• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
• /
• v.18 no.4
• /
• pp.285-294
• /
• 2002

Embankment Piles, which is subjected to damage due to lateral movement of soft ground, can be classified into pile slab, cap beam pile, and isolated cap pile according to the installation pattern of pile cap. In the cap beam pile and the isolated cap pile method, the soil arch is developed by the different stiffness between pile and soil, and most embankment loads are transferred into embankment piles through soil arch. In these two methods, the difference of soil arch is that the soil arch of the cap beam pile method develops like the arch from of tunnel between cap beams and the soil arch of the isolated cap pile method develops like dome between isolated caps. Therefore, theoretical analysis methods on soil arching effect of the cap beam pile and the isolated cap pile method were respectively proposed according to their own arch form considering the limiting equilibrium of stresses in a crown of soil arch. And a series of model tests were performed both to investigate the load transfer by soil arching in fills above embankment piles and to verify the reliability of the theoretical analysis.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
• /
• v.20 no.6
• /
• pp.127-136
• /
• 2004

The soil arching in the backfill, which affects the magnitude and distribution of active earth pressure on a retaining wall, has also an effect on the stability and cross-sectional area of the retaining wall. In this study, results obtained from Paik's equation that includes arching effect on active earth pressure are compared with those from Coulomb theory to investigate the influence of the soil arching on active earth pressure, overturning moment, stability and cross-sectional area of translating rigid retaining walls. The comparisons show that the active forces including arching effects are always higher than those from Coulomb theory, irrespective of $\phi$ and $\delta$ values. The overturning moments, shear force and moment on the rigid wall are also higher when considering arching effects than when not considering arching effects. The deviation of shear forces and moments by including and excluding arching effects becomes maximum at the height of 0.02-0.08 times wall height from the base of the wall. Therefore, if a translating rigid retaining walls is designed based on Coulomb theory, the wall may reach sliding and overturning failures due to arching effect in the backfill and the cross-sectional area of the wall, especially at lower part of the wall, may not be sufficient to resist to shear force and moment.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
• /
• v.56 no.4
• /
• pp.507-534
• /
• 2015

The present work investigates the behavior of the embankment models resting on soft soil reinforced with ordinary and stone columns encased with geogrid. Model tests were performed with different spacing distances between stone columns and two lengths to diameter ratios (L/d) of the stone columns, in addition to different embankment heights. A total number of 42 model tests were carried out on a soil with undrianed shear strength $${\sim_\sim}10kPa$$. The models consist of stone columns embankment at s/d equal to 2.5, 3 and 4 with L/d ratio equal 5 and 8. Three embankment heights; 200 mm, 250 mm and 300 mm were tested for both tests of ordinary (OSC) and geogrid encased stone columns (ESC). Three earth pressure cells were used to measure directly the vertical effective stress on column at the top of the middle stone column under the center line of embankment and on the edge stone column for all models while the third cell was placed at the base of embankment between two columns to measure the vertical effective stress in soft soil directly. The performance of stone columns embankments relies upon the ability of the granular embankment material to arch over the 'gaps' between the stone columns spacing. The results showed that the ratio of the embankment height to the clear spacing between columns (h/s-d) is a key parameter. It is found that (h/s-d)<1.2 and 1.4 for OSC and ESC, respectively; (h is the embankment height, s is the spacing between columns and d is the diameter of stone columns), no effect of arching is pronounced, the settlement at the surface of the embankment is very large, and the stress acting on the subsoil is virtually unmodified from the nominal overburden stress. When $(h/s-d){\geq}2.2$ for OSC and ESC respectively, full arching will occur and minimum stress on subsoil between stone columns will act, so the range of critical embankment height will be 1.2 (h/sd) to 2.2 (h/s-d) for both OSC and ESC models.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
• /
• v.16 no.1
• /
• pp.131-143
• /
• 2000

Several theoretical analyses are performed to predict the vertical load on embankment piles with cap beams. The piles are installed in a row in soft ground below the embankment and the cap beams are placed perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the embankment. Two failure mechanisms such as the soil arching failure and the punching shear failure are investigated according to the failure pattern in embankment on soft ground supported by piles with cap beams. The soil arching can be developed when the space between cap beams is narrow and/or the embankment is high enough. In the investigation of the soil arching failure, the stability in the crown of the arch is compared with that above the cap beams. The factors affecting the load transfer in the embankment fill by soil arching are the space between cap beams, the width of cap beams and the soil parameters of the embankment fill. The portion of the embankment load carried by cap beams decreases with increment of the space between cap beams, while it increases with the embankment height, the width of cap beams, the internal friction angle and cohesion of the embankment fill. Thus, the factors affecting load transfer in embankment should be appropriately decided in order to maximize the effect of embankment load transfer by piles.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.18 no.1
• /
• pp.302-309
• /
• 2017

The influence of the pile diameter, center to center pile spacing, internal friction angle of embankment soil, and height of embankment on the arching efficacy of the embankment pile was investigated. The arching efficacy, which was derived by the arch model developed in the embankment soil was calculated using two methods, one that considers crown failure of the arch and the other that considers load on the pile cap and critical relative spacing ratio for which the arching efficacy calculated by the two methods are the same. According to the computed results in this study, the arching efficacy calculated from a consideration of the load on pile cap governs when the relative spacing ratio becomes smaller and that calculated from the theory of crown failure governs when the relative spacing ratio becomes larger. The critical relative spacing ratio below which the arching efficacy calculated from a consideration of the load on pile cap governs the design decreases with increasing value, which is defined by the ratio of the pile diameter to the pile center to center spacing. Critical relative spacing ratios, which correspond to the values of 0.5 and 0.2 were 0.35 and 0.85, respectively. Considering the computed results, the critical relative spacing ratio decreases with increasing Rankine passive earth pressure coefficient and critical relative spacing ratios, which correspond to values of 5 and 2, were 0.23 and 0.85, respectively. The arching efficacy, which corresponds to the area ratio of 9%, was 54% and the one that corresponds to the value of 3 was 61%; the critical relative spacing ratios, which correspond to those arching efficacies, were greater than 0.5.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
• /
• v.15 no.4
• /
• pp.207-220
• /
• 1999

