GENERALIZED STABILITY ANALYSIS OF EMBANKMENTS ON GRANULAR PILES

A generalized method has been proposed to analyze the stability of embankments constructed over soft subsoil reinforced with granular piles. The problem of determining the critical slip surface and the corresponding minimum factor of safety has been formulated as a constrained minimization problem. The shear strength of the improved subsoil has been estimated using both the conventional and the equivalent anisotropic concepts. The proposed method has been validated comparing the results obtained with solutions available in the literature. With reference to a typical problem, limited results are presented to highlight the influences of the various parameters on the stability of an embankment.