Deep Foundations

Pile Types and Axial Capacity

Deep Foundation are used because:
Use of shallow foundations is uneconomical or impractical.
These include:
 When actions applied to the foundation are large (e.g.
large concentrated loads);
 When near surface soils have low strength and or
stiffness (i.e. low resistance);
 Where large structures are situated on very
heterogeneous deposits, or where the soil layers are
inclined;
 For settlement-sensitive structures where displacment
must be kept small;
 In marine environments where tidal, wave or flow actions
may erode material from around a foundation near the
ground surface (this process is known as scour)
CV3013- LEC (2013) Week 4 2
Shallow and Deep Foundations

In shallow In deep foundations, side

foundations, load resistance becomes the
transfer is by dominant load transfer
lateral spreading mechanism compared to
i.e. end bearing end bearing.
through passive
resistance of soil

(Coduto 2001)

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Types of Deep Foundations

Lp > D 0

Lp >> D0

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Types of Piles

Figure 9.4 Principal types of pile: (a) precast RC pile, (b) steel H pile, (c)
steel tubular pile (plugged), (d) shell pile, (e) CFA pile, (f) under-reamed
bored pile (cast-in-situ)

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Types of Piles

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Shaft resistance or skin friction
Lp
Qsu  D0  int dz (circular cross - section) (9.1a)
0
Lp
Qsu  4Bp  int dz (squarecross - section) (9.1b)
0

For tapered pile,

D 0 and Bp are functionsof z,
i.e.
D 0 (z) and Bp (z)

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Pile Material

 Timber – Up to 25 tons
 Concrete – Up to 100 tons
 Steel – Over 25 tons

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Timber Piles
CP4:

Bakau is commonly used in Singapore for

small diameter piles and as piles for light
structures. Typically of 5 m length and 75
mm to 100 mm diameter tapering to
between 50 mm and 75 mm.

Kempas and Keruing are commonly used

for permanent works. Typically of 8 m
length and 100 mm to 175 mm square
sections. They are usually treated with
preservatives for durability.

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CV3013- LEC (2013) Week 4 10
Concrete Piles
Conditions Minimum Concrete
Grade
Hard and very hard driving conditions 40
for all piles and in marine works
Normal and easy driving conditions 30

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Steel Piles

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Pile handling

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Pile installation – Driven piles

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Pile installation – Driven piles

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 Piles can be damaged during driving

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 Piles penetrate through path of least resistance!
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Pile installation– Drilled Shaft

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Pile installation – Drilled Shaft

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Pile installation – Drilled Shaft

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Pile installation
Generally piles can be divided into two categories:

1. Displacement piles – involve displacement and

disturbance of the soil around the pile
2. Non-displacement piles or bored piles or cast-in-situ
piles – soil is removed by boring or drilling to form a
shaft first and then concrete is being cast in the shaft to
form the pile.

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Advantages and disadvantages of
displacement piles
Advantages Disadvantages
• Material of pile can be • May break during hard driving causing
inspected before installation delays and replacement changes, or
• Stable in ‘squeezing’ ground worse still may suffer major unseen
• Not damaged by ground damage in hard driving conditions.
heave when driving adjacent • Uneconomical if amount of material in
ground pile is governed by handling and driving
• Construction procedure stresses rather than by stresses from
unaffected by ground water. permanent loading.
• Can be readily carried above • Noise and vibration during driving may
ground level, especially cause nuisance or damage.
marine structures. • Cannot be driven in conditions of low
• Can be driven in very long headrooms.
lengths.
• Does not produce surplus
spoil.

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 Advantages and disadvantages of non-
displacement piles
Advantages Disadvantages
• Length can be readily varied to suit • Susceptible to ‘necking’ in ‘squeezing’ ground.
varying ground conditions. • Concrete is not placed under ideal conditions and
• Soil removed in boring can be cannot be subsequently inspected.
inspected and if necessary sampled or • Water under artesian pressure may pipe up pile shaft
in-situ tests made. washing out cement.
• Cab be installed in very large • Enlarged ends cannot be formed in coarse materials
diameters. without special techniques.
• End enlargements up to two or three • Cannot be readily extended above ground level
diameters are possible in clays. especially in river and marine structures.
• Material of pile is not dependent on • Boring methods may loosen sandy or gravelly soils
handling or driving conditions. requiring base grouting to achieve economical base
• Can be installed without appreciable resistance.
noise or vibration. • Sinking piles may cause loss of ground in coarse
• Can be installed in conditions of very soils, leading to settlement of adjacent structures.
low headroom. • Surplus spoil produced with attendant costs of
• No risk of ground heave. transporting from site.

