Experimental Study of Laterally Loaded Stub Abutment and Unburied Piles

Abstract

In the integral bridge, the deck contraction makes the abutment move away from backfill and causes a failure wedge. To inhibit the failure wedge, a new method with connector from each abutment to the unburied piles outside the bridge has been proposed. The soil behavior around laterally loaded stub abutment and unburied piles was studied on laboratory models using the PIV (particle image velocimetry) method. The effects of unburied pile number and soil − pile interaction on the soil deformation pattern were investigated.