Time effect of pile-soil-geogrid-cushion interaction of rigid pile composite foundations under high-speed railway embankments

Centrifuge model tests were used to simulate pile-raft composite foundation and pile-geogrid composite foundation with different pile spacing for researching the time effect of negative skin friction of rigid piles in high-speed railways. The research results show that the negative skin friction has a significant impact on the bearing capacity of composite foundation. Pile-raft composite foundation has higher bearing capacity compared to pile-geogrid composite foundation to reduce the effect of negative skin friction on piles. Both the foundation settlement and negative skin friction have significant time effect. The distribution of skin friction can be simplified as a triangle along the pile. The neutral point position moves deeper in the post-construction stage at larger pile spacing. For pile-geogrid composite foundation, the setting of pile-cap affects the position of neutral point in the post-construction stage. Reinforced cushion with geotextile may promote the better performance of cushion for transmitting the loads to piles and surrounding soils. Arching effect in the cushion of the composite foundation is a progressive process. The compression of the rigid piles contributes less than 20% to 25% of the total settlement while the penetration of the piles and the compression of the bearing stratum below the pile tips contribute more than 70% of the total settlement. Some effective measures to reduce the settlement of soils need to be taken into consideration to improve the bearing capacity of pile foundation.