Bull Eng Geol Environ
DOI 10.1007/s10064-017-1111-7
ORIGINAL PAPER
Construction and verification of a unified p–y curve for laterally
loaded piles
Hongjiang Li1,2 • Liyuan Tong1,2 • Songyu Liu1,2 • Hongjun Liu3 • Mingfei Zhang1,2
Received: 15 January 2017 / Accepted: 23 June 2017
Ó Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany 2017
Abstract Estimation of the lateral pile load capacity is the
key design procedure for structures where lateral loads are
predominant, such as bridges, tall buildings and offshore
platforms. In the process of laterally loaded pile design, the
p–y curve method is the mainstream method and preferred
by designers compared to the elastic continuum or finite
element analysis. The traditional p–y curves are derived
from some specific field tests and limited data, which do
not reflect the overall conditions. In this study, a unified p–
y curve based on the stress increment perspective was
constructed by introducing Vesic cavity expansion theory
and considering the actual stress state of the surrounding
soils. The proposed p–y curve combines the contributions
of the expansion-induced soil radial stress increment, ver-
tical stress increment and lateral soil resistance caused by
deep pile rotation. To validate the proposed method, case
examples of lateral pile load tests in various soil conditions
were prepared and used to compare the p–y curves from the
test results and proposed methods. The p–y curves calcu-
lated from the proposed method show reasonable
& Hongjiang Li
lihongjiang55@126.com
& Liyuan Tong
atmu@seu.edu.cn
1
Institute of Geotechnical Engineering, Southeast University,
210096 Nanjing, China
2
Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Urban Underground Engineering
and Environmental Safety, Southeast University,
210096 Nanjing, China
3 the pile between the lateral soil resistance (p) undertaken
Shandong Key Laboratory of Marine Environment and
Geological Engineering, Ocean University of China,
266100 Qingdao, China
agreement with measured results and give a good predic-
tion in large deformation analysis.
Keywords p–y curve  Laterally loaded pile  Unified
model  Cavity expansion  Stress increment  Large
deformation
Introduction
The pile foundation is one of the most common foundation
types used for high-rise buildings and for marine, trans-
portation and other fields. The response analysis of lateral
pile deflection and lateral soil resistance is important
content for the designing laterally loaded piles. Nonlinear,
non-homogeneous and elastic-plastic features of sur-
rounding soils, however, make the design difficult and
restrict the development of lateral pile design methods. A
realistic analysis of laterally loaded piles should consider
the pile properties as well as the surrounding soil condi-
tions. The ‘‘m-value’’ method as an elastic subgrade reac-
tion method was often used previously and adopted to
various specifications in China (DBJ 1997; JGJ 2008). It
has the advantage of reflecting the characteristics of lateral
deflection of piles subjected to a lower horizontal force
well. Nevertheless, there is substantial variation between
the calculated results of the ‘‘m-value’’ method and actual
results when the horizontal force becomes larger (Ma
2006). So, at present, the mainstream international
approach is the p–y curve method for predicting the
response of piles subjected to horizontal loads. The p–
y curve describes a local relationship at a given depth along
by a series of springs and the lateral pile displacement
(y) at the same depth. It reflects the complexity and
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 H. Li et al.

nonlinearity of pile-soil interaction, is recommended by the
American Petroleum Institute (API 2011) and has been
applied in many pile projects.
Various methods have been proposed for the construction
of p–y curves (Matlock 1970; Reese et al. 1974, 1975; Kim
et al. 2004). Equations for some typical methods are evalu-
ated and summarized in Table 1. It can be shown that most of
the complete expressions of p–y curves are complicated
because of various parameters and forms. In summary, for
cohesive soils (clay), the soil’s unit weight c, lateral soil
resistance pu and critical lateral displacement y50 corre-
sponding to 50% mobilized pu are needed. For cohesionless
soils (sands), the unit weight c, internal friction angle / and
horizontal subgrade modulus k are needed. In addition,
another issue of deriving p–y curves is that the lateral soil
resistance (p) and lateral pile displacement (y) are both dif-
ficult to determine accurately by field tests.
The existing p–y curve models shown in Table 1 are
mostly derived from the complete fitting curve models based
primarily on the back analyses from lateral pile load tests.
Considering these p–y curves as unitive is questionable. With
a continuous lateral load on the pile head, the pile-soil
interaction is gradually strengthened, and the p–y curve
should be a kind of nonlinear incremental model. Further-
more, the description of p–y curves should be more accurate
based on the stress increment perspective. Unfortunately,
while p–y curve models developed by regressing the exper-
imental data have been extensively investigated, much less
attention has been paid to the theoretical analysis of derived
p–y curves, especially unified analysis models.

