• Geomechanics and Engineering
• /
• v.12 no.3
• /
• pp.505-522
• /
• 2017

A fundamental study of drilled shafts-soil systems subjected to lateral cyclic loading in weathered soil was conducted using numerical analyses. The emphasis was on quantifying the soil resistance of laterally cyclic loaded pile using 3D finite element analysis. The appropriate parametric studies needed for verifying the cyclic p-y characteristic are presented in this paper. A framework for determining the cyclic lateral load transfer curve (p-y curves) on the basis of numerical analyses is proposed. Through comparisons with results of field load tests, the three-dimensional numerical methodology in the present study is in good agreement with the general trend observed by in situ measurements and thus, represents a realistic soil-pile interaction for laterally loaded piles in soil than that of existing p-y method. It can be said that a rigorous present analysis can overcome the limitations of existing cyclic p-y methods to some extent by considering the effect of realistic three-dimensional combination of pile-soil forces. The proposed cyclic p-y curve is shown to be capable of predicting the behavior of the drilled shafts in weathered soil.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
• /
• v.20 no.5
• /
• pp.433-445
• /
• 2020

A new code, called PRaFULL (Piled Raft Foundation Under Lateral Load), was developed for the analysis of laterally loaded Combined Pile Raft Foundation (CPRF). The proposed code considers the contribution offered by the raft-soil contact and the interactions between all the CPRF system components. The nonlinear behaviour of the reinforced concrete pile and the soil are accounted. As shallower soil layers are of great relevance in the lateral response of a pile foundation, PRaFULL includes the possibility to consider layered soil profiles with appropriate properties. The shadowing effect on the ultimate soil pressure is accounted, when dealing with pile groups, as proposed by the Strain Wedge Model. PRaFULL BEM code obviously requires less computational resources compared to FEM (Finite Element Method) or FDM (Finite Difference Method) codes. The proposed code was validated in the linear elastic range by comparisons with the code APRAF (Analysis of Piled Raft Foundations). The reliability of the procedure to predict piled raft performance was then verified in nonlinear range by comparisons with both centrifuge tests and computer code PRAB.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
• /
• v.7 no.5
• /
• pp.495-524
• /
• 2014

To investigate the soil-pile interactive performance under lateral loads, a set of laboratory model tests was conducted on remoulded test bed of soft clay and medium dense sand. Then, a simplified boundary element analysis had been carried out assuming floating pile. In case of soft clay, it has been observed that lateral loads on piles can initiate the formation of a gap, soil heave and the tension crack in the vicinity of the soil surface and the interface, whereas in medium dense sand, a semi-elliptical depression zone can develop. Comparison of test and boundary element results indicates the accuracy of the solution developed. However, in the boundary element analysis, the possible shear stresses likely to be developed at the interface are ignored in order to simplify the existing complex equations. Moreover, it is unable to capture the influence of base restraint in case of a socketed pile. To bridge up this gap and to study the influence of the initial stress state and interface parameters, a field based case-study of laterally-loaded pile in layered soil with socketed tip is explored and modelled using the finite element method. The results of the model have been verified against known field measurements from a case-study. Parametric studies have been conducted to investigate the influence of the coefficient of lateral earth pressure and the interface strength reduction factor on the results of the model.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
• /
• v.5 no.5
• /
• pp.379-399
• /
• 2013

In practice, analysis of laterally loaded piles is carried out using beams on non-linear Winkler springs model (often known as p-y method) due to its simplicity, low computational cost and the ability to model layered soils. In this approach, soil-pile interaction along the depth is characterized by a set of discrete non-linear springs represented by p-y curves where p is the pressure on the soil that causes a relative deformation of y. p-y curves are usually constructed based on semi-empirical correlations. In order to construct API/DNV proposed p-y curve for clay, one needs two values from the monotonic stress-strain test results i.e., undrained strength ($s_u$) and the strain at 50% yield stress (${\varepsilon}_{50}$). This approach may ignore various features for a particular soil which may lead to un-conservative or over-conservative design as not all the data points in the stress-strain relation are used. However, with the increasing ability to simulate soil-structure interaction problems using highly developed computers, the trend has shifted towards a more theoretically sound basis. In this paper, principles of Mobilized Strength Design (MSD) concept is used to construct a continuous p-y curves from experimentally obtained stress-strain relationship of the soil. In the method, the stress-strain graph is scaled by two coefficient $N_C$ (for stress) and $M_C$ (for strain) to obtain the p-y curves. $M_C$ and $N_C$ are derived based on Semi-Analytical Finite Element approach exploiting the axial symmetry where a pile is modelled as a series of embedded discs. An example is considered to show the application of the methodology.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
• /
• v.16 no.5
• /
• pp.463-469
• /
• 2018

