Measured soil–structure interaction for concrete piles subjected to lateral loading

Abstract

Lateral loads often control the design of deep foundations. This paper focuses on improving the understanding of soil-structure interaction of laterally loaded piles and developing p-y curves based on simultaneous direct measurements of the soil-pile interaction pressure (p) and lateral pile displacement (y) along the length of the pile. This paper summarizes the methodology, instrumentation, soil-pile interaction measurements and procedure used to investigate the soil-pile interaction and to develop the directly measured p-y curves. A 102-mm diameter, 1.42-m long precast concrete pile was fully instrumented with advanced sensors and installed in well-graded sand. The digital image correlation data indicated that the soil movement in front of the pile extended up to 6.3 pile diameters (6.3D) from the pile center. The normalized measured maximum soil-pile interaction pressures closely matched the normalized pressures provided in the literature for short, stiff laterally loaded piles installed in cohesionless soils. In addition, the direct measurement-based p-y curves at different depths showed nonlinear behavior, in which the initial stiffness and ultimate soil reaction increased as the depth increased. When compared to p-y curves calculated from measured strain along the pile length, the directly measured p-y curves showed differences of ultimate soil reaction ranging from 8% to 33%. When compared to p-y curves calculated using the procedures available in the literature, the measurement-based p-y curve ultimate soil reactions have differences ranging from 5% to 189%. The differences in ultimate soil reaction could be mainly attributed to the installation method.

Quasi-Static Experimental Study on Soil-Structure Interaction of Reinforced Concrete Piles With High Nominal Axial Compression Ratio in Silty Clay

“…Recognizing the limitations and inaccuracy of the p-y curves developed using the procedures described above for laterally loaded piles, many researchers have tried to simultaneously and directly measure the soil-pile interaction pressure (p) and the lateral displacement along the pile length (y), but were unsuccessful. Therefore the most effective method is developing p-y curves based on simultaneous direct measurements of the soil-pile interaction pressure (p) and lateral pile displacement (y) along the length of the pile using advanced sensors [10].…”

“…As a result, installation is rapid and lower in cost, and much larger deformations can be monitored. [10]The pile was also instrumented with a SAAF200 to measure the lateral pile displacement along its length. To install the SAAF200 along the pile length, a square wooden dowel with cross-section dimensions of 19 mm × 19 mm was placed in the cylindrical PVC form used to cast the pile.…”

Model Test Study on Bearing Capacity and Deformation Characteristics of Symmetric Pile–Bucket Foundation Subjected to Cyclic Horizontal Load

“…Here we focus on the model tests on the monopile foundation when subjected to either monotonic or cyclic horizontal loadings. Based on direct measurements of the soil-pile interaction pressure and the lateral pile displacement, Suleiman et al [2] developed the direct measurement-based p-y curves. Li et al [3] conducted a series of lateral load tests on reduced-scale monopiles in over-consolidated dense sand to investigate the influence of shear force on the lateral behavior of monopiles.…”