Effects of PCC Pile Spacing on Expressway Embankment Settlement Control

The Large Diameter Cast-in-place Concrete Pipe Pile (referred as PCC pile) has been used primarily in soft ground improvement applications such as for bridge abutment support piling. To assist design of PCC pile group, this paper investigates the influence of pile spacing on the embankment settlement control based on a series of numerical analysis. The pile spacing was varied from 3D to 5D. The induced horizontal displacement on neighbouring piles upon loading was also presented. It was found that settlement reduces as pile spacing reduces. Pile spacing of 3D is reasonable in terms of settlement control and economic purposes.