Piles Subjected to Lateral Soil Movements

Abstract

This paper presents a theoretical procedure for analyzing the lateral response of vertical piles subjected to lateral soil movements. The lateral pile response is computed via a simplified boundary-element analysis, using a specified free-field soil movement profile. For pile groups, the group effect may need to be preassessed via a finite-element analysis. Based on an appropriate assessment of the lateral soil movement, soil Young's modulus and limiting pile-soil contact pressure, the present method can generally give a satisfactory prediction of the pile response, as demonstrated via a study of some model tests and published case histories. For practical convenience, some elastic solutions have been generated using the present boundary-element program and are presented in chart form. These design charts tend to give an upper-bound estimation of the maximum pile bending moment and pile head deflection, although a close estimation may be obtained for small soil movements.