In offshore engineering, lateral cyclic loading may induce excessive lateral movement and bending strain in pile foundations. Previous studies mainly focused on deformation mechanisms of single piles due to lateral cyclic loading. In this paper, centrifuge model tests were conducted to investigate the response of a $2{\times}2$ pile group due to lateral cyclic loading in clay. After applying each loading-unloading cycle, the pile group cannot move back to its original location. It implies that residual movement and bending strain are induced in the pile group. This is because cyclic loading induces plastic deformation in the soil surrounding the piles. As the cyclic load increases from 62.5 to 375 kN, the ratio of the residual to the maximum pile head movements varies from 0.30 to 0.84. Moreover, the ratio of the residual to the maximum bending strains induced in the piles is in a range of 0.23 to 0.82. The bending strain induced in the front pile is up to 3.2 times as large as that in the rear pile. Thus, much more protection measures should be applied to the front piles to ensure the serviceability and safety of pile foundations.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
• /
• v.35 no.1
• /
• pp.1-11
• /
• 2023

A growing trend of utilizing helical piles for soft soil strata to support infrastructure projects is currently observed in Saemangeum, South Korea. Recognized mainly due to its ease of installation and reusability proves to be far more superior compared to other foundation types in terms of sustainability. This study applies modified p-y springs to characterize the behavior of a laterally loaded helical pile with a shaft diameter of 89.1 mm affixed with 3 helices evenly spaced along its embedded length of 2.5 m. Geotechnical soil properties are correlated from CPT data near the test bed vicinity and strain gauges mounted on the shaft surface. A modification factor is applied on the p-y springs to adjust the simulated data and match it to the bending moment, soil resistance and deflection values from the strain gauge measurements. The predicted lateral behavior of the helical pile through the numerical analysis method shows fairly good agreement to the recorded field test results.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
• /
• v.23 no.2
• /
• pp.61-69
• /
• 2007

In this study, experimental analysis was performed about lateral load capacity and behavior of laterally loaded-bored piles for soil conditions and pile shape, i.e. cylindrical and taper piles. Also, Calibration chamber load tests were performed for cylindrical and taper piles considering the variations of relative densities and restraint stresses. According to the results of chamber tests, it was found that, while both vertical and horizontal stresses affect load-responses and ultimate lateral load capacity of laterally loaded piles, effect of the horizontal stress was larger than that of the vertical stress. Effect of lateral load capacity and behavior was relatively small compared to relative density and stress state of soils surrounding piles, but showed a little difference for soil conditions. From comparison between predicted and measured lateral load capacity, it was observed that predicted results differ significantly from measured results. This is mainly due to the fact that the effect of horizontal stress is not considered in the conventional prediction methods.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
• /
• v.9 no.3
• /
• pp.313-328
• /
• 2015

In the present study, a CPT-based p-y analysis method was proposed for offshore mono-piles embedded in sands. Static and cyclic loading conditions were both taken into account for the proposed method. The continuous soil profiling capability of CPT was an important consideration for the proposed method, where detailed soil profile condition with depth can be readily incorporated into the analysis. The hyperbolic function was adopted to describe the non-linear p-y curves. For the proposed hyperbolic p-y relationship, the ultimate lateral soil resistance $p_u$ was given as a function of the cone resistance, which is directly introduced into the analysis as an input data. For cyclic loading condition, two different cyclic modification factors were considered and compared. Case examples were selected to check the validity of the proposed CPT-based method. Calculated lateral displacements and bending moments from the proposed method were in good agreement with measured results for lateral displacement and bending moment profiles. It was observed the accuracy of calculated results for the conventional approach was largely dependent on the selection of friction angle that is to be adopted into the analysis.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
• /
• v.40 no.4
• /
• pp.179-188
• /
• 2024

Nondestructive pile integrity tests are used to confirm the construction of drilled shafts as the foundation of many facilities. However, the safety of the foundation is determined only by the presence or absence of defects, and the location and scale of defects are not considered. In this study, we propose an analysis model for the lateral bearing capacity and section force connected building information modeling (BIM) by extracting the cross-sectional characteristics of the defect in piles and reviewing the safety of piles with defects. Defects at the top of piles had more effect on the change in the deflection of the pile head. Moreover, the decrease in the axial force-bending moment interaction diagram due to cross-sectional reduction increased the risk of destruction of the piles more than the change in the bending moments due to defects. The proposed method can help review the comprehensive safety of piles.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
• /
• v.24 no.8
• /
• pp.149-160
• /
• 2008

Offshore pile foundations are prone to lateral soil pressures resulting from embankment construction for the reclamation on deepwater soft clay. Since the 1990s, offshore reclamation has actively progressed in Korea, connecting with the development of Songdo newtown, Incheon newport, and Busan newport representatively. Special attention has been given to lateral soil-structure interaction problems related to passively-loaded offshore pile foundations. Based on a plane strain large deformation finite element (LDFE) approach, this paper presents the results of investigation into undrained (short-term) and drained (long-term) behavior of passively-loaded offshore pile foundations. This study examines the effects of major factors, such as soil profile, pile head boundary condition, magnitude of embankment load, and average degree of consolidation. The results allowed quantification of differences in the magnitude of lateral soil pressure acting on the piles between undrained and drained phases.