PILE SETTLEMENT INDUCED FROM SOIL MOVEMENT DUE TO BREAKDOWN OF RETAINING WALL

Abstract

Very few studies measured the settlement of retaining wall supported piles foundation under a soil movement. This study explores the pile settlement induced from the sudden breakdown of a closely located retaining wall using a small-scale experimental model. Various factors affect the pile settlement, but the influence of the embedment ratio of the pile and collapsed height of the retaining wall is relatively more visible. The induced settlement decreases with pile embedment depth and increases with the collapsed height of the retaining wall. The pile settlement initially increases at a higher rate with an increase in the collapsed height to a certain extent, beyond which, becomes relatively less observable. Pile group settlement reduces with the increase in spacing and the number of piles in longer piles. However, opposite trends have been observed in piles with a smaller embedment ratio. The settlement reduces logarithmically with the increase in the distance between piles and the retaining wall. Pile groups with small embedment ratio are severely more affected by the breakdown of the retaining wall than the piles of a large embedment ratio. Pile groups placed parallel to the retaining wall are more affected than those placed orthogonally.