Analysis of the Theoretical Calculation Model for Lateral Load of a Snowflake Pile in Soft Clay

Abstract

As a new type of shaped steel sheet pile, the snowflake pile has the characteristics of a large specific surface area, low consumables, and high bearing capacity, which has good engineering application prospects. No theoretical study on its lateral limit-bearing characteristics exists, to the best of the authors’ knowledge. To obtain the lateral displacement of the pile top and the normalized distribution of lateral displacement along the pile length, the theoretical calculation model of a laterally loaded snowflake pile in soft clay is studied. The moment of inertia control equation of the snowflake pile section that considers different cross section shapes is established as the input parameter of the subsequent theoretical derivation. Using parametric analysis, the closed equation of the pile–soil contact stiffness of the snowflake pile is proposed. Based on the pile–soil contact stiffness and ultimate lateral soil resistance, the p−u curve model that is suitable for a snowflake pile is proposed. This paper mainly considers the elastic-plastic and hyperbolic models. Combined with the Winkler foundation model, the theoretical elastic-plastic and hyperbolic solutions of the laterally loaded snowflake pile are derived. The results of the two solutions are compared; the two solutions are consistent under a small lateral load. When the lateral load is large, the hyperbolic solution could more accurately reflect the nonlinear characteristics of the pile–soil interaction. The calibrated theoretical hyperbolic solution results are compared with the finite-element method (FEM) results by Abaqus, the degree of agreement is high, which indicates that the theoretical hyperbolic model that is proposed in this paper could provide sufficient accuracy for the calculation of the lateral displacement of a snowflake pile under lateral loads.