Evaluation of the at-rest lateral earth pressure coefficient of fibre reinforced load transfer platform and columns supported embankments

Abstract

The at-rest lateral earth pressure coefficient (K0) is an essential soil property in design of geotechnical problems, but investigating its influence on behaviour of embankments supported by load transfer platform and columns improved soft soils has remained very limited. In this study, numerical modelling of a novel ground improvement technique utilising fibre reinforced load transfer platform (FRLTP) and columns supported embankment founded on top of multilayers of soft soils is proposed and investigated by finite element analysis (FEA). This research aims to assess the influence of a new ground improvement technique using FRLTP on the embankment behaviour supported by columns in soft soils. Moreover, a numerical assessment by varying the K0 value of FRLTP is performed through an extensive parametric study to investigate the K0 influence on the behaviour of FRLTP and column-supported embankments over soft soils. Results of the numerical modelling show that the final settlement, the difference in settlement between columns and foundation soil, the lateral deformation can significantly be reduced by the insertion of FRLTP into a column-supported embankment system. The predicted results also indicate that the changes in the K0 value were found to have no notable effects on the embankment behaviour.