Use of State-Dependent Strength in Estimating End Bearing Capacity of Piles in Sand
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 134, Issue 7
Abstract
The pressure and density dependence of the shear strength of sand poses a tricky problem in pile foundation design. In this study, a correlation is suggested to link the effective friction angle of sand with its initial confining pressure and relative density, and a simple approach incorporating this correlation is presented for predicting pile end bearing capacity. Assessment of the approach against pile load tests shows reasonably good agreement between predictions and measurements. It is also shown that the effect of the state-dependent strength is particularly important in cases where long piles are installed in dense sand deposits and the use of critical state friction angle will produce a conservative prediction in such cases.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The writers wish to thank Dr. K. Maeda of Nagoya Institute of Technology for providing the experimental data that were used in validation of the proposed correlation. The work described in this note was partly supported by a grant from the Research Committee of the University of Hong Kong.
References
Altaee, A., Fellenius, B. H., and Evgin, E. (1992). “Axial load transfer for piles in sand. I: Tests on an instrumented precast pile.” Can. Geotech. J., 29(1), 11–20.
BCP Committee. (1971). “Field tests on piles in sand.” Soils Found., 11(2), 29–49.
Berezantzev, V. G., Khristoforov, V., and Golubkov, V. (1961). “Load bearing capacity and deformation of piled foundations.” Proc., 5th Int. Conf. on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, Vol. 2, 11–15.
Bolton, M. D. (1986). “The strength and dilatancy of sands.” Geotechnique, 36(1), 65–78.
Chow, F. C. (1997). “Investigation into the behaviour of displacement piles for offshore foundations.” Ph.D. thesis, Imperial College, London.
Fleming, W. G. H., Weltman, A. J., Randolph, M. F., and Elson, W. K. (1992). Piling engineering, 2nd Ed., Blackie, London.
Geotechnical Engineering Office (GEO). (2006). “Foundation design and construction.” GEO Publication No. 1/2006, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Hong Kong.
Maeda, K., and Miura, K. (1999a). “Confining stress dependency of mechanical properties of sands.” Soils Found., 39(1), 53–67.
Maeda, K., and Miura, K. (1999b). “Relative density dependency of mechanical properties of sands.” Soils Found., 39(1), 69–79.
Poulos, H. G., and Davis, E. H. (1980). Pile foundation analysis and design, Wiley, New York.
Randolph, M. F. (2003). “Science and empiricism in pile foundation design.” Geotechnique, 53(10), 847–875.
Tomlinson, M. J. (1994). Pile design and construction practice, 4th Ed., Spon, London.
White, D. J., and Bolton, M. D. (2005). “Comparing CPT and pile base resistance in sand.” Geotech. Eng., Proc. Inst. Civ. Eng., 158(1), 3–14.
Yang, J. (2006). “Influence zone for end bearing of piles in sand.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 132(9), 1229–1237.
Yang, J., and Li, X. S. (2004). “State-dependent strength of sands from the perspective of unified modeling.” J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng., 130(2), 186–198.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 134 • Issue 7 • July 2008
Pages: 1010 - 1014
Copyright
© 2008 ASCE.
History
Received: Jun 17, 2007
Accepted: Oct 3, 2007
Published online: Jul 1, 2008
Published in print: Jul 2008
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.