Strip Footing Behavior on Pile and Sheet Pile-Stabilized Sand Slope

This paper presents the results of laboratory model tests on the behavior of a strip footing supported on a row of piles and sheet pile-stabilized sandy slope. A comparison between the bearing capacity improvements in the two cases was made to study the most efficient one. The parameters varied in the study include pile diameter, pile length, pile spacing and location of pile row, height of sheet pile, location of sheet pile, and location of the footing relative to the slope crest. Initially, the bearing capacity of the nonstabilized cases were determined and then compared with those of stabilized slopes. The results were then analyzed to study the effect of each parameter. The results indicate that stabilizing the earth slope using a row of piles or sheet pile has a significant effect in improving the bearing capacity of the strip footing. This improvement in bearing capacity increases when pile spacing decreases and pile length increases with a further improvement upon increasing the pile diameter. However, the overall improvement when using the sheet pile to stabilize the earth slope is much better than that when using a row of piles.