Numerical Analysis of Slopes Reinforced with a Row of Short Piles

Pile length is one of the parameters affecting the behaviour of piles under lateral loads caused by soil displacements. Even though piles are traditionally designed with an embedded length equal at least to the thickness of the sliding soil layer, sometimes shorter piles can be a cost effective choice. Piles can be shortened in the sliding layer and in stable layer until they are able to give a shear strength increment along the sliding surface. In the paper the effectiveness of short "sewing piles" has been analyzed by means of a finite difference analysis. Preliminary results show that also short piles could be effective, even though pile length must be carefully selected because it rules not only the value of the slope safety factor but also the position of the critical sliding surface.