Performance of Floating Piles for Supporting Embankments in Soft Soils

Reinforced concrete piles are often used to support highway embankments in soft soils. The performance of floating piles differs significantly from that of end-bearing piles. A numerical analysis was conducted to investigate the soil stress concentration ratio, pile and soil settlements, pile axial force, negative skin friction (NSF) and the location of the neutral plane (NP) during embankment filling and consolidation of soft soils when the soft soils is treated by using reinforced concrete floating piles. The results indicate that the pile axial force as well as negative skin friction is closely time dependent and increase much more quickly during the embankment filling than during the consolidation. The location of the NP exhibits a complicated variation as the pile head loads and the surcharge applied on the soft soils are varying with time. Most of the embankment load is born by pile for the existence of soil arch within the embankment.