Performance of Pile-Supported Embankment over Soft Soil: Full-Scale Experiment

Abstract

This paper describes a full-scale experiment of pile-supported embankments on soft soil, which is conducted within the French national research project, Amélioration des Sols par Inclusions RIgides (ASIRI), to provide a new design method. This experiment shows the great influence of a granular platform reinforced with geosynthetics in load-transfer mechanisms. The measurements of geosynthetic strains highlight that the maximum strain takes place at the vicinity of pile heads during the construction of an embankment. Measurements also show that the load-transfer behavior of a platform reinforced by a single geotextile is different from that of a platform reinforced by two geogrids, although the final settlement is the same in both sections. From the important measurement data of this full-scale experiment, some considerations on the design and the efficiency evaluation have been proposed.