On equal settlement plane height in piled reinforced embankments

ZhaoM in and CaoWeiPing

Abstract

The determination of equal settlement plane height is of great importance when designing piled reinforced embankments. If the embankment height is greater than the equal settlement plane height, no apparent differential settlement occurs on the pavement, or unexpected differential settlement will appear and this will be harmful to the normal functions of the embankment. A numerical analysis by using a commercial FEM program was conducted to reveal the mechanism of equal settlement plane occurring within piled reinforced embankment. Especially, the influence of embankment height, pile - cap clear spacing, the cyclic traffic loading, cohesion and internal friction an gle of the embankment fill and the geosynthetic reinforcement strength on the equal settlement plane height was mainly evaluated. Based on the analysis, an equation was fitted to estimate the equal settlement plane height.