There is a trend in Malaysia and Singapore, engineers tend to model the effect of TBM tunneling or deep excavation to the adjacent piles in 2D model. In the 2D model, the pile is modelled using embedded row pile element which is a 1-D element. The user is allowed to input the pile spacing in out-of-plane direction. This gives an impression to engineers the embedded pile row element is able to model the pile which virtually is a 3D problem. It is reported by Sluis (2014) that the application of embedded pile row element is limited to 8D of pile length. It is also reported that the 2D model overestimates the axial load in pile and the shear force and bending moment at pile top and it is not realistic in comparison to 3D model. In this paper, the centrifuge results of single pile and 6-pile group - tunneling problem carried out in NUS (National University of Singapore) are back-analysed with Midas GTS 3D and a 2D program. In a separate case study, pile groups adjacent to a deep excavation is modelled by 3D and 2D program. This paper compares the deflection and forces in piles in 2D and 3D models. © The Authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2018.