Abstract
The current practice of factor of safety computation of pile-stabilised slopes depends substantially on either the extension of methods for normal slopes with the pile-contribution introduced as an additional term or finite-element modelling. Extending conventional methods to analyse pile-stabilised slopes fails to capture the key mechanisms like soil arching, gradual transfer of resistance offered by the pile through the slope, change in slip surface due to introduction of piles and so on. In this paper, a new algorithm is proposed to compute the factor of safety of pile-stabilised slopes, in which the Morgenstern–Price method is modified to incorporate the effect of a pile. The resistance offered by the pile is obtained using a pressure-based method which considers the soil-arching effect in horizontal and vertical directions. The gradual propagation of this resistance offered by the pile is incorporated through an iterative procedure, unlike the conventional methods. The algorithm considers the change in slip surface due to the introduction of the pile. The factor of safety values computed using the proposed algorithm were found to be in close agreement with that obtained from finite-element modelling. Moreover, a simple technique to determine the optimal location of stabilising piles and pile-spacing is also presented.
Highlights
The stability of slopes is one of the fundamental problems in geotechnical engineering as their delicate balance is often disrupted by natural or man-made causes
A new algorithm is proposed to compute the factor of safety of pile-stabilised slopes
The proposed algorithm involves an iterative procedure which models the progressive transfer of additional resistance offered by piles
Summary
The stability of slopes is one of the fundamental problems in geotechnical engineering as their delicate balance is often disrupted by natural or man-made causes. The method was extended by He et al (2015b) for c−f soil; it does not account for the effect of slope angle In reality, both horizontal and vertical arching need to be considered to determine the lateral resistance offered by the stabilising piles. An algorithm, based on the Morgenstern–Price method, developed by Zhu et al (2005) to determine the Fs for soil slopes that are not stabilised by piles is modified to incorporate the effects of additional reactive forces generated due to the introduction of stabilising piles. The algorithm can be used to obtain the Fs of soil slopes that are not stabilised by piles if Ri and Ti are calculated using Equations 12 and 13, respectively, for all slices and the scale factor (l) is determined using Equation 8. The comparison of Fs values of pile-stabilised slopes for the case of 0.3 and 1 m dia. piles, estimated using Plaxis 3D, and the developed [× 10–3 m] 520
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