Manuscript Copyedited: On Lateral Deflection of Horizontally Loaded Rigid Piles in Elastoplastic Medium

Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering.
Submitted July 20, 2010; accepted May 14, 2012;

posted ahead of print May 16, 2012. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)GT.1943-5606.0000771
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On lateral deflection of horizontally loaded rigid piles in
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elastoplastic medium
te s
di nu
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by Ernesto Motta*
TECHNICAL NOTE
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submitted to the Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering for publication

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* Associate Professor, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Università di Catania, Italy
email: [email protected]
Viale Andrea Doria No. 6
95125 - CATANIA (ITALY)
PHONE 0039-957382214
1
Copyright 2012 by the American Society of Civil Engineers
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering. Submitted July 20, 2010; accepted May 14, 2012;
On lateral deflection of horizontally loaded rigid piles in
elastoplastic medium
by Ernesto Motta
TECHNICAL NOTE
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submitted to the Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
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ABSTRACT
The paper deals with the design of rigid piles under lateral load. In many practical situations the pile
te s
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displacements could be the limiting factor for the design, thus an allowable displacement analysis
instead of an allowable stress analysis could be more appropriate in the foundation design.
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A non linear elastoplastic closed form solution for the evaluation of the response of rigid
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piles under lateral load is presented. The derived equations allow to determine the lateral
displacement and the load distribution for a given combination of the applied forces H0 and M0 at
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the pile head. The approach can be applied either for cohesive or cohesionless soils. For a greater
generality the solution has been given in a non dimensional form. A comparison with the Broms
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solution for a free rigid pile in cohesionless soil is also presented.

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Comparisons with experimental results show that the proposed approach may fit in a reliable
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way the non linear load-displacement response of a free rigid pile.
1- INTRODUCTION
In the design of rigid piles under lateral loads it is of great importance the determination of the
allowable working load as well as the evaluation of the shaft lateral displacement.
2
In a rigid pile the failure takes place when the lateral resistance of the soil is fully mobilized along
the whole length. Matlock and Reese (1960) shown that the rigidity of a pile is strictly dependent on
the ratio of the flexural stiffness of the pile EI and the foundation soil modulus Es . Methods to
determine how the pile will behave to a lateral load have been proposed by Vesic (1961), Davisson
and Gill (1963) and Lytton (1971). Kasch et al. (1977) compared results obtained with the different
methods and found that these methods lead to similar results. Kasch also found that the ratios of the
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length to diameter L/D which could be used to classify a pile as rigid should not exceed a value of
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approximately 6. Many authors consider the failure of the soil-pile system based on a given pile
deflection. Coyle and Bierschwale (1983), for example, assume as the ultimate lateral force on a
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rigid pile in clay, the value which induces a pile rotation of 2 degrees.
A practical approach for the evaluation of the limit lateral resistance of rigid piles was given by
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Broms for cohesive (Broms, 1964 a) and cohesionless soil (Broms, 1964 b). Based on a rigid-plastic
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behavior for the soil-pile interaction, the method does not allow to estimate the lateral deflection of
the pile. In many practical situations, however, the pile displacements could be the limiting factor
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for the pile design, thus an allowable displacement analysis instead of an allowable stress analysis
could be more appropriate in the foundation design.

