Ultimate Bearing Capacity of Helical Piles as Electric Transmission Tower Foundations in Unsaturated Soils: Analytical, Numerical, and Experimental Investigations

Abstract

In this paper, the compressive and tensile ultimate bearing capacity of helical piles, in the load range required for designing 63-kV transmission towers, are studied by conducting analytical and numerical investigations. In this light, an explicit easy-to-use analytical framework was developed by considering the unsaturated soil condition that was validated against experimental records. Also, finite-element models were constructed for fully saturated and fully dry soil conditions. Then, to validate the analytical and numerical solutions in fully saturated and fully dry soil conditions, three compressive and one tensile field tests were carried out, and the results were compared quantitatively with analytical and numerical calculations. Comparative studies showed that the analytical, numerical, and experimental results have a high level of conformity. In accordance with the load ranges of transmission towers, analytical parametric studies were conducted for different geometrical aspects of the helical piles in different soils. Also, for two typical unsaturated sand and clay soils, the ultimate load of helical piles was calculated versus matric suction. Moreover, a vast numerical parametric study was performed to investigate the role of the geometrical aspects of helical piles and soil characteristics on the load-transfer mechanism and ultimate bearing-capacity values for helical piles driven in sandy and undrained saturated clayey soils. Results showed that the maximum load capacity of helical piles occurred in a matric suction less than that of a fully dry soil. In addition, the soil type and the geometrical aspects of the helical pile were shown to have significant effects on the load–displacement behavior and ultimate bearing-capacity values.