The rigid pile composite foundation is widely used in highway projects in soft soil area as it can effectively increase the bearing capacity and stability of the foundation. While the research on the behavior and failure mode of rigid pile composite foundation under embankment is not enough, instability failure of rigid pile composite foundation often occurs in practical projects. This paper presents a centrifuge model test to investigate the load transfer mechanism, settlement characteristic and failure mode of rigid pile composite foundation under embankment. The test results show that: the soil displacement of different region in rigid pile composite foundation was different, obvious vertical displacement occurred in the soil under the center of embankment and the horizontal displacement was very small in this region; both vertical and horizontal displacement occurred in the soil under the shoulder of embankment; and obvious horizontal displacement occurred in the soil under the slope toe of embankment; moreover, ground heave also occurred near the slope toe of embankment. The soil displacement in rigid pile composite foundation had a large influence on the stress characteristic and failure mode of rigid piles, the compressive failure and bending failure would probably occur for the piles under the center and shoulder of the embankment, respectively, and the tension-bending failure would probably occur for the piles under the slope toe of embankment. The different failure modes of piles at different regions should be considered in the design of rigid pile composite foundation under embankment. The test results can be used to improve the design method for rigid pile composite foundation under embankment in practical projects.

In this paper, a model is proposed to simulate frost jacking performances of a pile foundation within an axisymmetric pile–soil system through a coupling strategy. We consider three diversified stages for frost heave of adjacent foundation soil below freezing point, where mathematical expressions for the volumetric strain are given in terms of volumetric ice content, negative temperature and porosity. A modified strain-softening model characterizing frozen soil–pile interactions is established based on experimental results, taking into account the effects of normal pressure, negative temperature and moisture content. The proposed computational approach is then illuminated and validated via the numerical example of a simplified bridge pile foundation under natural permafrost condition. Variation of temperature regime, volumetric ice content, displacement and stress over time is analyzed. This model can be further applied to evaluating effects of different countermeasures that mitigate frost jacking hazard of single pile subjected to cold climate.