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The prediction of the horizontal pile displacement under working loads can be carried out by
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simply assuming an elastic behavior of the surrounding soil; however even under low working loads
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the soil may reach its limit lateral load somewhere. In fact experimental evidences show that an
elastoplastic model for the surrounding soil is more appropriate than a simple elastic model to
provide a better prediction of the pile movement and bending moments (Ismael and Klym, 1978).
The p-y method developed by McClelland and Focht (1956) is a useful procedure for the design of
piles and drilled piles under lateral loads. The reaction of the soil is related to the lateral movement
of the pile by means of non linear load trasfer functions. Methods to estimate p-y curves were
developed by many authors however this approach does not lead to closed form solutions. On the
other side numerical procedures are not justified in many circumstances so that simplified
3
procedures could be adopted for a quick estimation of lateral displacements in single piles. For
example analytical solutions were presented by Hsiung (2003), Guo (2006), Hsiung and Chen
(2006). Some elastic-plastic solutions were also given by the writer for the case of an axially
loaded (Motta, 1994a) and a laterally loaded (Motta, 1994b) long single pile, based on the load-
transfer concept. More recently Klar and Randolph (2008) presented a load-displacemente solution
based on energy minimisation. Usually these simplified approaches assume that the lateral limit
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load be constant with the depth. Anyway many soils such as the normally consolidated clays or
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sands may exhibit a lateral limit load linearly increasing with the depth.
In this note an elastic-perfectly plastic behavior for the p-y curves is used and the behaviour of
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single rigid piles against transversal forces is investigated. The lateral limit load was assumed either
constant or linearly increasing with the depth. Some closed form solutions were deduced which take
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into account the non linear behavior of the soil-pile interaction. These solutions that can be used in
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practical situations for a quick prediction of the soil-pile response in rigid piles in terms of soil
reactions and lateral deflections under working loads.

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2 - THEORETICAL ANALYSIS
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The analysis that is presented has been carried out for limit lateral load either constant or linearly
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increasing with the depth. The following assumptions have been made to derive general expressions
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for the soil-pile response:
1) the pile is assumed infinitely stiff and the only motion allowed is pure rotation as a rigid body
around a point located at some depth below the ground surface;
2) an elastic-perfectly plastic behavior of the p-y curves has been adopted to simulate the
interaction of the pile with the surrounding soil as shown in Figure 1, so that the soil reaction,
that is simply assumed as a function of the pile movement, will be elastic until a limit value of
the horizontal displacement is reached;
3) the stiffness Es of the p-y load transfer functions is constant with the depth.
4
3 - SOIL-PILE INTERACTION FOR A CONSTANT LIMIT LOAD ALONG THE PILE
DEPTH
When the lateral resistance of the soil-pile system is constant with the depth, as it is the case of a
cohesive soil (Broms, 1964 a), we have:
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plim su DN c (1)
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where:
plim = limit lateral load per metre length
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su = undrained shear strength
D = pile diameter
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Nc = bearing capacity factor that according to Broms can be taken equal to 9.
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In the derivation of the lateral limit force, Broms omitted the upper 1.5 D of the pile because of the
lower value of Nc. Indeed the lateral limit load was varying between plim = 2suD at the ground
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surface and plim = 9suD at a depth 3D below the ground surface.
If the modulus of soil reaction of the p-y curves is denoted with Es, the limit displacement for which
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yielding occurs is:

