Numerical analyses of piles subjected to lateral soil movement

Abstract

Load transfer to piles due to the relative movement between the piles and the moving soil is a fairly complex soil-pile interaction problem. Different analysis methods are available in literature to estimate the loads on piles. However, the predicted loads on the piles calculated by these methods vary due to insufficient representation of loading conditions and ignoring relative pile and soil movement. In this paper, three dimensional finite element analyses have been performed to evaluate the load transfer mechanism of free head passive pile groups in purely cohesionless soils. Numerical analyses are classified to address two most common passive pile cases, namely piles adjacent to embankments and piles used for slope stabilization. The effects of relative pile and soil displacement, pile spacing and pile arrangement on soil arching are investigated by numerical simulations. It is observed that load transfer decreases parallel to a decrease in pile spacing for piles adjacent to embankments contrary to piles used for slope stabilization.