Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference:	GR/S30696/01
Title:	Discrete piles for infrastructure earth slope stabilisation
Principal Investigator:	Powrie, Professor W
Other Investigators:
Researcher Co-Investigators:	Dr JA Smethurst
Project Partners:	Mott Macdonald Skanska UK Plc
Department:	School of Civil Eng and The Environment
Organisation:	University of Southampton
Scheme:	Standard Research (Pre-FEC)
Starts:	01 November 2003	Ends:	30 April 2007	Value (£):	325,190
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:	Ground Engineering
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:	Construction
Related Grants:
Panel History:
Summary on Grant Application Form
Earth structures require maintenance and repair, and this has become increasingly apparent during recent periods of prolonged wet weather. A common method of preventing slope failure is to install a row of discretely spaced piles at the mid-height of the slope. The resulting pile-slope interaction is complex, and further investigation is required to develop less conservative assumptions for use in design.The research will involve the instrumentation and monitoring of two pile stabilised infrastructure slopes to obtain a better understanding of soil-pile interaction, and in particular to study soil arching and the development of load on the upper portion of the piles with increasing slope movements. Instrumentation will include vibrating wire strain gauges to measure pile bending moments, inclinometers to measure slope and pile displacements and piezometers to measure slope pore water pressures.Three dimensional finite difference and limit equilibrium analyses will be used to replicate the measured pile behaviour. The finite difference analysis will be used in a parametric study to investigate the effects of varying pile spacing and length on overall pile-slope behaviour. The results from both the field monitoring and finite difference analyses will be used in an appraisal of the current design methods for pile stabilised slopes.
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Organisation Website:	http://www.soton.ac.uk