SYNOPSIS

Discrete piles are increasingly being used to stabilise infrastructure earthworks slopes such as road and railway embankments and cuttings. Historically, there have been a number of uncertainties relating to how such piles behave. These include the maximum spacing at which such piles can be installed and still be effective, appropriate methods of analysis especially when there is no obvious pre-existing failure surface, and the limiting lateral pile-soil pressure especially in an effective stress analysis. This talk discusses these issues, with reference to geotechnical centrifuge model tests, three dimensional finite element analyses, and field measurements over a period of years at a number of sites that reveal a variety of different soil-pile interaction behavioural modes.


PROFILE OF SPEAKER

William Powrie is Professor of Geotechnical Engineering and Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and the Environment at the University of Southampton. His main technical areas of expertise are in geotechnical aspects of transport infrastructure, and sustainable waste and resource management. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in recognition of his work in these areas in 2009.

He was Principal Investigator for Rail Research UK (2003-2010), and now leads TRACK21, an EPSRC Programme Grant focused on railway track design, construction and maintenance. In between 2004-2010, he chaired the Technologies Advisory Committee for Defra’s £30m programme of research and demonstrator projects for new technologies for the treatment of biodegradable waste. He is the author of the widely respected and best-selling textbook, Soil mechanics – concepts and applications.