Causes of pile foundation failure in permafrost regions: The case study of a dry bridge of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway

Pile foundations are widely used to support dry bridges crossing large extents of warm and ice-rich permafrost zones along the Qinghai-Tibet Railway (QTR). The performance of these pile foundations are related to permafrost conditions surrounding the piles. However, the impacts of permafrost degradation on the stability of pile foundations have been rarely investigated. In this study, permafrost degradation has been assessed around several pile...