Lateral Response o F Piles

5.4 Lateral response o f piles 3.
U niform and profiles in which the water table is not at the

surface or below the pile tip
5.4.1 Introduction
4. Groups of piles.
The lateral response of piles can be an important consideration in
the design of foundations subjected to horizontal forces and
Layered and non-homogeneous soils
overturning moments, for examples, marine and offshore struc
Some extensions to Broms’ theory have been made in an attempt
tures, retaining structures and tall buildings subjected to wind
to overcome some o f the above limitations. For example, Poulos
and seismic loadings. As with vertical loading, consideration
(1985) has developed a general solution for piles in a two-layer
must be given in design to both the ultimate lateral resistance of
cohesive soil. This solution involves the solution of a quadratic
piles and the lateral deflections under the design serviceability
equation of the form:
loadings. It is not common for the ultimate lateral resistance to
be the governing factor in design unless the piles or piers are aH *+ bH *+ c = 0 (5.25)
relatively short or have a low flexural strength. Nevertheless, it
is important to consider the ultimate lateral capacity and the ul where H ' = H/pydL, py = ultimate lateral pile-soil pressure, L =
timate lateral resistance of the soil, since the latter is an impor pile length, d = pile diameter or width. The coefficients a, b and
tant component of a non-linear analysis of lateral response. c depend on the relative thickness of the two layers, the relative
This Section w ill address some of the important issues in re strength of the layers, the eccentricity of loading, and the char
lation to the estimation of lateral response of piles and pile acteristics of the pile. Figure 5.14 shows some typical results de
groups. The ultimate lateral capacity of piles and groups w ill be rived from Poulos’ analysis. The ratio o f the lateral capacity for
reviewed, and then methods of estimating the lateral deflections the two-layer soil to that for a homogeneous layer is plotted
of piles and groups w ill be outlined. As with axial loading, a against the relative thickness o f the upper layer, for both the
number of the issues which may be of concern to practitioners short pile and long pile failure modes. This figure highlights that
w ill be discussed. the near-surface layer has a very important effect on the ultimate
lateral capacity.
5.4.2 Ultimate lateral capacity o f piles For multi-layered soil profiles, closed-form solutions and de
The calculation of the ultimate lateral capacity of piles usually sign charts are not feasible, and a simple computer-based analy
involves the consideration of the statics of a pile under lateral sis is required. Such an analysis is based on the simple principles
loading. This requires specification of the distribution of ultimate of statics used by Broms and others, and requires the estimation
lateral pile-soil pressure with depth, the structural strength of the of the ultimate lateral pile-soil pressures.
pile in bending, and the postulated failure mode of the pile-soil
system. The conditions usually examined are: Estimation o f ultimate lateral pile-soil pressures
- Failure of the soil supporting the pile (termed “short-pile fa il Following the work of Broms (1964a, 1964b), it has been com
ure by Broms (1964a, 1964b) mon for the ultimate lateral pressure, py, to be estimated as fol
- Structural failure of the pile itse lf (termed “long-pile failure lows:
by Broms). - For clays,
In addition, the two pile head conditions usually considered
Py = N c.su (5.26)
are a free (unrestrained) head and a fixed head (restrained
against rotation). where Nc = a lateral capacity factor; su = undrained shear
The classical work in this area has been published by Broms strength.
(1964a, 1964b), and this work continues to be the cornerstone of Various solutions have been developed for Nc, but in general,
many practical assessments today. M eyerhof (1995b) has pro it is found to increase from 2 at the ground surface to about 9 to
vided a summary o f an alternative approach to the estimation of 12 at a depth o f 3 to 4 diameters, then remaining constant for
ultimate lateral capacity, that incorporates the effects of load ec greater depths. In many practical applications, a value of 9 is
centricity and inclination. adopted (as for the undrained end bearing capacity of piles in
clay).
Assessment o f Broms’ Theory - For sands,
Kulhawy and Chen (1993) have carried out an assessment of the
applicability of Broms’ method, based on comparisons with the Py = N ,p , (5.27)
results of a number of laboratory and field tests on bored piles.
For both undrained and drained lateral load capacities, Broms’ where Ns = a multiplying factor; pp = Rankine passive pressure.
method tended to underestimate the ultimate lateral load by N, is usually within the range 3 to 5, with 3 being a common
about 15 - 20%. They concluded that, while Broms’ method design value.
was conservative overall, it provided as good an approach as any A number o f alternative approaches are available, and Kul
other method, and could give good results if empirical adjust hawy and Chen (1993) have compared three of the available
ments were made to the values computed from the theory. It distributions. They have concluded that Broms’ approach ap
should be re-stated that Broms himself acknowledged that his as pears to be very conservative at depth, but that conversely, the
sumed ultimate lateral pressure distributions were conservative. approach of Reese et al. (1974) appears to be quite bold.
Despite the apparent success of Broms' method, it must be
recognized that it has a number of practical limitations, among Effects o f inclined loading
which are the following: Meyerhof (1995b) has given detailed consideration to the effects
1. It assumes that the soil layer is homogeneous with depth; of inclined loading on a pile, and has developed practical proce
2. It considers only a pure sand (frictional soil), or a clay under dures for combining axial and lateral capacities in such cases. A
undrained conditions having a constant strength with depth; simple alternative approach has been suggested by Cho and Kul
3. It considers only a single pile, and not a group of piles di hawy (1995), who have obtained correction factors based on the
rectly. results of undrained load tests on bored piles (drilled shafts) in
Because of these limitations, the practitioner must exercise clay, to modify the axial and lateral pile capacities. The notation
considerable judgement in applying Broms’ theory, and indeed, adopted by these authors is illustrated in Figure 5.15, and the
the theory cannot strictly be applied directly to the following following expressions were developed for the vertical and hori
problems: zontal components of the inclined failure load:
1. Layered soil profiles 1. For inclined uplift,
2. Profiles containing both sand and clay layers Vertical component: P0 = Q1„( l- 'F / 9 0 ) + W, (5.28a)
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5.4 Lateral response o f piles 3.

U niform and profiles in which the water table is not at the

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