Lateral Bearing Performance of a Defective Pile-Supported Wharf with Batter Piles

Abstract

The lateral bearing performance of a defective pile-supported wharf located on a slope was investigated through centrifuge modeling, and a numerical model was employed to back-analyze the centrifuge test data. The pile foundation system was composed of double-plumb, single-plumb, and batter piles, and the defects were located at the front row of the double-plumb piles. The failure mode, bearing lateral load, bent displacement, and pile bending moments were examined. The results show that overturning with slight torsion occurred in the bent under the lateral load. The piles clearly deformed around defects and were separated from the soil on the landside. The lateral bent displacement increased rapidly after a threshold lateral load value was reached. The bending moments were generally positive (i.e., the side facing the water was in tension) in the upper parts and negative in the lower parts of the double-plumb piles. The bending moments of the double-plumb pile heads increased with the lateral load, whereas the bending moments directly underneath the slope surface exhibited decreasing-constant tendencies with increasing lateral load. The bending moment of the single-plumb pile was generally positive above the slope surface and in compression below the slope surface, and decreasing-constant tendencies were observed with increasing lateral load just below the slope surface. The bending moment of the forward batter pile was negative and decreased with the lateral load around the slope surface and in the middle of the soil. The bending moment of the backward batter pile was generally positive above the slope surface, negative below the slope surface, and remained almost constant around the soil.