Laboratory tests and numerical studies of a geosynthetic reinforced pile-supported embankment

This paper presents laboratory tests examining geosynthetic-reinforced pile supported-embankments over soft soil. Many tests were carried out in a 4m x 4m x 0.9m pit including 16 piles, varying the load transfer platform thickness and geosynthetic reinforcement. A comprehensive monitoring program was implemented to track the load transfer inside the granular platform and the settlement. This research is a part of the cooperative national research project ASIRI+ (2019 - 2024) which gathers about forty organizations and aims to propose dimensioning rules in the field of soil reinforcement by rigid inclusions. These experimental results investigated the understanding of complex mechanisms developed inside the load transfer platform to evaluate the efficiency of the geosynthetic. In addition, a numerical model established by the software FLAC3D was employed to simulate the experimental tests. The ability of the numerical model to account for the settlement of the granular soil surface and the stress transmitted to the top of the subgrade layer was established by comparisons with the experimental data. From this calibrated numerical model, many simulations were performed to propose an optimal solution for the reinforcement by the geosynthetic.