Numerical analysis of dynamic behavior of piled embankment under train loading

Abstract

Piled embankments, which have many advantages, have been widely employed in the construction of railways over soft soil. However, the load transfer mechanism and deformation characteristic induced by train loading, which has great importance for piled embankment design, are not well known and deserve more research attention. In this paper, a three-dimensional numerical model of a piled embankment subjected to train loading is proposed and calibrated by test results, which considers the dynamic behavior of soft clays by a simplified dynamic constitutive model based on bounding surface theory that has been successfully encoded into the ABAQUS. Based on the proposed numerical model, the development of soil arching and accumulative deformation in a piled embankment subjected to train loading is investigated. The load transfer mechanism and deformation characteristics of a piled embankment in terms of the embankment height, velocity of the train, pile spacing and wheel static load are analyzed. The research results can provide some reference for the design of piled embankments under train loading.