Indian Geotech J (January–March 2013) 43(1):105–114
DOI 10.1007/s40098-012-0037-z
ORIGINAL PAPER
Experimental and Numerical Study on Pile Behaviour
Under Lateral Load in Clayey Slope
S. V. Sivapriya • S. R. Gandhi
Received: 25 August 2012 / Accepted: 8 December 2012 / Published online: 25 December 2012
Ó Indian Geotechnical Society 2012
Abstract Structures such as jetties, transmission towers,
elevated highways and various industrial units are often
supported by pile foundation on natural or man-made soil
slope. The piles on slopes are subjected to lateral load from
the super structure, earth pressure from the unstable soil,
wave and current actions in case of marine structures, etc.
The behaviour of a pile on sloping ground under lateral
load is different from that on a horizontal ground. The aim
of this paper is to experimentally and numerically evaluate
the behaviour of a single pile in sloping clay layer sub-
jected to lateral load. 1 g model tests are performed in
laboratory test tank on instrumented pile embedded in
clayey bed with varying slopes and shear strength. The
behaviour of a single pile placed either at crest or at dif-
ferent distances from crest on slope is evaluated. Static
lateral load was applied in a direction towards the down-
ward slope. Numerical study comprise of 3-D finite ele-
ment analysis using PLAXIS code. The input parameters
used for the analysis were validated by comparing the
PLAXIS results with the experimental result. A detailed
parametric study was then carried out by varying the clay
shear strength and the slope angle. Based on the analysis,
non-dimensional design charts are prepared for lateral
capacity in piles on sloping ground. A worked example is
included demonstrating the use of the design charts for pile
on clay slope subjected to lateral loading.
S. V. Sivapriya  S. R. Gandhi (&)
Geotechnical Division, Department of Civil Engineering,
IIT-M, Chennai 600036, India
e-mail: srgandhi@iitm.ac.in
S. V. Sivapriya
e-mail: sivapriyavijay@gmail.com
Keywords Pile foundation  Lateral load 
Sloping ground  Laboratory experiment 
Numerical analysis  Design charts
Introduction
Structures are often required to be supported on slopes which
are natural or manmade. Typical examples are hill slopes, rail
embankment, road embankments, river training bunds,
dredged slope in harbour, etc. These structures on slopes are
frequently heavy and subjected to large lateral loads due to
wind, earthquake, waves, etc. which require pile foundation.
The lateral capacity of pile in the direction of downward slope
is expected to be less compared to pile on horizontal ground
and it further decreases with increase in slope steepness. The
lateral capacity also depends on the relative position of the pile
with respect to crest of the slope. The behavior of soil slope
with a pile foundation passing through it is a complex soil-
structure interaction problem. This paper reports experimental
and numerical study to evaluate the behaviour of piles and to
estimate it’s capacity in a sloping clay layer, when subjected to
lateral loads.
Pile passing through slope can be classified into two
categories; active piles and passive piles as shown in
Fig. 1. The active pile passes through a stable slope and
subjected to lateral load which is transmitted to the stable
soil with slope through shear and moment in the pile. In a
passive pile, the unstable soil slope induces a force and the
bending moment to the pile in addition to the externally
applied forces which is transferred to the soil to a deeper
level, below the probable soil slope failure surface or
unstable soil zone [6]. Passive piles can be considered as
reinforcements for preventing further sliding of an unstable
slope [4, 13, 14, 17].
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106
Fig. 1 Active/passive piles in (a)
slope. a Active pile, b Passive
pile
Firm Soil
2R
Active Wedge
Stable Slope, F.O.S > 1.4
(b)
The theoretical studies [5, 7] reported a separation
between the pile and the surrounding soil in case of an
active pile at small load levels. The ultimate lateral resis-
tance reduction factor was found to be a function of soil
property and slope angle [12]. From experimental and
theoretical study, it was found that the lateral capacity
increases with increase in spacing between the piles in the
embankment when it is loaded either towards the slope or
against the slope. The other way of increasing the lateral
capacity is by increasing the pile length (in case of short
rigid pile) and the relative density of soil [1].
The behaviour of a pile in a slope is studied [16] and the
authors proposed that the effectiveness of pile lateral resis-
tance can be increased by providing restrain at the pile top, in
addition to increasing the soil stiffness and strength. The
bending moment of the pile however, depends on the slope
and the soil profile. The lateral resistance of the pile decreases
as the ground profile changes from horizontal to a slope and
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Indian Geotech J (January–March 2013) 43(1):105–114
Load
ϕ 45–ϕ Passive wedge
Load
Unstable Slope F.O.S < 1.4
2R Passive wedge
Active Wedge
45 +ϕ/2 45 – ϕ/2
this results in larger displacement [1, 3]. The bending moment
is higher for slope with lower relative density compared to
slope with higher relative density. With increase in surcharge
load, the bending moment increases along the length of the
pile irrespective of relative density. However for safe design
of pile in slope, maximum displacement, moment and shear
acting on the pile should be checked [9].
The pile closer to the crest of the slope shows higher
bending moment compared to piles away from crest of
slope on horizontal ground and when it is at crest, the
bending moment is 1.15 times of that in horizontal ground.
The effect of bending moment in pile becomes negligible
for piles placed beyond 10–45 times diameters away from
the crest slope [2]. The optimum location of pile group
founded in slope is away from the crest of the slope [18].
Due to the existence of slope, the lateral resistance reduces
and it could be fully exerted when pile penetration below
the slope is five or six times that of pile diameter [10].
Indian Geotech J (January–March 2013) 43(1):105–114 107

