Behavior of Axially Loaded Pile Groups Driven in Clayey Silt
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 132, Issue 3
Abstract
This paper presents a case history describing measurements made during the installation and load testing of groups of five, closely spaced, precast concrete piles in a soft clay-silt. The test results extend the presently limited set of reported high-quality data for pile groups at field scale and allow assessment of the reliability of existing numerical and analytical predictive approaches. Full scale maintained compression and tension load tests on groups as well as tests on single (reference) piles and an individual test on a pile within a pile group enable the effects of multiple pile installations and interaction between piles under load to be assessed. The results are compared with existing simple methods of pile group analysis and with other case histories reporting results on small pile groups. A simple expression to evaluate pile group stiffness efficiency is proposed.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The writers would like to acknowledge the support provided by Lowry Piling (Lagan Group) and the ICE R&D Enabling Fund. The immense contribution of all technical staff at Trinity College Dublin is also gratefully acknowledged.
References
Bozozuk, M., Fellenius, B. H., and Samson, L. (1978). “Soil disturbance from pile driving in sensitive clay.” Can. Geotech. J., 15, 346–361
Brand, E. W., Muktabhant, F., and Taechathummarak, A. (1972). “Load tests on small foundations in soft clay.” Proc., Conf. on Performance of Earth and Earth Supported Structures, ASCE, Vol. 1, Part 2, 903–928.
Briaud, J. L., Tucker, L. M., and Ng, E. (1989). “Axially loaded five pile group and single pile in sand.” Proc., 12th Int. Conf. on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, Rio de Janeiro, Vol 2, 1121–1124.
Butterfield, R., and Douglas, R. A. (1981). “Flexibility coefficients for the design of piles and pile groups.” CIRIA Technical Note No. 108, London.
Caputo, V., and Viggiani, C. (1984). “Pile foundation analysis: A simple approach to nonlinearity effects.” Riv. Ital. Geotec., 18(2), 32–51.
Castelli, F., and Maugeri, M. (2002). “Simplified nonlinear analysis for settlement prediction of pile groups.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 128(1), 76–84.
Fleming, W. G. K., Weltman, A. J., Randolph, M. F., and Elson, W. K. (1992). Piling engineering, 2nd Ed., Surrey University Press, Halstead Press, U.K.
Hight, D. W., Bond, A. J., and Legge, J. D. (1992). “Characterization of the Bothkennar clay: An overview.” Geotechnique, 42(2), 303–347.
Jardine, R. J., Chow, F. C., Matsumoto, T., and Lehane, B. M. (1998). “A new design procedure for driven piles and its application to two Japanese clays.” Soils Found., 38(1), 207–219.
Jardine, R. J., Potts, D. M., Fourie, A. B., and Burland, J. B. (1986). “Studies of the influence of nonlinear stress strain characteristics in soil-structure interaction.” Geotechnique, 36(3), 377–396.
Koizumi, Y., and Ito, K. (1967). “Field tests with regard to pile driving and bearing capacity of piled foundations.” Soils Found., 7(3), 30–53.
Lehane, B. M. (2003). “Vertically loaded shallow foundation on soft clayey silt: A case history.” Geotech. Eng., 156, 17–26.
Lehane, B. M., and Jardine, R. J. (1994). “Displacement pile behaviour in a soft marine clay.” Can. Geotech. J., 31(1), 181–191.
Lehane, B. M., Jardine, R. J., Bond, A. J., and Chow, F. C. (1994). “The development of shaft friction on displacement piles in Clay.” Proc., XIII Int. Conf. on Soil Mechanics and Foundation 2, New Delhi, India, 473–476.
McCabe, B. A. (2002). “Experimental investigations of driven pile group behaviour in Belfast Soft Clay.” PhD thesis, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Trinity College, Dublin.
O’Neill, M. W., Ghazzaly, O. I., and Ha, H. B. (1977). “Analysis of three-dimensional pile groups with non-linear soil response and pile-soil-pile interaction.” Proc., 9th Offshore Technology Conf., Vol. 2, Houston, 245–256.
O’Neill, M. W., Hawkins, R. A., and Mahar, L. J. (1982). “Load transfer mechanisms in piles and pile groups.” J. Geotech. Eng. Div., Am. Soc. Civ. Eng., 108(12), 1605–1623.
Pestana, J. M., Hunt, C. E., and Bray, J. D. (2002). “Soil deformation and excess pore pressure field around a closed-ended pile.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 128(1), 1–12.
Poulos, H. G. (1980). DEFPIG computer program manual. Univ. of Sydney, Australia.
Ramsey, N., Jardine, R. J., Lehane, B. M., and Ridley, A. (1998). “A review of soil-steel interface testing with the ring shear apparatus,” Proc., VI Conf. on Offshore Site Investigation and Foundation behaviour, Society for Underwater Technology, London, 237–258.
Roy, M., Blanchet, R., Tavenas, F., and La Rochelle, P. (1981). “Behaviour of a sensitive clay during pile driving.” Can. Geotech. J., 18, 67–85.
Randolph, M. F. (2002). PIGLET: Analysis and design of pile groups users’ manual, Version 4-2, Univ. Western Australia, Perth, Australia.
Randolph, M. F. (2003). “Science and empiricism in pile foundation design. 43rd Rankine Lecture.” Geotechnique 53(10), 847–876.
Thorburn, S., Laird, C., and Randolph, M. F. (1983). “Storage tanks founded on soft soils reinforced with driven piles.” Proc., Conf. on Recent Advances in Piling and Ground Treatment, U.K. Institution of Civil Engineers, London, 157–164.
Whittle, A. J., and Baligh, M. M. (1988). “The behaviour of piles supporting tension leg platforms.” Final Rep. Phase III, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 132 • Issue 3 • March 2006
Pages: 401 - 410
Copyright
© 2006 ASCE.
History
Received: Jul 1, 2004
Accepted: Apr 22, 2005
Published online: Mar 1, 2006
Published in print: Mar 2006
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.