Effect of Spatial Correlation of Cone Tip Resistance on the Bearing Capacity of Piles
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 139, Issue 3
Abstract
The cone tip resistance () from cone penetration tests (CPTs) is widely used to determine the bearing capacity of piles. Although it is widely known that soil properties are spatially correlated, the spatial correlation of is not considered in the current methods for predicting the bearing capacity of piles. In this paper, a probabilistic approach is presented for predicting the bearing capacity of driven piles in clay by considering the spatial correlation between (the spatial average of of the bottom soil layer within the pile length) and (the spatial average of over an interval near the pile base). Parametric studies are conducted to evaluate the effect of the spatial correlation between and on the bearing capacity of piles. The results indicate that it is important to consider the spatial correlation between and in the probabilistic prediction of the bearing capacities of piles. Ignoring the spatial correlation between and will underestimate the probability of failure and lead to unsafe design. Finally, 14 field test piles are analyzed with the presented approach to demonstrate the probabilistic prediction of the bearing capacity of piles by considering the spatial correlation of the CPT data.
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Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Mr. Kai-Min Wang (Shanghai Geotechnical Investigations & Design Institute Co., Ltd.) for providing the field test data used in the illustrative examples.
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Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 139 • Issue 3 • March 2013
Pages: 494 - 500
Copyright
© 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Apr 4, 2011
Accepted: May 14, 2012
Published online: May 17, 2012
Published in print: Mar 1, 2013
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