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plim
ylim (2)
Es
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after the soil yields, its reaction will not increase with the pile movement.
Three cases will be distinguished in the analysis, as illustrated in Figure 2.
Case 1 . Up to a certain value of the horizontal force H0 and moment M0 applied at the pile head, the
pile displacements will be anywhere less than the limit value given by (1) and the soil-pile
interaction will be purely elastic (Figure 2 a).
Case 2. As the forces H0 and M0 increase, the limit value ylim of the p-y curves will be exceeded up
to a certain depth a below the ground surface (Figure 2 b). In this part the soil reaction will be equal
5
to the limit lateral load plim while in the lower part of the pile, the soil-pile interaction will be still
elastic.
Case 3. In this case the applied forces are strong enough to yield the soil also at the bottom of the
pile and for a certain depth b (Figure 2 c). The soil-pile interaction will be purely elastic only in the
middle part (L- a - b) of the pile. The total “failure” of the soil-pile system will occurr when the
horizontal forces increase and a + b = L.
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Some general expressions can be deduced as described below.
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Case 1 . This is the elastic case. The value of the lateral load for unit width at the top and at the base
of the pile can be found by simply imposing the equilibrium conditions and are respectively (Figure
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2 a):
4 H0 L 6 M 0
p1 = (3)
L2
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2 H0 L 6 M 0
p2 = (4)
L2
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The point of rotation of the pile is located at the depth x below the ground surface given by:
2 H0 L 3 M 0
x L (5)
3H 0 L 6 M 0
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If M0 = 0, we have:
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p1 2
p2 ; x L (6)
2 3
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If H0 = 0, we have:
L
p2 p1 ; x (7)
2
thus the effect of M0 is to reduce the depth of the rotation center.
The horizontal displacement at the pile head is simply given by:
p1
yh (8)
Es
6
For a greater generality it is more convenient to express the equations in a non dimensional form by
introducing the following dimensionless forces:
H0 M0
h ; m (9)
plim L plim L2
where plim is the limit lateral load.
Thus, for example, we have:
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p1
4h 6m (10)
plim
d cr
x 2h 3m
(11)
te s
L 3h 6m
di nu
At the same way, a dimensionless horizontal displacement at the pile head can be defined as:
yL
yh E s
4h 6m (12)
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plim
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It is possible to show that the case 1 occurs if :
4h 6m d 1 (13)
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When p1 = plim, we have 4h+6m = 1, thus yL = 1. Being in elastic conditions, the non dimensional
head displacement will vary linearly from 0 to 1 until the plastic state is reached.
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Case2. The soil will begin to yield firstly in the upper part of the pile but the soil reaction will not
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increase anymore being the limit lateral load already attained. By imposing translational and
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rotational equilibrium conditions, the extent of the plastic zone a is given by:
4 H 0 L 6 M 0 plim L2
a (14)
2( plim L H 0 )
and, in a dimensionless form,:
a 4h 6m 1
(15)
L 2(1 h)
The dimensionless distance x/L of the point of rotation, taken from the bottom of the plastic zone
(see Figure 2 b), is:
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x (3 6h 6m) 2
(16)
L 8(1 h) 3
The horizontal displacement of the pile head can be deduced considering that at the depth a below
the ground surface the horizontal deflection must be y = plim/Es so that one obtains:
plim a
yh (1 ) (17)
Es x
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while the horizontal dimensionless displacement is:
4(1 h) 2 (4h 6m 1)
d cr
yL 1 (18)
(3 6h 6m) 2
te s
It follows that, according to the elastoplastic model assumed, the horizontal deflection of the pile is
di nu
a non linear function of the applied forces.
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It is possible to show that the case 2 occurs if h and m satisfy both the following conditions:
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4h 6m ! 1 (19)
2 h 2 2 h 6m d 1 (20)
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Case 3. When the applied forces at the pile head furtherly increase, the soil will start to yield in the
lowest part too. Referring to Figure 2 c, the following expressions can be derived:
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a 1 h 3 3h 2 6h 12m
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(21)
L 2
Ac
b 1 h 3 3h 2 6h 12m
(22)
L 2
x 1
3 3h 2 6h 12m (23)
L 2
1 h
yL (24)
2
3 3h 6h 12m
The case 3 occurs if:
2h 2 2h 6m ! 1 (25)
and
8
h 2 2h 4m d 1 (26)
So that any combination of H0 and M0 such that h2+2h+4m >1 is not an allowable state for the soil-
pile system. Figure 3 shows the dimensionless head displacement (eq. 24) of a rigid pile with a
lateral limit load constant with the depth for values of the dimensionless head bending moment m =
0, 0.025, 0.050. The range m = 0 - 0.050 could cover the most practical situations. For example for
an undrained shear strength su = 100 kPa, a pile diameter D = 1 m and a pile length L = 6 m, we
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obtain M0 = 810 kNm when m = 0.025.
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4 - SOIL-PILE INTERACTION FOR A LIMIT LOAD LINEARLY INCREASING WITH
di nu
THE DEPTH
This is the case that could be expected for a cohesionless soil o for a cohesive normally
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consolidated soil with a limit lateral load equal to zero at the ground surface and linearly increasing
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with the depth, thus:
plim ( z ) Tz (27)
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where T (FL-2) is the slope of the limit lateral load and z is the depth from the ground surface.
Broms (1964 b) suggested for cohesionless soils the following value for T
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T 3JK p D (28)
where J is the bulk unit weight of the soil and Kp = the Rankine passive earth pressure coefficient.
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For a linear variation of the limit lateral load, whatever the horizontal forces applied at the pile
head, yielding will occur in the soil because at the ground surface the lateral limit load is zero. Thus
we will distinguish the following two cases, as illustrated in Figure 4:
Case 1 . Referring to Figure 4 a, one obtains:
4 H0 L 6 M 0
a (29)
TL2 2 H 0
9
Ta ( L a ) 2
x (30)
Ta (2 L a ) 2 H 0
Ta ( L a x)
p2 (31)
x
Ta a
yh (1 ) (32)
Es x
t
It is convenient to introduce the following non dimensional parameters linking the applied
ip
horizontal forces with the extensions of the plastic and elastic zones along the pile pile as well as
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the displacement at the pile head:
te s
H0 M0 yh Es
h ; m ; yL (33)
TL2 TL3 TL
di nu
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Figure 4. Soil-pile interaction for a limit lateral load linearly increasing with the depth.
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Thus we get:
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a 4h 6m
(34)
L 1 2h
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x (2h 3m)(1 6h 6m) 2