Fig. 2 Schematic diagram of Data Acquisition System

the experimental set-up Computer

Read-Out Unit

LVDT
0.3 m
Pulley
0.1l

0.15l
Variable
0.45 m

0.4l Dead
1
Instrumented Pile weight
0.2 l

Clay Variable

1m

As existing analytical methods do not consider the slope Table 1 Index properties of the soil
effects on lateral capacity of piles, a new p-y criterion is S. no Properties Value
proposed [8] through finite element analysis with the effect
of slope and it is found to overestimate the lateral capacity 1 Liquid limit 66 %
of the pile on the crest of slope when compared to pile in 2 Plastic limit 27 %
horizontal ground. 3 Plasticity index 39 %
Although there have been many research on the lateral 4 Specific gravity 2.68
capacity of piles in a horizontal ground, there is limited 5 Grain size distribution
guidelines or codal procedures for estimating the lateral Sand 0.5 %
capacity of piles on a slope. This study therefore attempts a Silt size 23.0 %
detailed study on the lateral behaviour of a single pile in sloping Clay size 76.5 %
clay layer. The behaviour is evaluated both by experiments on 6 IS-classification CH
1-g model and by numerical method using 3D-PLAXIS.

desired slope was obtained. The model pile was subjected

Experimental Work
A typical test set-up is shown in Fig. 2. The dimension of
the steel tank chosen is 1 m 9 0.6 m 9 0.5 m deep. A
minimum width of 0.6 m is chosen to eliminate the side
wall effects. One side of the wall of the tank was made of
glass to enable the observation of slope during bed prep-
aration and testing. Clayey soil collected from Siruseri,
Chennai (India) was used for the experiments and its
properties are given in Table 1. The tank was filled with
the clayey soil with required consistency for two different
shear strengths of 30 and 50 kPa. The pile was positioned
at required locations and the soil was placed such that
to lateral loads in the direction of downward slope at
horizontal surface level without restrain to evaluate its pile
capacity under free head condition. The bending moment
along the length of the pile was measured with electrical
resistance type strain gauges bonded to the pile surface.
A series of 20 tests were performed on a free headed
long flexible pile with different locations of the pile and
slopes as shown in Table 2. The pile was connected to the
loading frame by a steel rope for applying lateral load
through dead weights and the displacement at pile head
was measured using LVDT. The displacement and bending
strain readings were noted after 15 minutes of each load
application.

