Analytical and numerical investigations of a laterally loaded single pile embedded in a cohesive soil

Abstract EN

Finite element analyses have become routine for geotechnical engineers, allowing them for more realistic representation of the actual scenarios.

In this article, a 3D nonlinear numerical analyses were conducted to examine the response of a free head single concrete rigid pile, driven in a hypothetical clayey soil and exposed to a lateral load under undrained conditions.

Three cases were considered for the soil.

In the first case, the soil was taken as one layer of clay whose undrained shear strength is constant with depth.

In the second case, however, the soil consisted of two layers of clay.

The undrain cohesion of the upper soil, whose thickness is smaller than that of the lower layer.

In the third case, the conditions were taken exactly, yet, opposite to the second case.

The results of the numerical analysis were compared with the acquired analytical results from Broms’ theory.

Further, soil resistance along the shaft of examined pile has been obtained from the numerical analysis and compared with the distributions suggested by other studies.