(35)
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L (1 2h) 2 (3h 6m) (2 4h)(2h 3m) 2
(2 4h)(3h 6m) (4h 6m) 2 4h 6m

Ac
yL [1 ] (36)
(1 6h 6m) 2 1 2h
The case 1 occurs if:
48h 4 64h 3 48h 3m 216h 2 m 72h 2 156hm 16h 18m 144hm2 72m2 d 1 (37)
Case 2. According to Figure 4 b and imposing equilibrium conditions, the following expressions
can be derived for case 2:
10
a c2
(38)
L 2A
b A
1 (39)
L c
a b
1 )
x L L (40)
L a b
1
t
L L
ip
a a
yL (1 ) (41)
d cr
x L
te s
where:
di nu c 1 2h
c3
(42)
ye a
A 1 3m (1 3m) 2 (43)
2
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The total failure in the soil will occur if:
8h 3 12h 2 6h 18m 2 12m 1 (44)

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The non dimensional location of the point of rotation (a+x)/L of a rigid pile in a soil whose limit
lateral load is linearly increasing with the depth is located between 0.670 L and 0.794 L, increasing
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as the horizontal force increases up to its limit value. Figure 5 shows a plot of the non dimensional
head deflection deduced from eqs. (36) and (41) and for different values of the non dimensional
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forces h and m. In figure 5 the values m = 0, m = 0.025, m = 0.050 are in the range of usual working
loads. For example, being T = 3JKpD, and assuming I’ = 30 °, J = 20 kN/m3, D = 1 m, L = 6 m, a
value m = 0.025 means M0 = 650 kNm.
In Broms approach for cohesionless soils the ultimate lateral force is deduced with the assumption
that the toe reaction and the point of rotation are located at the bottom of the pile. This assumption
produces an overestimation of the limit lateral resistance. The location of the point of rotation is
dependent on the values of H0 and M0 applied at the pile head thus the error in the evaluation of the
lateral resistance in cohesionless soil may be significant as shown in Figure 6 where the non
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dimensional limit forces hlim given by the Broms approach and that given by the present analysis are
plotted as a function of the non dimensional eccentricity e* = e / L = m / h = M0/H0L. It can be seen
that the differences between the two solutions may be very high especially for a high eccentricity.
The relative scatter varies from about 30% for e / L = 0 up to about 67 % for e / L approaching to
infinity (i.e. H 0 0 , M 0 z 0 ). This suggests that to make a safe use of Broms equations for rigid
piles in cohesionless soils, a design reduced length for the pile should be adopted in the
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calculations.
d cr
Finally for a reliable prediction of the pile displacement under working load, the proposed method
te s
requires the knowledge of the equivalent modulus of soil reaction that indeed actually may not be
di nu
constant with the depth. However this uncertainty can be partly removed observing that in the plot
of the horizontal head displacement versus the applied force, the initial stiffness Kin is given from
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(36) by:
op M
dh 1
( )y (45)
4 6e *
0
dy L L
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and in dimensional form:

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dH Es L2
( 0 ) yh (46)
4 L 6e
0
dyh
N ce
*
where e is the load eccentricity and e = e / L is the non dimensional load eccentricity. From (46), it
Ac
follows:
4 L 6e
Es K in. (47)
L2
Thus, if test results are available for a given site and the initial stiffness Kin. of the load-deflection
curve is determined, eq. (47) could be used for a quick estimation of the equivalent modulus of soil
reaction Es to be utilized in the proposed approach.
5 - COMPARISON WITH EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
12
Mayne et al. (1995) refer of laboratory tests on twenty-six medium-size shafts with diameter D = 89
mm and ratios length/diameter = L/D = 3,4,6 and 8. The soil was prepared from a kaolinitic slurry
with the following index properties: liquid limit wL=33; plastic index PI = 11; specific gravity Gs =
2.65; clay fraction = 33%; water content 30-40%. The load eccentricity with respect to the ground
line was e = 20 mm. The clay was overconsolidated by applying a prestress vertically and then
rebounding to atmospheric pressure. The test results in terms of load-displacements were fitted by
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the authors by a hyperbolic law (Mayne et al. 1994) which allowed a good agreement with
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experimental results. However an alternative interpretation of the non linear load-displacement
response can be given (Motta, 1997) according to the presented equations relating the pile
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di nu
displacement with the applied load. Figure 7 shows the comparison between measured and
computed values of the horizontal displacement, yh, versus the applied horizontal load, H. Despite
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the clay was overconsolidated, the experimental results were better fitted with equations presented
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for a linearly increasing limit load. Ultimate horizontal forces of approximately 260 N, 480 N, 700
N and 1250 N were deduced respectively for L/D = 3, 4, 6 and 8. This allowed to estimate the
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slope for the limit lateral load T from (44). An average value Es = 1250 kPa was assumed by
evaluating the initial stiffnes Kin of the experimental curves and then deducing Es from eq. 47. For
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all the analysed cases the analytical solution fits the experimental data satisfactorily.
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6 - CONCLUSIONS
A non linear elastoplastic analysis for rigid shafts in soils whose lateral limit load is constant or
varies linearly with depth has been presented. Based on a elastic-perfectly plastic constitutive law,
the derived equations allow to determine the lateral deflection and the load distribution of the soil
reaction for a given combination of the applied forces H0 and M0 at the pile head. For a greater
generality the solution has been given in a dimensionless form. The comparison with experimental
results showed that if the choice of the modulus of lateral reaction is appropriate, the equations
13
presented may give reasonable results for the evaluation of the non linear load-displacement
response of a free rigid shaft.
It has been also shown that for free rigid piles in cohesionless soils, that is where the limit lateral
load is linearly increasing with depth, the Broms approach may give values of the ultimate
horizontal force on the unsafe side. This occurs because Broms assumes that the point of rotation is
at the pile tip and this is not true for high eccentricities of the lateral force H0. In this case, in
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ip
applying the Broms equations, it could be convenient to introduce a conventional reduced pile
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length or an appropriate factor of safety to determine the allowable horizontal force.
The presented approach however can be utilised only for rigid shafts. For practical purposes this
te s
di nu
means a ratio L/O < 2, being O = (EI/Es)0.25 for a soil with a modulus Es constant with the depth orO
= (EI/nh)0.20 for a soil with modulus Es linearly varying with the depth: Es = nhz
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Finally it must be stressed that the analysis was made only for a single rigid shaft so that group
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effects, which may modify significantly the load-displacement response, have been ignored.
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REFERENCES
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Broms, B.B. (1964 a). “Lateral Resistance of Piles in Cohesive Soils”. Journal of the Soil
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Mechanics and Foundation Division, ASCE, Vol. 90, No. SM2, Proc. Paper 3825, Mar., 1964, pp.
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27-63.
Broms, B.B. (1964 b). “Lateral Resistance of Piles in Cohesionless Soils”. Journal of the Soil
Mechanics and Foundation Division, ASCE, Vol. 90, No. SM3, Proc. Paper 3825, May, 1964, pp.
123-159.
Coyle, H. M., Bierschwale, M. W. (1983). “Design of Rigid Shafts in Clay for Lateral Load”.
Journal of Geotechnical Engineering, Vol.109, No. 9, September 1983, pp. 1147-1164
14
Davisson, M.T., Gill, H.L. (1963). “Laterally Loaded Piles in Layered Soil System”. ”. Journal of
the Soil Mechanics and Foundation Division, ASCE, Vol.89, No. SM3, Proc. Paper 3509, May,
1963, pp. 63-94.
Hsiung, Y.-M. (2003) . “Theoretical Elastic-Plastic Solution for Laterally Loaded Piles.” Journal of
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Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, ASCE, 129(5):475-480.
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Hsiung, Y.-M., Chen, S.-S., Chou, Y.C.(2006) . “Analytical Solution for Piles Supporting
te s
di nu
Combined Lateral Loads.” Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering,
132(10):1315-1324.
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Ismael, N.F., Klym, T.W. (1978). “Behavior of Rigid Piers in Layered Cohesive Soils”. Journal of
Geotechnical Engineering Division, ASCE, Vol. 104. No. GT8, Aug. 1978, pp.1061-1074.
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Kasch, V.R., Coyle, H.M., Bartoskewitz, R.E., Server, W.G. (1977). “Design of Drilled Shafts to
ot p
Support Precast Panel Retaining Walls”. Research Report No. 211-1, Texas Transportation
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Institute, Texas A&M University, College Station, Tex., Nov., 1977.