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108 Indian Geotech J (January–March 2013) 43(1):105–114

Table 2 Load (N) corresponding to 5 mm displacement 225 mm 225 mm

Shear strength (kPa) Slope Distance from the crest Dial Gauge

Crest 1R 2R
Test Pile Strain Gauge
30 Horizontal 340
1V:3H 330 265 165 Dead Weight

1V:2.5H 300 215 155

450 mm
1V:2H 255 175 100
Stand
50 Horizontal 485
1V:3H 435 310 240
1V:2.5H 405 300 225
Fig. 3 Schematic diagram of beam bending test
1V:2H 330 265 200

Preparation of the Test Bed 6

Bending Moment,Nm
5
The soil was mixed with a predetermined quantity of water
to obtain the desired shear strengths. The required quantity 4
of clay was air dried and required amount of water was
3
added to achieve moisture content of 40 and 31 % for shear
strengths of 30 and 50 kPa respectively. Appropriate care 2
was taken to maintain the water content throughout the test
1
in all cases. The conditioned soil was mixed thoroughly
and filled in the tank in layers by the kneading compaction 0
technique manually (Rao et al. [15]). 0 50 100 150 200

The pile is considered as non-displacement type which was Strain, µm/m

initially placed in position, followed by filling the tank with
clayey soil around the pile. The verticality of the pile was
ensured throughout process of filling. The slope was then pre-
pared and extra clay was removed. The strength achieved after
complete placement was checked by taking cylindrical undis-
turbed sample of 38 mm diameter and 76 mm height with a
sampler tube and conducting unconfined compression test.
Model Pile and Instrumentation
A hollow aluminum pipe of 16 mm outer diameter, 14 mm
inner diameter and 450 mm long with a bottom plug was
used as pile. The pile was placed with its tip resisting on
bottom of the tank. Strain gauges were fixed along the pile
at different elevations as shown in Fig. 2. The strain gauges
used are electrical resistance type with a gauge length of
5 mm to measure the bending moment at fixed depth. The
flexural stiffness of the pile was determined by conducting
simply supported beam test as shown in Fig. 3. From the
central deflection under a known load at centre, the flexural
stiffness of the beam was calculated from the Eq. 1.
Pl3
d¼ ; ð1Þ
48EI
where d is the deflection at centre (mm), P is the load at
centre (N), l is the centre to centre span (450 mm), EI is the
flexural stiffness (N mm2).
Fig. 4 Strain gauge response
The relationship between applied load and deflection
was found to be linear. For P = 73.5 N and observed
deflection d = 1.5 mm, the flexural stiffness of the pile is
worked out as 93.1 9 106 N mm2. Figure 4 shows the
relation between strain gauge reading and actual bending
moment, which is almost linear and the same relationship
was used to find the same relationship was used to find the
bending moment from strain readings.
Testing Program
The tests were conducted for three different slopes, three
positioning of piles and two soil strength. The position of
pile is fixed in-terms of R which is the relative stiffness
factor obtained from the lateral load test conducted in
horizontal ground using Eq. 2 by Matlock and Reese [11]
Au HR3
u¼ ð2Þ
EI
rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
4 EI
R¼ ; ð3Þ
Dkh
where u (mm) is the displacement of a single free head pile,
Au is the displacement constant for a free head pile at ground
level, H(N) is the lateral load applied, kh is the soil modulus

