Effects of Anti-Sliding Piles on the Deformation Mechanisms of a Bridge Foundation in an Expansive Soil Slope

Abstract

Expansive soil is mainly composed of hydrophilic minerals, and shows significant deformation characteristics after watering, which often causes great harm to engineering construction. In this study, numerical analyses were conducted to investigate the effects of anti-sliding piles on the deformation mechanisms of a bridge foundation in an expansive soil slope. It was found that deformation of the bridge foundation was affected not only by rainfall-induced swelling of expansive soil, decrease in strength, and sliding force, but also by indirect effects of anti-slide pile resistance and space constraints. Anti-slide piles on expansive soil slopes were likely to exacerbate the effect of slope deformation and/or landslides on the bridge foundation. When the distance from the bridge foundation was large, the effect of the anti-sliding piles on the bridge foundation was small; otherwise, the effect was large.