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Klar, A. & Randolph, M.F. (2008). “Upper bound and load displacement solutions for laterally
loaded piles in clays based on energy minimisation”. Geotechnique, 58(10), 815-820.
Lytton, R.L. (1971). “Design Charts for Minor Service Structure Foundations”, Research Report
506-1F, Texas Transportation Institute, Texas A&M University, College Station, Tex., Sept., 1971.
15
McClelland, B., Focht, J.A. Jr. (1956). “Soil Modulus for Laterally Loaded Piles”. Journal of Soil
Mechanics and Foundation Division, ASCE, Vol. 82, No. SM4, Proc. Paper 1081, Oct. 1956, pp.
1081.1- 1081.22.
Matlock, H., Reese, L.C. (1960). “Generalized Solutions for Laterally Loaded Piles”. Journal of
Soil Mechanics and Foundation Division, ASCE, Vol. 86, No. SM5, Part I, Proc. Paper 2626, Oct.
t
ip
1960, pp. 63-91.
d cr
Mayne, P.W., Kulhawy, F. H., Trautmann C.H. (1994). “Nonlinear undrained lateral response of
te s
di nu
rigid drilled shafts using continuum theory”. Vertical and horizontal deformations of foundations
and embankments (GSP 40), A.T. Yeung and G.Y. Felio, eds., ASCE, New York, N.Y., 663-676.
ye a
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Mayne, P.W., Kulhawy, F. H., Trautmann, C.H. (1995). “Laboratory Modeling of Laterally-Loaded
Drilled Shafts in Clay”. Journal of Geotechnical Engineering, 121(12), 827-835.

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Motta, E. (1994). Approximate elastic-plastic solution for axially loaded piles. Journal of
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Geotechnical Engineering , 120(9), 1616-1624.

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Motta, E. (1994). Analisi elastoplastica di pali soggetti a forze orizzontali in testa. Rivista Italiana
di Geotecnica, Vol. XXVIII, n° 4, pp.305-315.
Motta, E. (1997) . Discussion of “Laboratory Modeling of Laterally-Loaded Drilled Shafts in Clay”
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, Vol. 123, No. 5, pp.489-490.
16
Vesic, A.B. (1961). “Bending of Beams Resting on Isotropic Elastic Solid”. Journal of the
Engineering Mechanics Division, ASCE, Vol. 87, No. EM2, Proc. Paper 2800, Apr., 1961, pp. 35-
53.
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure1: Constitutive law for p-y curves adopted in the analysis.
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ip
Figure 2: Soil-pile interaction for a limit lateral load constant with the depth.
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Figure 3: Dimensionless head displacement for a limit lateral load constant with the depth.
Figure 4: Soil-pile interaction for a limit lateral load linearly increasing with the depth.
te s
di nu
Figure 5: Dimensionless head displacement for a limit lateral load linearly increasing with the
depth.
ye a
Figure 6: Comparison between the Broms solution and the present analysis for the ultimate
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lateral resistance of rigid piles in cohesionless soils.
Figure 7: Comparison between measured and computed pile deflections.

