Modeling Behavior of Friction Pile in Compacted Glacial Till

Abstract

Experimental and numerical modeling studies related to the behavior of pile foundations are conventionally undertaken based on the assumption that the surrounding soils are in a state of saturated condition. Such an assumption may contribute to erroneous estimations of the stability and settlement behavior of pile foundations installed in unsaturated soils due to neglecting the influence of soil suction. In this paper, the behavior of a single friction pile loaded in drained and undrained conditions in a compacted glacial till is modeled using finite-element analyses (FEAs). The influence of the soil suction on (1) the shear strength and the modulus of elasticity of the soil and (2) the shear strength of the pile-soil interface derived from the experimental studies is discussed and considered in the FEA. There is reasonable agreement between the load-settlement behavior and the bearing capacity of the friction pile modeled using the FEA and the measured results from experimental studies. This study highlights the significant influence of the soil suction on the behavior of single friction pile and suggests a relatively simple approach to reasonably model the pile behavior using the FEA.