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Indian Geotech J (January–March 2013) 43(1):105–114
(kN/m3) and D is the breath of the pile (mm). The soil mod-
ulus was worked back from the test using Eq. 3. The relative
stiffness factor for soil with cohesive strength of 30 and
50 kPa soil was worked out to be 94 and 76 mm respectively.
Numerical Analyses
A finite element program PLAXIS-3D 2010 version 2 is
used for numerical analysis. The soil-bed used in the
experiments was modelled in the software with slope.
Lateral load was applied at the pile head similar to the
experimental condition. The bending moment values
obtained from these analyses were compared with the
experimental results. Subsequently, analyses were carried
out considering concrete pile of 1 m diameter concrete pile
to develop design charts for shear strengths of 30, 50, 100
and 150 kPa.
Soil and Pile Modeling
The linear elastic and perfectly-plastic Mohr–Coulomb
failure criterion was used. The properties of the soil used in
the model are given in Table 3. Discretization of the soil
element is a triangular element with 10 node tetrahedral
soil element and 3 node line element for beam. Fine mesh
is generated with element dimension being 0.075 m. An in-
built model Embedded pile was used as pile element sim-
ilar to the beam element modeled as linear elastic with
interface element. The boundary conditions imposed are of
general fixity; the vertical boundary in normal x-direction,
parallel to yz plane where Ux = 0 and free in yz direction.
Similarly for other two directions and the bottom boundary
is taken as fixed in all directions (Ux = Uy = Uz = 0).
Lateral load was applied as point load at the head of the
pile at soil level in the direction of downward slope as
applied in the experiments. Due to the long elastic flexible
behaviour of the pile, the displacement at the bottom of the
pile is small and hence the toe of the pile is hinged.
Table 3 Input parameter–numerical study
Parameter Name Clay Pile
Material model Model Mohr–Coulomb Linear elastic
Drainage type Type Undrained C – This was used as base parameter to find percentage reduction
Young’s modulus E(kPa) 8025,16640, 35000 70E6 and 27.4 E6
and 52500
Unit weight c(kN/ 17.9, 18.4,18.9 27 and 25
m3) and 19.8
Poisson’s ratio l 0.495 0.21
Cohesion c(kPa) 30,50,100 and 150 –
Ko determination – Automatic Automatic
109
Analysis of the Model
In total stress analysis, three modules viz. input parameter,
calculation and output phases were involved. In input phase,
the geometry of the experimental model was modeled. The
drainage condition adopted is Undrained (C), in which total
stress analysis is done with undrained parameters assuming
the load applied on pile is sudden. The stiffness is modelled
as undrained Young’s modulus as Eu, undrained poisson’s
ratio lu and soil strength modelled as cu and uu = 0. In
calculation phase, the water level and staged constructions
are involved. In staged construction, the parts of the geom-
etry model can be activated/deactivated and the properties
can also be modified. The analysis is divided into two phases;
in the first phase of analysis, generation of initial stresses in
equilibrium with the self-weight of the soil is carried. The
second phase of analysis is to carry out elastic–plastic
deformation analysis to a small deformation theory where
undrained analysis is considered.
As embedded pile option is used in the analysis, a rep-
lica layer is generated to simulate a layer above the slope.
The generation of initial stress is done in the phase-I
analysis, where ko procedure is adopted. In phase II- cal-
culation module, plastic analysis is opted where the replica
layer is deactivated. The results were viewed in graphical
form in the output phase.
Results and Discussion
From the experimental study carried, comparison is made
for load and bending moment for different shear strength,
slope angle and position of pile. Using PLAXIS numerical
analysis is made and it is then compared with the experi-
mental results to validate the model. Further parametric
study is carried out for wider range of parameters.
Experimental Investigation
The design lateral load of long flexible pile is governed by
lateral deflection rather than the ultimate lateral capacity. For
initial loads, the soil near the pile at surface carries the load by
mobilising passive pressure and transfers the load to a greater
depth as load increases. Initial test was performed by keeping
the pile in a horizontal ground and subjected to a lateral load.
in pile capacity for different slope. Thereafter the experiments
were repeated with varying slope angle. Figure 5 shows the
typical load displacement curve for a slope of 2H: 1 V (30 and
50 kPa) and for different positions of the pile. The load car-
rying capacity for the pile corresponding to 5 mm deforma-
tion in various slopes for different location of pile is given in
Table 2.
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110 Indian Geotech J (January–March 2013) 43(1):105–114

(a) 400 (a) 350

Horizontal Ground
Crest Crest 1R 2R
1R
300 2R
250

Load, N
Load, N

200

150
100

50
0 15 20 25 30
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Slope Angle, Degree
Deformation, mm
(b) 450
(b) 600 Crest
1R
500 2R
350

