Influence of Rigidity on Laterally Loaded Pile Groups in Marine Clay

Abstract

Pile-supported marine structures are designed for significant amounts of lateral load. In this paper, the influence of parameters like flexural rigidity of pile material, embedment length of pile, and arrangement of piles with respect to the direction of loading on the behavior of laterally loaded pile groups has been studied through an experimental program. The results obtained from lateral load tests carried out on model pile groups arranged at different spacings and embedded in a marine clayey bed are presented and discussed. The results indicate that the lateral load capacity of the pile group depends mainly on the rigidity of pile soil system for different arrangements of piles within a group. This is further substantiated by a simplified finite element analysis bringing in the differences in passive resistance. The group efficiencies under lateral loading obtained from the present investigation are found to be in good agreement with the predictions of earlier researchers.