The Behavior of Piles Installed in Medium Dense Sand Within MSE Wall System

Abstract

Mechanically Stabilized Earth Walls (MSE) were widely used in several essential infrastructures, such as the abutments on a bridge. The need for a support base of a shallow or a deep bridge increased in the MSE wall system. In this research, factors affecting the performance of laterally loaded piles embedded in medium dense sand with a relative density of 50% behind an MSE wall were studied using lower-scale models in the laboratory. For instance, the effect of pile offset and the slenderness ratio on the pile's lateral capacity and pressure on the MSE wall. Three different slenderness ratios were introduced (i.e. L/D of 19.3, 21.7, and 24.1). The results showed a significant increase in pile lateral capacity occurring with the increase in pile offset or slenderness ratio (i.e., L/D). While increasing the pile offset reduced, the pressure on the wall so that the wall's effect will be insignificant when the pile offset reaches a value of 6D.

Keywords

• lateral load
• mse wall (retaining wall)
• pile
• brc reinforcement
• medium dense sand