Modelling the Development of Settlements of Earth Embankments on Piled Foundations

In the design of earth embankments on soft soil strata, piles are often employed as settlements reducers. Despite of their well-documented effectiveness, the complex interaction processes transferring loads to piles within both the embankment and the soft foundation soil, are not yet totally understood. As it is well known, the effectiveness of this intervention is strictly related to the construction rate. In fact, the consolidation process taking place in the foundation soil induces the accumulation of settlements with time. The settlements increment at the embankment base, induces stresses migration towards the pile. In this paper, the results of an extensive numerical campaign performed by using a 3D finite difference code are presented. The numerical model allows to calculate the differential settlements at the top of the embankment and to appreciate the effects of both the consolidation and the construction processes.