Progressive failure behavior of pile-reinforced clay slopes under surface load conditions

Stabilizing piles are widely used to improve stability level of slopes to avoid landslides. In this paper, the full failure process of clay slopes reinforced using stabilizing piles was produced using serialized centrifuge model tests under surface loading conditions. The strength of pile material and the pile location closer to the slope top were both indicated to have a positive influence on the limit bearing capacity of the reinforced slope on the basis of test observations. The displacement field over the reinforced slope was measured during loading and used to capture a significant progressive failure caused by the surface loading. Local failure started near the inner edge of the load plate and expanded in a downward direction to produce a final slip surface. The pile exhibited a bending failure coupled with the progressive failure of the slope. The failure mechanism could be illustrated with the deformation localization in the slope that developed prior to the slip surface. The surface load exhibited a significant spreading behavior within the slope according to the displacement distribution of the slope.