Study on Pile-End Resistance of Static Pile with Different Cone Apex Angle in Clay

Abstract

Static pile ended with cone apex angle is widely used in practical engineering. However, the corresponding penetration resistance is still impossible to be predicted accurately. To address this, the penetration process of static pile is simulated by using the coupled Eulerian-Lagrangian (CEL) method in this study. During the penetration process of static pile in clay, the effect of cone apex angle and soil rigidity index on pile-end resistance and the distribution of the plastic zone of the soil around the pile-end are analyzed. The corresponding results indicate that the pile-end resistance is positively correlated with the size of cone apex angle and soil rigidity index, and the pile-end resistance rises with the increase of penetration depth until reaching a certain depth. Besides, the expansion process of the plastic zone near the pile-end is characterized by the expansion of spherical cavity. Since the position of expansion cavity center is different from the traditional theory, the corresponding radius in the traditional theory of cavity expansion is modified according to the corresponding numerical results. Finally, a semi-empirical method, in which the effect of cone apex angle and the soil rigidity index are considered, is proposed to predict the ultimate pile-end resistance of static pile.