Analysis of slope-stabilizing piles in clay slopes

• Main Author: Lau, Giorgio Kevin
• Other Authors: Goh Teck Chee, Anthony
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2019
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Civil engineering
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/77323
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

As clay slopes are prone to active landslides, piles are installed to stabilize the slope and increase the factor of safety. This project presents a parametric study of soil and pile properties with the aim of analysing the factor of safety of clay slope mainly using the software Plaxis 3D. However, Plaxis 2D is also used to compare the results obtained. The soil model used in the analysis is Hardening Soil model. The slope geometry consists of two layers of clay soil, with the upper layer being the weaker clay and bottom layer being the stiffer clay. Both soil layers are of 20 m thick overlying a bedrock. The slope gradient used in this study is 1:3. The pile parameters studied include the pile spacing, pile diameter and pile length, and the thickness of the weak clay layer. Further analysis in comparison of the results between Plaxis 2D and Plaxis 3D is also presented. The results obtained show that all parameters do play a role in determining the factor of safety. Smaller pile spacing and larger pile diameter both lead to higher factor of safety of slope. On the other hand, a thicker layer of weak soil leads to a lower factor of safety of the piled slope. For the results obtained from Plaxis 2D compared to Plaxis 3D, there are some inconsistencies in the predictions of the factor of safety.