Correction Factors for an Analytical Method of Pile Foundation Response Subjected to Horizontal Dynamic Vibrations

In pile foundation response due to horizontal vibration, it is known that the original Novak's method overestimates the dominant frequency and underestimates the dominant amplitude of pile head responses. It is found that reducing the pile-foundation system stiffness and damping coefficients would lead to a smaller dominant frequency and higher dominant amplitude, respectively. The objective of this paper is to evaluate and determine appropriate correction factors for stiffness and damping coefficients for the analytical model developed by Novak and El-Sharnouby (1983) to improve the theoretical predictions of pile foundations subjected to dynamic forces. The reduction factors were determined by continuously reducing the shear modulus of the soil and system damping until the computed and filed responses matched. Three sets of field pile tests were analyzed.