Abstract
Rectangle piles have been widely used to stabilise problematic slopes with typically non‐linear plastic deformation behaviour. This paper introduces analytic solutions to soil arching effect based on the slope soil and piles interaction. In view of stress condition of the passive piles subjected to the lateral force, the stress expression of arbitrary point of the soil behind the piles is derived from soil mechanics, elastic and plastic theories, and the mechanical model of soil arch is built. Stress isoline distribution of soil arch is found to be hyperbolic, shoulder expansion arch, saddle and domal. After the influence factors on soil arching effect are discussed in detail, the governing equation of maximum pile spacing is established based on the Mohr–Coulomb theory of soil shearing strength. Finally, a practical case of slope prevention engineering is given for the design of pile spacing to verify the rationality of analytic solution.
The financial supports from the National Natural Science Foundation of China under grant no. 40902091 and the Pilot Project of Knowledge Innovation Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences under grant no. KJCX2‐YW‐L01 are gratefully acknowledged. The research is also supported by the Chinese Academy of Science/State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs (CAS/SAFEA) International Partnership Program for Creative Research Teams.