Responses of Laterally Loaded Single Piles within Mechanically Stabilized Earth Walls

Abstract

To investigate the behavior of laterally loaded piles within mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) walls, reduced-scale physical model tests of single piles within the MSE walls were conducted inside a test box. Sensors were installed in each model test to monitor the responses of the wall facing and the pile during the laterally loaded pile test. The test results show that the lateral capacity of the pile at the distance of two times pile diameter behind the wall facing decreased by 21% as compared with that at four times pile diameter. The model test results were compared well with those of the full-scale field tests. An empirical relationship was developed to estimate the pile-induced maximum wall facing displacements. This paper describes an additional lateral earth pressure distribution on the wall facing based on test results, which may be used to estimate the pile-induced maximum tensile forces in the geosynthetic layers at different elevations.