Load, N
400
Load, N

300
250
200
Horizontal
100 Crest
1R 150
2R 15 20 25 30
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 Slope Angle, Degree
Deformation, mm
Fig. 6 Load at 5 mm deformation for various position of pile. a Soil
Fig. 5 Load–deformation of single pile for a slope of 2H:1V. a Soil strength-30 kPa, b Soil strength-50 kPa
strength-30 kPa, b Soil strength-50 kPa

moment increases with the increase in loading. Figure 8

The capacity increases about 30 % when the strength
increases from 30 to 50 kPa in case of pile loaded in
horizontal ground condition. Subsequently the reduction in
capacity increases as the pile moves away from the crest
towards the slope. Figure 6 shows the lateral load capacity
corresponding to 5 mm for all the three slopes at different
positions of the pile for two different shear strengths. It is
observed that as the slope increases (3H: 1 V to 2H :1 V),
the capacity reduces by 10–30 % when the pile is placed at
crest position. The reduction is almost linear and
consistent.
The reduction in capacity increases as the pile distance
from crest, towards the slope increases. The capacity
reduces by 10–40 % when the pile is placed at crest
compared to pile placed in horizontal ground condition.
The reduction in capacity increases as the pile is moved
towards the slope as shown in Fig. 7. The reduction in
capacity is due to reduction in passive pressure acting in
front of the pile.
The maximum moment in a free-head pile subjected to
lateral load occurs at a depth of 0.5–2.4 times the relative
stiffness factor. It depends on the relative stiffness of the pile-
soil, loading condition, slope and soil profile. The bending
shows the bending moment diagram for the slope 3H:1 V with
the pile position at crest, 1R and 2R; where the load is applied
towards the slope for 50 kPa soils for 51 N.
Numerical Investigation
The model generated using PLAXIS-3D is shown in Fig. 9.
In lateral loaded pile, the parameter influencing the load-
deformation character of the pile is the interface element
and it posses zero thickness positioned along the shaft and
tip of the pile. These interface element is used when there
is a possibility of occurrence of gap in the back of the pile
during loading. However in the analysis the beam element
used as embedded pile has in-built interface element.
Figure 10 shows the bending moment of the pile under
various load conditions for a slope of 2H:1 V (30 and
50 kPa soil) and it is inferred that the bending moment
increases with increase in load but the pattern is similar for
both the soil condition. In Fig. 11a, a comparative graph
between experimental and numerical values of load-
deformation for a slope of 2H:1V with different positioning
of piles with shear strength of 30 kPa is shown. The
bending moment comparison graph is shown in Fig. 11b,

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Indian Geotech J (January–March 2013) 43(1):105–114 111

(a) 350
0.6 m
1V:3H Application of load
300
1V:2.5H
1V:2H
Horizontal
250 Pile with Interface
Load, N

Element

200 0.45 m

150

100
Crest 1R 2R
50 1m
0 50 100 150 200
Distance from crest, mm
Fig. 9 Model generated using PLAXIS-3D for a slope of 3H:1V
(b) 550
1V:3H
1V:2.5H
450 1V:2H
Horizontal (a) Bending Moment, Nm (b) Bending Moment, Nm
Load, N

0 5 10 -5 0 5 10 15
0 0
350
0.05 0.05

0.1 0.1

0.15 0.15
250
Depth, m

Depth, m
0.2 0.2
51N 50N
Crest 1R 2R 0.25 0.25
111N 93.63N
150 0.3
167N
0.3
138.23N
0 50 100 150 200 0.35 0.35
225N 227N
Distance from crest, mm 0.4 0.4
330N
0.45 0.45
Fig. 7 Comparison of lateral capacity of a pile when moved away
from the crest. a Soil strength-30 kPa, b Soil Strength-50 kPa Fig. 10 Bending moment of single pile at crest in a slope of 2H:1V-
Numerical. a Soil strength-30 kPa, b Soil strength-50 kPa

Bending Moment, Nm
0 2 0 3 0 5
0 0 0 From the comparative study, it is observed that the
0.05 0.05 0.05 Application of numerical values are higher than the experimental values.
0.1 0.1 0.1 load
The variation in load—deformation compared to the
0.15 0.15 0.15
experimental result is about 12–17 % and the percentage
Depth, m

