بسم اهلل الرمحن الرحيم

Report on

made by

Structural engineering Department

قسم إنشاءات

Under the supervision of

Dr/ Waseim Azzam

Faculty of. Engineering, Tanta University, Tanta, Civil Engineering Department

Laterally Loaded Piles

Ahmed Khalil Ebrahim Saif El Den

Sec:1

Introduction

Piles are commonly used to transfer vertical (axial) forces,

Examples of structures where piles are commonly used as

foundations are tall buildings, bridges, offshore platforms,

defense structures, dams and lock structures, transmission

towers, earth retaining structures, wharfs and jetties.

However, in all these structures, it is not only the axial force

that the piles carry; often the piles are subjected to lateral

(horizontal) forces and moments. In fact, there are some

structures (oil production platforms, earth retaining

structures, wharfs and jetties) where the primary function of

piles is to

transfer lateral loads to the ground Wind gusts are the most

common cause of lateral force (and/or moment) that a pile

has to support. The other major cause of lateral force is

seismic activity. The horizontal shaking of the ground

during earthquakes generates lateral forces that the piles

have to withstand. Certain buildings are also acted upon by

lateral earth pressures, which transmit lateral forces to the

foundations.

Causes of lateral forces. For tall buildings and transmission towers, wind action is the

primary cause.

For offshore oil production platforms, quays, harbors, wharfs

and jetties, wave action gives rise to lateral forces.

In the case of bridge abutments and piers, horizontal forces

are caused due to traffic and wind movement.

Dams and lock structures have to withstand water.pressures

which transfer as horizontal forces on the supporting piles.

Defense structures often have to withstand blasts that cause

lateral forces.

In the case of earth retaining structures, the primary role of

piles is to resist lateral forces caused due to the

lateral.pressures exerted by the soil mass behind the

retaining wall.

Sometimes, piles are installed into slopes, where slow

ground movements are taking place, in order to arrest the

movement. In such cases, the piles are

subjected to lateral forces

The horizontal shaking of the ground during earthquakes

generates lateral forces that the piles

Impact Loads from Ships Eccentric Loads on Columns

Analysis of laterally loaded piles is very important to the geotechnical and civil

engineering profession.

Load Transfer Mechanisms understanding of the load transfer mechanisms for piles is

necessary for analysis and design. Piles transfer axial and lateral

loads through different mechanisms.

In the case of axial (vertical) loads, piles may be looked

upon as axially loaded columns; they transfer loads to the

ground by shaft friction and base resistance.. This mechanism is

called base resistance or end-bearing resistance.

The total resistance (shaft friction plus end-bearing resistance)

keeps a pile in equilibrium with the applied load. Piles that

transfer most of the axial load through the base are called

end-bearing piles, while those that transfer most of the load

through shaft friction are called friction piles.

For end-bearing piles, it is necessary to have the pile base

inserted into a strong layer of soil (dense sand, stiff clay or

rock). Typically, engineers would prefer to design end-bearing

piles because the base resistance

is more reliable than shaft friction. However, if no such strong

layer is available at a site, then engineers have to rely only on

shaft friction

In the case of lateral loads, piles behave as transversely

loaded beams. They transfer lateral load to the surrounding soil

mass by using the lateral resistance of soil

When a pile is loaded laterally, a part or whole of the pile tries

to shift horizontally in the direction of the applied load, causing

bending, rotation or translation of the pile.The pile presses

against the soil in front of it (the soil mass lying in

the direction of the applied load), generating compressive and

shear stresses and strains in the soil that offers resistance to the

pile movement

Often, the load acting on a superstructure is larger than the

capacity of a single pile.When that happened, piles are grouped

under each column to resist the total force acting at the column

base. The piles in a group no longer behave as isolated units

but interact with each other and resist the external load in an

integrated manner

Each pile in a group, whether loaded axially or laterally,

generates a displacement field of its own around itself. The

displacement field of each pile interferes and overlaps with

those of the adjacent piles; this results in the interaction between

piles.

Interaction between piles occurs in the case of laterally loaded

pile groups as well. In a laterally loaded pile group, each pile

pushes the soil in front of it (in the direction of the

applied force). Movement of the piles placed in the first

(leading) row in the direction of the applied force is resisted by

the soil in front of it. In contrast, the piles in the rows behind the

first row (the piles in the trailing rows) push on the soil which in

turn pushed on the piles in the rows in front of them. The

resistive forces acting on the trailing-row piles are in

general less than the resistive forces acting on the leading row

Solution

Batter Piles

Very common solution to lateral loading

Form a very stiff system than can

pose problems in seismic situations Basically turn lateral

loads into axial loads

Analytic Methods for LateralLoading

Rigid Methods (Broms)

Used for light weight « short » foundations

Same limitations as rigid methods for mat foundations

Depth to Fixity Methods (Davisson)

Only considers a certain depth as flexible

Structural engineers could analyse the foundation as a

structure once the depth of fixity was known Too

simplistic

Finite Element Analysis

p-y curves Horizontal Modules of Sub grade Reaction Method

Soil as Elastic Continuum Method (Poulos & Hull)

p-y curves are the best way of determining lateral

capacity

determine lateral load capacity in field Lateral Loading Test

ASTM D3966

__________________