Analysis of pile stabilized slopes based on soil–pile interaction

Abstract The paper presents a new procedure for the analysis of slope stabilization using piles. The developed method allows the assessment of soil pressure and its distribution along the pile segment above the slip surface based on soil–pile interaction. The proposed method accounts for the influence of pile spacing on the interaction between the pile and surrounding soils and pile capacity. The paper also studies the effect of soil type, and pile diameter, position and spacing on the safety factor of the stabilized slope. Specific criteria are adopted to evaluate the pile capacity, ultimate soil–pile pressure, development of soil flow-around failure and group action among adjacent piles in a pile row above and below the slip surface. The ability of the proposed method to predict the behavior of piles subject to lateral soil movements due to slope instability is verified through a number of full scale load tests.