Table 1 Summary of typical p–y curves

Cohesive soils Cohesionless soils
p–y curve equation Model explanation References p–y curve equation Model explanation References
8  1=3 y
< y Piecewise function form; Matlock p¼ 1 y Hyperbolic curve Kondner
k þpu
p ¼ 0:5pu ðy\8y50 Þ suitable for soft clay; y50: (1970) from triaxial test; (1963)
: y50
p ¼ pu ðy [ 8y50 Þ critical lateral k: the soil reaction
displacement modulus
8
< 11cu D Piecewise function form; Reese pa ¼ ky dz ; pb ¼ pu BA Piecewise function Reese et al.
pu ¼ min ð2 þ cz=cavg suitable for hard clay; Cavg: et al. form; from lateral (1974)
: average of Cu in five times (1975) tests on Mustang
þ 2:83z=BÞcavg D
the pile diameter range sands; A, B are
parameters
8
> ð2 þ cz=cavg Unified p–y method; Sullivan p ¼ 1þy y Hyperbolic curve; Georgiadis
>
>
u k pu
< þ 0:833z=BÞcavg D suitable for clays (1977) Be verified et al.
u
pu ¼ min through centrifuge (1992)
>
>  ð3 þ 0:5z=BÞc uD
>
: tests
9cu D
8 nkczd
< y=y50 Based on soil constitutive Wang pk ¼ pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
ffi Double broken line Scott
p ; y  by50 1=sin uþ1=ð34vÞ
p ¼ a þ by=y50 u relation; suitable for soft et al. model. Based on (1980)
: clay and hard clay; a, b, b (1991) centrifuge tests. u:
pu ; y [ by50
are coefficients internal friction
angle
8 h i
< ½Fs þ ð1  Fs Þz=zr pu ; z  zr Piecewise function form; Zhang and p ¼ gApu tanh ky Hyperbolic tangent API (1987)
Wpu
p ¼ pu ; z [ zr suitable for clays; lateral Chen curve; widely
:
½0:5ðy=y50 Þ1=3 pu pile load tests in Zhenjiang, (1992) used;
China; Fs: reduction factor; W = (3 - 0.8z/
zr: influence depth D) C 0.9; g:
correction
coefficient

Þ y
p ¼ 2r0 Ncm ðb yðp=k Þ Based on the strain path Huang p¼ 1 y Hyperbolic curve; Kim et al.
r0 kini þpu
method; suitable for clays; et al. based on small- (2004)
cm: soil average yield (2015) scale pile tests;
stress; k*: soil stiffness kini: initial reaction
modulus
D and r0 are the diameter and radius of the pile; c is the soil weight; z is the embedment depth

123
Construction and verification of a unified p–y curve for laterally loaded piles

This article aims at presenting a unified method of p–

y curve construction for single piles based on the Vesic
cavity expansion (VCE) theory, which can describe the
effect of the soil stress increment progress. Laboratory 1 g
model tests by Zhu et al. (2010) are adopted to verify the
proposed method. Field lateral pile load tests are performed
to further verify the proposed unified p–y curve for field
conditions.

