• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.171-181
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• 2000

A series of model tests were performed both to investigate the load transfer by soil acrching in fills above embankment pils and to verify of the theoretical analysis. In the model tests, the piles were installed in a row below the embankment and the cap beams were placed on the pile heads perpendicular to the longitudinal axias of the embankment. The space between pile cap beams and the embankment height was focused as the major factors affecting the load transfer in embankment fill. When the embankment fill was higher than the minimum required height, which was about 33% higher than the radius of the soil arch proposed by theoretical discussion in the previous study, not only the soil arching could be developed completely but also the experimental results showed good agreement with theoretical predictions. The portion of the embankment load carried by model pile cap beams decreased with increment of the space between pile cap beams, while it increased with increment of the embankment height. Therefore, to maximize the effect of embankment load transfer by piles on design, the interval ratio of pile cap beams should be decreased under considerably high embankments by reducing the space between cap beams and/or enlarging the width of pile cap beams.