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Pile resistance under compressive loads
Base resistance

Base resistance of piles and other deep

foundations can be determined analytically by
treating them as very deeply embedded shallow
foundations.

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Pile resistance under compressive loads
Base resistance in undrained materials Qbu


Qbu  A p sc Nccu  q  (9.2)
Q bu  A pq bu
D02
where A p  or B2p for circular or squarepiles, respectively
4
q   v at pile base

Nc factors described in shallow foundations can be applied

in Equation 9.2

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Pile resistance under compressive loads
Base resistance in undrained materials Qbu

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 Pile resistance under compressive loads

For deep foundations, limit scNc to 9.0

Fig. 8.10

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Pile resistance under compressive loads

Fig. 8.11

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Pile resistance under compressive loads

 CB 
Qbu  A psc 2  cu   Fz  A pq (8.21), (9.3)
 4 
sc  1.2

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Example
A 600 mm diameter solid end pile is driven to a depth of 15 m into a
firm, becoming stiff, clay with an average cu1 of 75 kPa along the shaft
and a cu2 of 100 kPa at the base. The unit weight of the clay is 18
kN/m3 and GWT is at the surface. Determine the base resistance of
the pile.

d L p 15
   25
B D 0 0.6
For deep foundations, limit scNc to 9.0

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Example
A 600 mm diameter solid end pile is driven to a depth of 15 m into a
firm, becoming stiff clay with an average cu1 of 75 kPa along the shaft
and a cu2 of 100 kPa at the base. The unit weight of the clay is 18
kN/m3 and GWT is at the surface. Determine the base resistance of
the pile.


Q bu  A p sc N cc u  q 

D02
4

sc N cc u 2  L p
  0.62
 9  100  18  15   330 .8 kN
4

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Bearing Capacity Factors (Undrained)
For Gibson’s soil: cu (z)  cu0  Cz (8.20)

Davis and Booker (1973)

 CB 
q f  2   c u   Fz
 4 

(8.21)

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Pile resistance under compressive loads
Base resistance in drained materials Qb

Qb  A p N q 'q   (9.4)
Q b  A pq b
D02
where A p  or B2p for circular or squarepiles, respectively
4
'q  'v at pile base

Note: Nq for shallow foundations (Eq. 8.33) are only approximate if

used in Eq. 9.4 because of the large Lp/D0.

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Pile resistance under compressive loads

Fig. 9.6 Bearing capacity

factors Nq for pile base
capacity of circular piles
(Berezantsev et al. 1961)

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Pile resistance under compressive loads
Shaft resistance
To determine shaft resistance int, we need to determine
the interface shear strength between the pile and soil.

The interface shear strength is dependent on:

1.Soil Type (clay, sand, rock etc.)

2.Pile type (timber, steel or concrete)
3.Pile installation method (displacement vs non-
displacement)

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Shaft resistance or skin friction
Lp
Qsu  D0  int dz (circular cross - section) (9.1a)
0
Lp
Qsu  4Bp  int dz (squarecross - section) (9.1b)
0

For tapered pile,

D 0 and Bp are functionsof z,
i.e.
D 0 (z) and Bp (z)

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Shaft Resistance – Undrained soil (a.k.a.
Total Stress Method or a Method)

int  acu (9.5)

where a  1 representsperfectly rough interface

a  0 representsperfectly smooth interface

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Shaft Resistance – Undrained soil (a.k.a.
Total Stress Method or a Method)
0.5
 c  cu
a  0.5Fp  u  1 for 1
 ' v 0  ' v 0

 cu 
 0.25
c
(9.6)
a  0.5Fp  
 for u  1
 ' v 0  ' v 0

Lp
Fp is related to pile slenderness ratio ,
D0
Lp
Fp  1.0 for  50
D0
Lp
Fp  0.7 for  120
D0
Lp
Interpolate Fp if 50   120
D0
CV3013- LEC (2013) Week 4 44
Shaft Resistance – Undrained soil (a.k.a.
Total Stress Method or a Method)
Alternatively,
0.2
 
 40   cu 
 0.3 (9.7)
a  0.55   
 ' 
 Lp   v0 
 D 
 0 

Proposed by Kolk and van der Velde (1996)

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Shaft Resistance – Undrained soil (a.k.a.
Total Stress Method or a Method)

Fig. 9.7
Determination of
adhesion factor
a in undrained
soil for (a)
displacement
piles

