Effects of Surface Roughness on Lateral Load–Carrying Capacities of Piles Embedded in Sand

Abstract

In this study, the effect of pile surface roughness on the lateral load–carrying behavior of piles embedded in sand was investigated. Centrifuge tests were conducted on various model piles with different degrees of surface roughness. The effects of the pile surface roughness, given by the normalized roughness, Rn, on the lateral-load capacity and lateral displacement were analyzed. From the centrifuge tests, it was observed that the lateral-loading capacity markedly increased with the pile surface roughness. The effect was most significant within low degrees of surface roughness up to Rn of 0.024. Surface roughness parameters for the p-y method were proposed as a function of Rn, which could explain the effect of the pile surface roughness on calculated lateral load–displacement curves. Finite element analyses were performed to assess and compare the experimentally and numerically determined effects of the pile surface roughness. The numerical simulation of laterally loaded piles does not fully reproduce the experimental effect of surface roughness on the lateral-load response, which needs to be properly considered in the analysis.