Interpretation of the analysis

Lateral bearing mechanism

As a complex pile-soil interaction issue, the key point of

designing pile foundations subjected to lateral loads is the
development of the surrounding soil stress. Meanwhile,
there are two design criteria: (1) the maximum lateral
displacement at the pile head and (2) the maximum
bending moment in the pile shaft. If these two criteria are
satisfied, the laterally loaded pile is considered to be safe.
The lateral bearing mechanism of piles is described as
shown in Fig. 1. The initial soil stress state changes, and
the soil displacement begins to emerge under the lateral
loading on the pile top. The active and passive stress zones
induced by pile deflection are distributed on both sides of
the pile foundation. As the surface of piles is easy to break
away from the soil at a small displacement, the lateral earth
pressure in the active zone often can be ignored (Ashour
and Norris 2000; Randolph et al. 2005). Hence, it is
important to focus on the soil stress state and stress sources
in the passive zone. Along with the deflection of the pile,
expansion-induced soil radial stress and vertical stress in
the passive zone have increased, and the soil was in a
nonlinear elastic-plastic extrusion state before a small
displacement. If the pile top load increases further, the soil
will enter the plastic yield stage corresponding to the larger
displacement. When the horizontal load is greater than the
limit load, the lateral displacement and displacement gra-
dient of the pile head increase significantly, along with the
surrounding soil squeezed uplift and passive failure surface
appearing. For the pile foundation controlled by the
strength of the pile shaft (e.g., bored pile), its failure is
often associated with a concrete fracture or pile shaft
broken phenomenon.
As shown in Fig. 1, the lateral bearing characteristics of
the rigid pile and flexible pile are different. Almost no
bending deformation appears in the rigid-pile shaft, which
shows a whole rotation feature around a deep point,
whereas the flexible pile possesses both lateral displace-
ment and bending deformation at the same time. The main
advantage of the p–y analysis method is that the bearing
characteristics of piles can be described well by p–y curves,
Fig. 1 Bearing mechanism of laterally loaded piles
whether rigid or flexible piles. Then, the VCE theory is
introduced below to analyze the soil stress deformation
characteristics for laterally loaded piles based on the stress
increment perspective.
Relationship between cavity expansion and lateral
soil deformation
Expansion theory was first proposed by Bishop et al. (1945)
and employed to solve the problem of metal indentation.
Then, it was introduced into dealing with geotechnical issues
by Gibson and Anderson (1961). Vesic (1972) recommended
the theory to study the earlier soil cavity expansion problem
and gave the basic solution for the plasticity expansion of
compressible soils (hereafter referred to as VCE). At present,
the VCE theory has been widely used in pile foundation
engineering (Salgado and Randolph 2001; Yu 2013). In the
cavity expansion analysis, soil is assumed to comprise
elastic-plastic materials following the Mohr-Coulomb or
Tresca yield criterion, and its deformation is calculated
according to the plastic yield deformation zone and elastic
deformation zone, respectively. As a plastic theory, VCE has
the advantage of dealing with large soil deformation issues,
which are distinguished from the small displacement
deformation elasticity theory.
For the lateral pile-soil interaction problem, there are
also two zones, the plastic yield deformation zone and
elastic deformation zone, in the soil around the pile
because of the squeezing action. Figure 2 shows the pile-

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Pile-soil plastic surface
P(y) Plastic
Elastic zone
extension
y Potential shear
failure surface
Fig. 2 Distribution of soil deformation on the squeezed side in the
pile-soil interaction process
Fig. 3 Schematic and stress distribution of Vesic cavity expansion
soil interface is headed into a plastic state and the plastic
zone expands gradually. On the other hand, the elastic zone
retreats away from the pile draft. Finally, the limit state
shear failure surface will appear in surrounding soils when
the soil stress is larger than the soil shear strength. All of
these are in conformity with the cavity expansion mecha-
nisms. Hence, the relationship between the lateral soil
resistance and displacement can be determined by the VCE
theory.
Figure 3 shows the expansion schematic of a cylindrical
0 interface along with the increase of the soil lateral dis-
cavity of radius r0 . Before the cavity expansion, the initial
soil stress is in a state of equilibrium, and the vertical stress
and radial stress of natural soil are given, respectively, as
follows:
rz0 ¼ cz ð1Þ
rr0 ¼ K0 cz ð2Þ
-3
where c is the soil’s unit weight (kN m ), z is the depth
(m), and K0 is the coefficient of lateral earth pressure at
rest.
Under an expansion pressure pu, the hole size expands
and soil stress redistribution occurs with the soil extrusion
deformation (see Fig. 3). The influence of pu would
decrease with the increase of the distance from the hole’s
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H. Li et al.
central axis line. The stress increment expression for the
plastic zone is defined by Vesic (1972) as follows:
 
