experiments and DEM Simulations. Geotech Geol Eng (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10706-024-02762-z

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