Rotational Restraint of Pile Caps during Lateral Loading
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 129, Issue 9
Abstract
A pure fixed-head (zero-rotation) condition at the top of a group of laterally loaded piles is seldom achievable in the field, even when piles are installed in a group that is “rigidly” constrained by a stiff concrete pile cap. Assuming complete fixity during design (zero rotation at the pile head) can result in underestimated values of pile-head deflection, and incorrect estimates of the magnitude and the location of maximum bending moments. A simple and practical approach is presented for estimating the moment restraint that is provided by the pile cap at the top of a pile group. The moment restraint, represented by the rotational restraint coefficient serves as a boundary condition for analyzing groups of laterally loaded piles. Full-scale field tests performed on two pile groups with concrete pile caps show that the proposed method for estimating rotational restraint provides results that are in good agreement with measured field performance.
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Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 129 • Issue 9 • September 2003
Pages: 829 - 837
Copyright
Copyright © 2003 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Aug 31, 2000
Accepted: Nov 22, 2002
Published online: Aug 15, 2003
Published in print: Sep 2003
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