0.2 0.2 0.2

0.25 0.25 0.25 2

variation in bending moment is about 10 %. As the inter-
0.3 0.3 0.3 face between the pile and soil is bonded and there is no
1
0.35 0.35 0.35 allowance of gap formation is the reason for the variation.
cu =50 kPa
0.4 0.4 0.4
0.45 0.45 0.45
Pile @ crest 1R 2R
Design charts
Fig. 8 Bending moment in pile at different location
Non-dimensional design charts are developed for the dif-
ferent cohesive strength of the clay, slope angle and posi-
tion of pile with respect to the crest. The load is converted
when the pile is kept at crest for the slope 2H:1V. Fig- in terms of a non-dimensional parameter H5mm/cuDR and
ure 12 show the increase in maximum bending moment plotted against different slope angles in Fig. 13a–c. The
with increase in load, the variation is almost linear. The charts are prepared with the results of parametric study
maximum bending moment occurred at half-depth for pile obtained from experimental work and on PLAXIS analysis.
on horizontal ground; for pile at crest, 1R and 2R, the depth As the experimental and numerical values show a similar
of occurrence maximum moment increases. trend, both the values are incorporated in the chart. The

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112 Indian Geotech J (January–March 2013) 43(1):105–114

(a) 400 15.00 (a)

Maximum Bending Moment, Nm

Crest
1R
300 2R
10.00 Crest + FEM
Load, N

1R+FEM
200
2R+FEM

5.00
100

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 0.00
0 100 200 300 400
Deformation, mm Load, N
Horizontal Ground Crest
1R 2R 25 (b)

Maximum Bending Moment, Nm

Horizontal - FEM Crest - FEM Crest
1R - FEM 2R - FEM 1R
20
2R
Bending Moment, Nm Crest + FEM
(b) -5 0 5 10 15 15
1R+FEM
0
2R+FEM
0.05 10
0.1
5
0.15
Depth, m

0.2
51N-FEM 0
0.25 111N-FEM 0 100 200 300 400
0.3 167N-FEM Load, N
255N-FEM
0.35 51N Fig. 12 Comparison of maximum bending moment between exper-
0.4 111N
imental and numerical values for single pile in a slope of 2H:1V.
167N
0.45 255N
a Soil strength-30 kPa, b Soil strength-50 kPa

Fig. 11 Experimental and numerical comparison of pile in 2H:1V

slope with soil strength of 30 kPa. a Load-deformation, b Bending
moment for pile at crest
relationship in the non-dimensional chart generated is
represented in the form of best fit straight line. With known
shear strength value, diameter and calculated R value the
lateral capacity of the pile corresponding to 5 mm dis-
placement is calculated for the position of pile related to
R value and slopes angles.
Inorder to calculate the lateral capacity of the pile in
field condition corresponding to 5 mm displacement
founded in sloping ground, non-dimensional charts are also
developed. Numerical parametric study is considers pile of
1 m dia, 25 m long, M30 grade concrete, with four dif-
ferent shear strengths (30, 50, 100 and 150 kPa), varying
slopes (3H:1 V, 2.5H:1 V and 2H:1 V) and positions of the
pile (at crest, 1R from crest and 2R from crest towards the
slope). The Young’s Modulus (Es) of the soil and pile (Ep)
is obtained using the formulae 4 and 5. The chart devel-
oped as explained above is shown in Fig. 14.
Es ¼ 350 cu ðkPaÞ
pffiffiffiffiffi
Ep ¼ 5000 fck ðN=mm2 Þ;
pffiffiffiffiffi
where, fck is the compressive strength of the concrete.
The properties of the soil and pile are given in the Table 3.
Illustrative Example
To illustrate the use of the design charts developed, lateral
capacity of 0.5 m diameter concrete pile placed in a slope
of 2H:1 V with cu = 50 kPa and placed at the crest, 1R
and 2R towards slope as shown in Fig. 15 has been eval-
uated using the following steps.
(i) Find the value of Relative stiffness using the Eq. 3. For
Ep = 27.4 9 106 kPa (for M30 grade concrete), I =
3.0625 9 10-3 m4 and kh = 2515.2 kN/m3 (worked
back based on lab test); the value of R works out to 2.4 m.
(ii) The lateral capacity of the pile corresponding to
5 mm is calculated using Fig. 14a–c. For a slope
angle of 2H:1 V, the non-dimensional value of H5mm/
ð4Þ cu DR is found as 0.82, 0.5 and 0.19 for correspond-
ing pile location at crest, 1R and 2R from crest
ð5Þ respectively.