E
pu ¼ Cu ln þ Cu ð3Þ
2ð1 þ lÞCu
 
0 Rp
Drr ¼ 2Cu ln þ Cu ð4Þ
rD
 
0 Rp
Drz ¼ 2Cu ln ð5Þ
rD
0
where Drr is the radial soil stress increment (kPa).Drz is
0
the vertical soil stress increment (kPa). E, m is the Young’s
modulus (kPa) and Poisson’s ratio of soils, respectively. Cu
is the soil undrained shear strength (kPa), rD is the dis-
placement (m) away from the hole’s central axis line, and
Rp is the affected radius of the plastic zone (m), which is
represented by:
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
E
Rp ¼ r00 ð6Þ
2ð1 þ lÞCu
Construction of p–y curves
The VCE model shown in Fig. 3 can be applied to any type
of soil. Previous application of the VCE theory was con-
fined to the piling, pressure tests, static cone penetration
and tunnel construction issues. Less attention has been
given to the bearing features of laterally loaded piles using
the VCE theory. Based on the above analysis, however, it
has been inferred that there is a certain correlation between
the expansion-induced stress and lateral pile load capacity.
Radial soil stress increment
Owing to the continuous lateral load applied on the pile head,
the soil deformation on the squeezed side is unrecoverable.
The plastic zone would expand outward from the pile-soil
placement. In this study, the radius of the pile foundation is
marked as r0, and the soil around the pile is assumed to meet
the Mohr-Coulomb yield criterion. To better study the con-
tinuous expansion effect for lateral pile movement, the rD in
Eqs. (4) and (5) was redefined with the new meaning that the
rD point can move along with the movement of the single
pile. If making this point taken to rD = r0, the fixed point is
attached directly to the surface of the pile, and the stress
increment of the pile-soil interface can be obtained at every
loading step. Note that the lateral expansion progress of the
single pile is different from the basic cavity expansion pro-
gress. In the latter, the soil stress distribution around the pile
is directly calculated by Eqs. (4) and (5) under the condition
of a fixed hole’s central axis position and convertible pile
Construction and verification of a unified p–y curve for laterally loaded piles

sizes, while the former is described by the estimation of the Substituting Eq. (8) into Eqs. (4) and (5), the soil stress
stress increment corresponding to the lateral pile movement increment of laterally loaded piles can be obtained after
conducted under the condition of the fixed pile size and rearranging:
convertible hole’s central axis position. As a lateral expan- 0
!
sion, the hole’s central axis position is determined by the Rp  y
Drr ¼ 2Cu ln þ Cu ð9Þ
variable location of the single pile, and the values of the r0
expansion-induced soil stress increment are totally depen- 0
!
dent on the pile location as well. In other words, the lateral Rp  y
Drz ¼ 2Cu ln ð10Þ
pile movement in each location can be regarded as an r0
irregular cavity expansion, which can be analyzed step by
step using VCE theory. Therefore, the expression of the where Drr , Drz is the radial soil stress increment (kPa) and
affected radius of the plastic zone in every step of the lateral vertical soil stress increment (kPa) for laterally loaded
expansion becomes the core problem to solve the interaction piles, respectively, r0 is the pile diameter (m), and y is the
issues of the laterally loaded pile and soil foundation. lateral pile displacement (m).
Figure 4 shows the cross-section diagram of the lateral Note that the lateral soil resistance applied on the pile
expansion process for laterally loaded piles. Point A is surface is in the form of circular uniformly distributed
attached to the pile-soil interface and represents the largest loads after determining the newly affected radius of the
0
lateral soil resistance. Obviously, when the soil stress at plastic zone (Rp  y). In this study, considering the lateral
point A reaches a limit passive state, a crushing rupture soil expansion stress along the direction of loading (see
appears in the passive zone, as shown in Fig. 2. For the Fig. 4), the circular distribution assumption for the lateral
lateral movement of the pile foundation, the soil in the soil resistance was taken to cover the normal radial stress
passive zone is continuously squeezed, accompanied by the and the side shear stress between the pile and soil (Zhang
position changing of the single pile. Corresponding to the et al. 2005). Obviously, the resultant force of circular
lateral displacement (y) shown in Fig. 4b, the soil stress at distribution is greater than that of elliptical distribution
point A under this condition is similar to the expansion- apart from the side shear stress, which already contains the
induced stress of a supposed pile with a diameter (r) based effect of side shear stress. Hence, the normal radial stresses
0
on VCE theory. Therefore, the affected radius Rp of the of circular distribution were taken into account in the
plastic zone after the single pile diameter expanding from determination of the lateral soil resistance. These are dis-
r0 to r can be obtained from Eq. (6) as the following: tinct from the actual elliptical stress distribution and are a
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi kind of approximate expression. However, the latter
0 E instance verification proves that it is reasonable for the
Rp ¼ r ð7Þ
2ð1 þ lÞCu equivalent circular distribution assumption instead of the
actual elliptical distribution. This makes it easy for prac-
As seen in Fig. 4b, when the location of the single pile ticing engineers to effectively determine the appropriate
changes, the hole’s central axis position is supposed to lateral soil resistance when designing laterally loaded piles.
make adjustments. Choosing the location of the single pile Finally, making Eq. (11) a simplification, then Eq. (9) can
after movement as the next hole’s central axis position, the be represented as:
newly affected radius of the plastic zone is marked as: sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
0 E
Rp ¼ Rp  y ð8Þ v¼ ð11Þ
2ð1 þ lÞCu
 
