Large Deformation Finite-Element Simulation of Displacement-Pile Installation Experiments in Sand

Abstract

Displacement piles are driven to support a wide range of structures. Predicting their axial limiting capacities and load-displacement behavior is critical to many such engineering applications. Although field load tests may be conducted to check design assumptions, such tests can prove expensive and difficult to generalize. Numerical analyses undertaken to support design face uncertainty over the potentially important effects of pile installation because no well-developed method exists to predict the stresses applying during and after driving. Recent experiments have provided evidence regarding the stresses and strains developed around displacement piles during installation in sand that can help guide representative numerical modeling. This paper contributes to this development by reporting large displacement numerical analyses and linking these to high-quality experiments. The arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian (ALE) options available in ABAQUS 2016/Explicit have been employed to simulate highly instrumented calibration chamber tests made with closed-ended piles penetrated into sand. Predictions for the stress components developed during and after pile installation are presented, along with measurements made by other authors of the corresponding strain fields. The simulations’ broad agreement with the available experimental evidence indicates that the adopted ALE technique and soil modeling approach are appropriate for pile installation analysis in sands.