Investigation on the feasibility of an alternative pile-sheet wall with circular piles for cutting slopes along high-speed railway

Abstract

Pile-sheet walls (PSWs) have been widely employed to mitigate landslides on cutting slopes along high-speed railway in China. Piles in common PSWs are rectangular with large cross-sectional dimensions, which necessitate the use of manual methods during the excavation of pile holes. In this paper, a PSW with circular piles (PSWCP) is proposed to improve the safety and construction speed concerns associated with the traditional PSW with rectangular piles (PSWRP). Numerical analysis validated with a theoretical method was carried out to investigate the behavior of PSWs after excavation. The behavior of the piles was evaluated for several parameters, including pile diameter, length, spacing, and elastic modulus of pile material. The results of the parametric analysis indicated a similar response of both rectangular piles and circular piles. The safety factor of excavated slopes was employed as an indicator to evaluate the soil supporting performance of these two types of PSWs. Further, a critical line based on three-dimensional (3D) finite element (FE) analysis was developed to explore the feasibility of adopting PSWCPs. It became evident that PSWCPs present a viable approach to supporting cutting slopes along high-speed railway. Overall, this study provided primary insights into structural optimization of PSWs.