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Indian Geotech J (January–March 2013) 43(1):105–114 113

(a) 1.4
10
Exp-30 kPa
(a)
1.3

9 Exp-50 kPa 1.2

Hu/CuDR
1.1
FEM-30 kPa
H5mm/cuDR

8 1
FEM-50 kPa
0.9

7 0.8
0.7
16 18 20 22 24 26 28
6 Slope Angle (Degree)
Pile @
crest
FEM-30 kPa FEM-50 kPa
5 Pile @
16 18 20 22 24 26 28 crest FEM-100 kPa FEM-150 kPa
Slope Angle, Degree
1
(b) 7 Exp-30 kPa (b)
Exp-50 kPa 0.9
FEM-30 kPa
FEM-50 kPa 0.8

Hu/CuDR
6 0.7
0.6
H5mm/cuDR

0.5
5
0.4
0.3

4 0.2
Pile @ 16 18 20 22 24 26 28
1R
Slope Angle (Degree)
3 FEM-30 kPa FEM-50 kPa
Pile
16 18 20 22 24 26 28 @ 1R FEM-100 kPa FEM-150 kPa
Slope Angle, Degree

(c) 0.8
(c) 5
0.7
0.6
Hu/CuDR

4 0.5
0.4
H5mm/cuDR

0.3
3 0.2
Exp-30 kPa
0.1
Exp-50 kPa 16 18 20 22 24 26 28
2 Slope Angle (Degree)
FEM-30 kPa
Pile @ FEM-30 kPa FEM-50 kPa
FEM-50 kPa Pile @
2R 2R
FEM-100 kPa FEM-150 kPa
1
16 18 20 22 24 26 28
Fig. 14 Non-dimensional curves for different slopes with different
Slope Angle, Degree soil strength-real time model. a Pile at crest, b Pile at 1R towards the
slope, c Pile at 2R towards the slope
Fig. 13 Non-dimensional curves for different slopes with different
soil strength- laboratory model. a Pile at crest, b Pile at 1R towards
the slope, c Pile at 2R towards the slope Similarly, the lateral capacity of single free headed pile
in sloping ground in different slope can be found using the
developed charts.
(iii) The horizontal capacity of the pile when placed at crest, These values are applicable typically for a berthing
1R and 2R corresponding to 5 mm correspondingly structure where the shear force is applied at cut-off level
works out to be 49, 26 and 11 kN respectively. close to the horizontal ground at top. For applications

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114
25 m
500 mm ϕ
bored pile
Clay Soil
cu = 50 kPa
Fig. 15 Schematic diagram of the illustrative example
where shear is applied at lower level on slope, there will be
increase in pile capacity.
Summary and Conclusion
Based on the detailed literature review it has been noted
that no detailed guidelines are available for estimating the
lateral capacity of piles placed on slope. In the present
study the capacity of piles on slope have been determined
based on 1 g model tests in laboratory test tank and
numerically by PLAXIS- 3D. The results are presented in
non-dimensional form for different slope angles and for
different cohesive strength of soil. Use of design chart is
demonstrated by an illustrative example for the field con-
dition. The design chart developed can be a useful tool for
estimating the lateral capacity.
Based on the study carried out, following conclusions
have been drawn.
1. The reduction in pile capacity is observed to be about
10–50 % depending on cohesive strength and slope
angle when the pile is kept on the slope compared to
that on a horizontal ground.
2. With increase in shear strength from 30 to 50 kPa, the
lateral load capacity of the pile increases about 25 %
(pile at crest), 30 % (pile at 1R) and 30–50 % when
the pile is at 2R towards the slope.
3. The capacity reduction compared to the capacity in
horizontal ground at crest is about 3–25 % for 30 kPa
soil and 10–32 % for 50 kPa soil as the slope increases
from 3H:1 V to 2H:1 V.
4. When the pile is placed at 1R position towards the
slope, the capacity reduction is about 20–50 % for
30 kPa soil and 35–45 % for 50 kPa soil with increase
in slope angle. Similarly, pile at 2R position the
reduction capacity 50–70 % as the slope increases.
5. The elevation of maximum bending moment differs
depending upon the position of piles from 0.5 to 2.4R.
123
Indian Geotech J (January–March 2013) 43(1):105–114
6. The finite element predicts the bending moment which
is higher compared to experimental results.
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