Euler–Bernoulli Pile Element for Nonlinear Buckling Analysis of Single Piles in Slope

Abstract

Piles are sometimes unavoidably embedded in slopes for supporting buildings on hills. In contrast to a pile on a horizontal ground, a pile in slope is acted on by additional sliding force from the slope, impairing its load-bearing capacity and buckling resistance. Nevertheless, proper assessment for the buckling of piles in slopes is difficult because of the simulation of distributed sliding forces and nonlinear pile–soil interactions. This paper refines the newly developed Euler–Bernoulli pile element formulation for the nonlinear buckling analysis of single piles in slopes by including the sliding force in element formulation, enabling a rigorous consideration of soil–pile interactions. Detailed mathematical derivations are provided. The numerical implementation is illustrated with a flowchart. Four examples for verification are demonstrated to reveal the robustness of the proposed method and the importance of considering the sliding force.