Performance of marine clay treated with polyurethane piles

Abstract

The performance of marine clay (MC) treated with embedded polyurethane (PU) piles under vertical load is assessed through three-dimensional finite element (FE) simulations. The results of the FE analyses were validated using small scale physical model tests. The influence of pile length ratio and area ratio of the embedded PU piles in MC were also investigated. Additionally, the failure modes of the PU piled rafts were studied and safety analysis using c/? reduction method were performed to determine the safety factor of the foundation. Results revealed that the bearing capacity of the MC treated with PU piled raft improved due to the increase in length and area ratio of the PU pile. The bearing capacity of MC that was stabilized with PU piles using an area ratio of 0.28, increased by 42%, 157%, 197% and 259%, with a length ratio of 0.25, 0.50, 0.75 and 1.00, respectively compared to the untreated MC. The untreated MC exhibited bearing capacity failure pattern that was characterised by an upward heave at the side of the footing. The side heave decreased by 91% when the MC was treated with PU pile using length and area ratios of 0.5 and 0.13, respectively. The result shows that increasing in the length ratio of the floating pile improves the safety factor of the stabilized soil. The safety factor improves from 1.1 to 1.2 and 1.3 when the length ratio increases from 0.25 to 0.50 and 0.75 respectively.