Laterally Loaded Piles in a Two-Layer Soil System

Typical results for pile head displacement and maximum moment in nondimensional terms, for a laterally loaded free-head pile embedded in a two-layer soil system, using elastic approach, is presented. It is concluded that pile flexibility factor, thickness of surface layer, and elastic properties of the layers govern the lateral response of a pile. Depth of surface layer controlling the behavior of a pile depends significantly on pile flexibility factor and stiffness of the surface layer. Reductions in pile head displacement for flexible pile and maximum moment for relatively stiff pile, which are beneficial in practice, are greatly achieved by a stiff surface layer extending one-tenth the length of a pile. An illustrative example is solved to show the applicability of the results.