Shape of soil arching and development of its effect in a piled embankment

A two-dimensional elastic-plastic finite element model which can simulate the process of development of soil arching in a piled embankment is established. The shape of soil arching in a piled embankment is simulated. Then, parameter study on height of soil arching is made. Finally, the behavior of embankment load transferring from the surrounding soils to the pile caps is investigated. The results indicate that the shape of soil arching in a piled embankment is semi-elliptic under the condition of plane strain. The influence of the values of internal friction angle and cohesion of embankment fill on the height of soil arching is smaller. The height of soil arching increases firstly with the increase of net spacing between pile caps, and then decreases gradually. Furthermore, it increases?linearly firstly with the increase of the height of embankment, and then remains the same for a higher embankment. The load shared by the subsoil remains unchanged after the entire soil arching appears.