• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.26 no.7
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• pp.49-58
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• 2010

This paper presents experimental results of a series of 1-g shaking table model tests performed on end-bearing single piles and pile groups to investigate the effect of particle size on the dynamic behavior of soil-pile systems. Two soil-pile models were tested twice: first using Jumoonjin sand, and second using Australian Fine sand. In the case of single-pile models, the lateral displacement was almost within 1% of pile diameter which corresponds to the elastic range of the pile. The back-calculated p-y curves show that the subgrade reaction of the Jumoonjin-sand-model ground was larger than that of the Australian Fine-sand-model ground at the same displacement. This phenomenon means that the stress-strain behavior of Jumoonjin sand was initially stiffer than that of Australian Fine sand. This difference was also confirmed by resonant column tests and compression triaxial tests. And the single pile p-y backbone curves of the Australian fine sand were constructed and compared with those of the Jumoonjin sand. As a result, the stiffness of the p-y backbone curves of Jumunjin sand was larger than those of Australian fine sand. Therefore, using the same p-y curves regardless of particle size can lead to inaccurate results when evaluating dynamic behavior of soil-pile system. In the case of the group-pile models, the lateral displacement was much larger than the elastic range of pile movement at the same test conditions in the single-pile models. The back-calculated p-y curves in the case of group pile models were very similar in both sands because the stiffness difference between the Jumoonjin-sand-model ground and the Australian Fine-sand-model ground was not significantly large at a large strain level, where both sands showed non-linear behavior. According to a series of single pile and group pile test results, the evaluation group pile effect using the p-multiplier can lead to inaccurate results on dynamic behavior of soil-pile system.