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Keywords: Piles, Shafts, Rigid piles, Pile design, Lateral Load, Lateral Deflection, Analysis.
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17
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Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering.

Submitted July 20, 2010; accepted May 14, 2012;

submitted to the Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering for publication

Viale Andrea Doria No. 6

95125 - CATANIA (ITALY)

On lateral deflection of horizontally loaded rigid piles in

solution for a free rigid pile in cohesionless soil is also presented.

way the non linear load-displacement response of a free rigid pile.

could be more appropriate in the foundation design.

reactions and lateral deflections under working loads.

for the soil-pile response:

around a point located at some depth below the ground surface;

the horizontal displacement is reached;

3 - SOIL-PILE INTERACTION FOR A CONSTANT LIMIT LOAD ALONG THE PILE

cohesive soil (Broms, 1964 a), we have:

plim = limit lateral load per metre length

surface and plim = 9suD at a depth 3D below the ground surface.

yielding occurs is:

Three cases will be distinguished in the analysis, as illustrated in Figure 2.

interaction will be purely elastic (Figure 2 a).

horizontal forces increase and a + b = L.

thus the effect of M0 is to reduce the depth of the rotation center.

The horizontal displacement at the pile head is simply given by:

introducing the following dimensionless forces:

where plim is the limit lateral load.

Thus, for example, we have:

It is possible to show that the case 1 occurs if :

and, in a dimensionless form,:

(see Figure 2 b), is:

The case 3 occurs if:

with the depth, thus:

we will distinguish the following two cases, as illustrated in Figure 4:

Case 1 . Referring to Figure 4 a, one obtains:

x (2h  3m)(1  6h  6m) 2

L (1  2h) 2 (3h  6m)  (2  4h)(2h  3m) 2

(2  4h)(3h  6m)  (4h  6m) 2 4h  6m

The case 1 occurs if:

can be derived for case 2:

The total failure in the soil will occur if:

8h 3  12h 2  6h  18m 2  12m 1 (44)

loads. For example, being T = 3JKpD, and assuming I’ = 30 °, J = 20 kN/m3, D = 1 m, L = 6 m, a

value m = 0.025 means M0 = 650 kNm.

plotted as a function of the non dimensional eccentricity e* = e / L = m / h = M0/H0L. It can be seen

and in dimensional form:

reaction Es to be utilized in the proposed approach.

5 - COMPARISON WITH EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

response of a free rigid shaft.

Journal of Geotechnical Engineering, Vol.109, No. 9, September 1983, pp. 1147-1164

1963, pp. 63-94.

Institute, Texas A&M University, College Station, Tex., Nov., 1977.

loaded piles in clays based on energy minimisation”. Geotechnique, 58(10), 815-820.

Drilled Shafts in Clay”. Journal of Geotechnical Engineering, 121(12), 827-835.

Geotechnical Engineering , 120(9), 1616-1624.

di Geotecnica, Vol. XXVIII, n° 4, pp.305-315.

Motta, E. (1997) . Discussion of “Laboratory Modeling of Laterally-Loaded Drilled Shafts in Clay”

Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, Vol. 123, No. 5, pp.489-490.

Figure1: Constitutive law for p-y curves adopted in the analysis.

lateral resistance of rigid piles in cohesionless soils.

Figure 7: Comparison between measured and computed pile deflections.

x (2h 3m)(1 6h 6m) 2

L (1 2h) 2 (3h 6m) (2 4h)(2h 3m) 2

(2 4h)(3h 6m) (4h 6m) 2 4h 6m

8h 3 12h 2 6h 18m 2 12m 1 (44)