Design Guideline Basal Reinforced Piled Embankments

A basal reinforced piled embankment can be used for the construction of a road or a railway when a traditional construction method would require too much construction time. This publication provides a guideline for the design of basal reinforced piled embankments, including many practical directions for the design. The guideline consists of the following items: a survey of the requirements and the basic principles for the structure as a whole, some instruction for the pile foundation and the pile caps, design rules for the embankment with the basal geosynthetic reinforcement, calculation examples, finite element calculations and the realization and the maintenance of the piled embankment.

A basal reinforced piled embankment consists of a reinforced embankment on a pile foundation. The reinforcement consists of one or more horizontal layers of geosynthetic reinforcement installed at the base of the embankment.
A basal reinforced piled embankment can be used for the construction of a road or a railway when a traditional construction method would require too much construction time, affect vulnerable objects nearby or give too much residual settlement, making frequent maintenance necessary.
This publication is a guideline (CUR226) for the design of basal reinforced piled embankments. The guideline covers the following subjects: a survey of the requirements and the basic principles for the structure as a whole; some instructions for the pile foundation and the pile caps; design rules for the embankment with the basal geosynthetic reinforcement; extensive calculation examples; finite element calculations; construction details and management and maintenance of the piled embankment. The guideline includes many practical tips. The design guideline is based on state-of-the-art Dutch research, which was conducted in cooperation with many researchers from different countries.