DEL 149

PEBSTER (Embankment with Basal STEel ReinforcementPiled )

Introduction

Piled embankments are being applied for the construction of roads and railways on soft soil. A piled embankment consists of a field op piles, with on top of that an embankment. A horizontal reinforcement layer is applied at the base of the embankment. A new, innovative development is the application of corrosion-free steel grid reinforcement. This new reinforcement type may improve the resilience and sustainability of piled embankments.

The existing calculation models for piled embankments were developed for geosynthetic reinforcement. They do not apply for steel reinforcement due to the high bending stiffness of the steel. This project looks at the behaviour of piled embankments with steel reinforcement. It is the purpose to develop a calculation model to design the steel reinforcement of a piled embankment. In addition, this project looks at the influence of the stiffness of the piles and how the consolidation behaviour affects the development of soil arching.

a) b)

Fig. 1.   (a) A steel-reinforced piled embankment; (b) Load distribution: A- load transferred to the piles directly via soil arching, B- load transferred to the piles via the basal reinforcement, C- load carried by the soil.

Consortium

Private partners

• Keller Polska Sp. z o.o., ul. Poznańska 172, 05-850 Ożarów Mazowiecki, Poland
• Keller Holding GmbH, Kaiserleistraße 8, 63067 Offenbach, Germany
• Keller Fondations Spéciales, 2 rue Denis Papin, CS 69224 Duttlenheim, 67129 Molsheim Cedex, France
• SHM System Sp. z o.o, Sp. kom., ul. Jana Pawła II 82A, 30-444 Kraków, Poland

Knowledge Institutes

• TU Darmstadt, Institute of Geotechnics, Franziska-Braun-Straße 7, 64287 Darmstadt, Germany
• Deltares, Boussinesqweg 1, 2629 HV Delft, The Netherlands

Public partner

• GEOLAB (a four-year Horizon 2020 project (2021 – 2025) funded by the European Union H2020 Research and Innovation Programme project-geolab.eu)

a) b) c)

Fig. 3. Setup of the small-scale model tests (Deltares). This will undergo modifications for this proposed study.

Activities

• Scaled tests at the Deltares Model Hall.
• Nearly full-scale tests in a deep test pit at the University of Darmstadt.
• The application of modern DFOS technology to gives a 3D picture of the deformations and strains in the embankment.
• 3D FEM analyses.
• Development of a calculation model to design the steel reinforcement of a piled embankment.

Fig. 4.   Test pit for the large-scale test at TU Darmstadt.

Products / results / planning

The official products of this TKI programme are:

More information?

Suzanne.vanEekelen@deltares.nl

Fig. 2.   Distributed Fibre Optic Sensors: (a) glued bare optical fibre, (b) EpsilonSensor, (c) 3DSensor.