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Shaft Resistance – Undrained soil (a.k.a.
Total Stress Method or a Method)
For non - displacement piles,
a 1 for c u  30 kPa
 cu 
a  1.16    for 30  c u  150 kPa (9.8)
 185 
a  0.35 for c u  150 kPa

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Shaft Resistance – Undrained soil (a.k.a.
Total Stress Method or a Method)

Fig. 9.7
Determination of
adhesion factor
a in undrained
soil for (b) non-
displacement
piles

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Example
A 600 mm diameter solid end pile is driven to a depth of 15 m into a
firm, becoming stiff clay with an average cu1 of 75 kPa along the shaft
and a cu2 of 100 kPa at the base. The unit weight of the clay is 18
kN/m3 and GWT is at the surface. Determine the shaft resistance of
the pile.

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Shaft Resistance – Undrained soil (a.k.a.
Total Stress Method or a Method)
0.5
 c  cu
a  0.5Fp  u  1 for 1
 ' v 0  ' v 0

 cu 
 0.25
c
(9.6)
a  0.5Fp  
 for u  1
 ' v 0  ' v 0

Lp
Fp is related to pile slenderness ratio ,
D0 c u1 75
  0.61  1.0
'v 0 1518  9.81
Lp
Fp  1.0 for  50
D0
Lp 15
Fp  0.7 for
Lp
 120
  25  Fp  1.0
D0 D0 0.6
Lp
Interpolate Fp if 50   120
D0
CV3013- LEC (2013) Week 4 50
Example
A 600 mm diameter solid end pile is driven to a depth of 15 m into a
firm, becoming stiff clay with an average cu1 of 75 kPa along the shaft
and a cu2 of 100 kPa at the base. The unit weight of the clay is 18
kN/m3 and GWT is at the surface. Determine the shaft resistance of
the pile.
0.5
 cu  cu
a  0.5Fp  
 1 for 1
 'v 0  ' v 0
 0.51.0 0.61
 0.5
 0.64
int  ac u1  0.64  75  48 kPa
Qsu  A s int  D0 L p int    0.6  15  48  1357 kN

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Shaft Resistance – Drained soil (a.k.a.
Effective Stress Method or b Method)
P  'h 0
int  'h 0 tan ' , K 
'v 0
’h0
int  K'vo tan ' (9.9)
int  b 'z - b Method
i.e. b  K tan '
P+DP '  ' representsperfectly rough interface
'  0 representsperfectly smooth interface

Typically 0  '  '

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Shaft Resistance – Drained soil (a.k.a.
Effective Stress Method or b Method)
’ is a function of pile roughness and soil properties. It’s
value can be determined using the direct shear test.

Fig. 9.8

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Shaft Resistance – Drained soil (a.k.a.
Effective Stress Method or b Method)
K depends on soil type and stress history (quantified by f’
and OCR). For sands and gravels, K usually expressed as
K/K0.
int  K'vo tan '
 b 'v0 (9.10)
 K 
i.e. b  K tan '  K 0   tan '

 0
K

For cast-in-place piles, 0.7 < K/K0 < 1.0

For displacement piles, K/K0 may be as high as 2.0

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Shaft Resistance – Drained soil (a.k.a.
Effective Stress Method or b Method)
For fine-grained soils, Burland (1993) showed that b
correlates linearly with the yield stress ratio (cu/’v0):

 cu 
b  0.52   0.11
 (9.11)

 v0 
'

Equation 9.11 provides reasonable estimates of shaft

capacity for displacement and non-displacement piles.

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Shaft Resistance – Drained soil (a.k.a.
Effective Stress Method or b Method)

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Example
A 600 mm diameter solid end pile is driven to a depth of 15 m into a
firm, becoming stiff clay with an average cu1 of 75 kPa along the shaft
and a cu2 of 100 kPa at the base. The unit weight of the clay is 18
kN/m3 and GWT is at the surface. Determine the shaft resistance of
the pile using the b method.
 cu 
b  0.52   0.11


 v0 
'
 
 75 
 0.52    0.11  0.745
 15 18 - 9.81 
 
 2 
int  b 'v 0  0.745   18  9.81  45.8 kPa
15
2
Qs  A s int  D 0 L p int    0.6  15  45.8  1295 kN

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Pile compression capacity for under-
reamed piles
Do
For under-reamed piles, no
skin friction should be taken
below a level of 2D0 from
the top of the under-ream
and base resistance should
be determined as if the base
is not embedded (d = 0,
2Do scNc = 6.2 in Eq. 9.2 )
int = 0

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