Rational Mechanics of Axial Soil‐Pile Interaction

Abstract

In the framework of three‐dimensional elastostatics and a higher‐order structural mechanics theory, an exact formulation is presented for the torsionless axisymmetric load‐transfer problem of a thin‐walled cylindrical pile of finite length embedded in a semi‐infinite medium. By virtue of a set of integral representations for the responses of the pile and the half‐space under arbitrary interfacial loads, the tangential and radial conditions of contact in the soil‐structure interaction problem are shown to be reducible to a system of Fredholm integral equations. Through an auxiliary analysis, the orders of the singularities of the contact load distributions can be determined mathematically. The results are incorporated into a numerical procedure for the solution of the Fredholm integral equations. Typical solutions for the contact load transfers, the internal axial force variation, and the displacement response as a function of various material and geometric parameters are included to illustrate the fundamental characteristics of the mechanical‐interaction problem.