Effects of Tip Location and Shielding on Piles in Consolidating Ground

Abstract

Pile foundations located within consolidating ground are commonly subjected to negative skin friction (NSF) and failures of pile foundations related to dragload (compressive force) and downdrag (pile settlement) have been reported in the literature. This paper reports the results of four centrifuge model tests, which were undertaken to achieve two objectives: first, to investigate the response of a single pile subjected to NSF with different pile tip location with respect to the end-bearing stratum layer; and second, to study the behavior of floating piles subjected to NSF with and without shielding by sacrificing piles. In addition, three-dimensional numerical analyses of the centrifuge model tests were carried out with elastoplastic slip considered at the pile-soil interface. The measured maximum