Model tests were performed to investigate the failure modes in embankments on soft ground supported by piles with cap beams. In the model tests, Jumunjin standard sand was placed on simulated cap beams and soft ground. The cap beams are placed perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the embankment. The colored sand and the Jmniin standard sand were placed one after the other above cap beams and soft ground to make lateral stripes with 3mm thickness in the embarkment. The colored sand was prepared by coating the Jumunjin sand with black lead powder. The photographs illustrate the two characteristic modes of failure in embarkments. One is the soil arching failure and the other is the punching shear failure. The failure mode depends on the height of embankment and the space between cap beams. That is, if the embankment is high enough compared with the space between cap beams, it will fail in arching failure. On the other hand if the embarkment is relatively low or the space between piles is too wide, it will fail in punching shear failure. The soil arching develops in embarkment as a semicylindrical arch with a thickness equal to the width of the cap beam. And the soil wedge developed above the cap beams remains intact during both arching and punching failures. The boundary of punching shear failure of the displaced soil mass can be defined on the basis of observation of the photographs.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
• /
• 2002.03a
• /
• pp.101-110
• /
• 2002

This article summarises the traditional method of soil-structure interaction based on the modulus of subgrade reaction and shows its weakness. In order to avoid these weakness, a new soil-structure interaction model is proposed. This model considers the soil as a set of connected springs which enables interaction between springs. Its use is as simple as the traditional model but allows to define the soil properties independently from the structural properties and the loading conditions. Thus, the definition of the modulus of subgrade reaction is unnecessary as each component is defined by its own modulii (Young's modulus and shear modulus). The non-linear soil behaviour for the shear stress versus distortion is also incorporated in the model. This feature allows to pinpoint the arching effect in the ground and shows how the stresses concentrate on stiff materials. Based on these principles, three dimensional program has been developed in order to solve the difficult problem of soil improvement by inclusions (stiff or soft). Also the possibility to take into account a flexible mat and/or a subgrade layer has been implemented. Equations used in the model are developed and a parametric study of the necessary data used in the program is presented. In particular, the Westergaard modulus notion and the arching effect are analysed.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
• /
• v.30 no.8
• /
• pp.13-24
• /
• 2014

A series of trapdoor model tests was systematically performed in order to investigate soil arching. The mobilized soil arching was clearly observed by change of the vertical earth pressure loaded on trapdoor of soil container box. A slow decent of the loading plate at the trapdoor results in loosening zone over the trapdoor and the stress in this loosening zone was transferred to the stationary zone in the vicinity of the trapdoor. In particular, it was observed that the vertical earth pressure rapidly decreased in the loosening zone and increased in the stationary zone at the trapdoor. Both the maximum decreasing rate of the vertical earth pressure in the loosening zone and the increasing rate of the vertical earth pressure in the stationary zone were not influenced by the ground density, but affected by the size of the trapdoor. The loosening zone could be defined by the elliptical configuration, in which the major axis was twice as long as the height of the loosening zone at the center of trapdoor and the minor axis was the same as the width of trapdoor. The height of loosening zone at the center of trapdoor was one and a half times as long as the width of trapdoor loading plate.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
• /
• 2002.10a
• /
• pp.443-450
• /
• 2002

It is known that the distribution of the active earth pressure against a translating rigid wall is not triangular, but nonlinear, due to arching effects in the backfill. In the present paper, a new formulation for calculating the active earth pressure on a rigid retaining wall undergoing horizontal translation is proposed. It takes into account the arching effects that occur in the backfill. In order to check the accuracy of the proposed formulation, the predictions from the equation are compared with both existing full-scale test results and values from existing equations. The comparisons between calculated and measured values show that the proposed equations satisfactorily predict both the earth pressure distribution and the total active earth force on the translating wall.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
• /
• v.12 no.2
• /
• pp.129-144
• /
• 2010

The earth pressure acting on the vertical shaft is less than that acting on the retaining wall due to three dimensional arching effect. Thus, it might be essential to estimate the earth pressure actually acting on the shaft when designing the vertical shaft. In this paper, large-sized model tests were conducted as Part II of companion papers to verify the newly suggested earth pressure equation proposed by Kim et al. (2009: Part I of companion papers) that can be used when designing the vertical shaft in cohesionless soils as well as in c-$\phi$ soils and multi-layered soils. The newly developed model test apparatus was designed to be able to simulate staged shaft excavation. Model tests were performed by varying the radius of vertical shaft in dry soil. Moreover, tests on c-$\phi$ soils and on multi-layered soils were also performed; in order to induce apparent cohesion to the cohesionless soil, we add some water to the dry soil to make the soil partially-saturated before depositing by raining method. Experimental results showed a load transfer from excavated ground to non-excavated zone below dredging level due to arching effect when simulating staged excavation. It was also found that measured earth pressure was far smaller than estimated if excavation is done at once; the final earth pressure measured after performing staged excavation was larger and matched with that estimated from the newly proposed equation. Measured results in c-$\phi$ soils and in multi-layered soils showed reduction in earth pressures due to apparent cohesion effect and showed good matches with analytical results.