Geogrid-reinforced pile-supported railway embankments - A three-dimensional numerical analysis

Piles or columns have been used successfully in combination with geosynthetics to support embankments over soft soil. The inclusion of geosynthetic reinforcement over piles enhances load transfer from soil to piles, reduces total and differential settlements, and increases slope stability. It creates a more economical alternative than that without the geosynthetic. An existing geosynthetic-reinforced pile-supported embankment in Berlin was selected for numerical modeling and analysis. This embankment was constructed to support railways over deep deposits of peat and soft organic soils. Precast piles and caps were installed with a load transfer platform formed by three layers of geogrid and granular materials installed between the piles and the embankment fill. Instrumentation was installed to monitor the settlements of the embankment and the strains in the geogrid layers over time. A finite difference method, incorporated in the fast Lagrangian analysis of continua three-dimensional software, was used to model this embankment. In the numerical analysis, piles were modeled with pile elements, and caps were modeled as an elastic material. Geogrid elements built in the software were used to represent the geogrid reinforcement. Embankment fill, soft soil, firm soil, and platform fill material were modeled as linearly elastic perfectly plastic materials with Mohr-Coulomb failure criteria. The embankment was built by a number of lifts to simulate its construction. Numerical results and comparisons with field measurements on the vertical and lateral displacements, the tension along the reinforcement, and the axial forces and moments on piles are presented.