As piles are expensive, any reduction in the number of piles within a piled embankment construction, can offer savings on the project. High strength geosynthetic reinforcement at the level of the pile cap can accept loads from the embankment, and transfer them into the adjacent piles. By increasing the distance that the soil can span or arch between piles, a high strength geosynthetic can allow the pile spacing to be increased.

Using the analogy of a reinforced concrete slab, the tension reinforcement should be placed as low as possible in the slab for optimum performance, Steel placed higher within the slab becomes less and less efficient the further it gets from the point of action of maximum tensile load. 3D finite element analysis reveals that multiple layers of low-strength geogrid (e.g. 30kN/m) cannot satisfy an BS8006 compliant design and does not provide an alternative to a single layer of high strength geogrid (see report ….).

Following successful projects using geogrids in the traditional manner, Maccaferri have developed a further enhancement to basal platform reinforcement. This approach uses strips of high strength geogrid laid directly between concrete pile caps and overlain by a low strength geotextile. Savings are achieved on both materials and construction time. The system has been adopted on a number of Highways Agency projects.

Good long-term strength with low strain are essential ingredients for a basal platform over piles.

Product	Benefits
Paralink	Unique, BBA certified, polyester geogrids with a tough polyethylene coating in strengths up to 1250kN/m. Can be used directly in contact with pile caps.
Geolon® PP Geotextiles	GeoPolypropylene woven geotextiles in a variety of strengths from 15kN/m to 800kN/m, to offer separation and reinforcement in one product. Some Geolon PPs also offer biaxial strength.
Geolon® PET Geotextiles	High performance woven polyester geotextiles in a variety of strengths from 100kN/m to 1000kN/m, all with low-strain characteristics.

  

Related Pages

Basal Platforms