vr  y
Drr;1 ¼ 2Cu ln þ Cu
r0
   ð12Þ
vr0 þ ðv  1Þy
¼ 1 þ 2 ln Cu
r0

Vertical soil stress increment

The radial soil stress increment in Eq. (12) corresponding

to every horizontal displacement (y) is part of the major
source of the lateral soil resistance (p), except the contri-
Fig. 4 Lateral expansion model for laterally loaded piles: a before bution from the vertical soil stress increment. As a result,
lateral loading and b after lateral loading

123
 H. Li et al.

the lateral soil resistance calculated by Eq. (12) does not where K(y) is the coefficient of lateral earth pressure; Drr;2
take into account the variety regulation with depth and is the radial soil stress increment, which is another
failed to obtain a complete calculated value. Actually, in important component of lateral soil resistance.
the process of lateral pile motion, the vertical soil stress
(rz) would increase as well as the increase of radial soil Deep pile rotation effect
stress (rr), always accompanied by the rotation of principal
stress axes. As shown in Fig. 5, soil deformation on the The deep pile rotation effect means that the stress and
squeezed side is derived from a synthesis result of the strain states of soils vary under the influence of deep pile
compression and shear effects. With the increase of the rotation. However, the radial soil stress increment induced
radial and vertical stress ratio, the relationship between the by deep pile rotation is considered ignorable or insignifi-
compression deformation and shear deformation changes cant in traditional p–y analysis methods. This obviously
constantly, and the soil stress state changes accordingly. does not accord with the actual situation and cannot deal
Hence, the superposition radial stresses induced by the soil with large deformation problems of laterally loaded piles.
compression and shear effects are calculated to make up In this section, the radial soil stress increment induced by
the lateral soil resistance for laterally loaded piles. This is deep pile rotation is presented as a part of the final p–
different from the conventional method, which ignores the y curves.
contribution of the vertical stress effect to the lateral soil Figure 6 shows a schematic diagram describing the
resistance. influence of the coefficient change of lateral earth pressure
According to the VCE theory, the function of the ver- on a soil unit for different pile rotation angles (h). The
tical soil stress increment, combined with Eqs. (10) and DrrK and DrzK in Fig. 6 represent the soil stress increments
(11), can be directly given as: in radial and vertical directions, respectively. It can be seen
0
!
Rp  y that the coefficient values of lateral earth pressure change
Drz ¼ 2Cu ln along with the different positions of rotational deep piles.
r0
  The radial soil stress increment DrrK induced by the deep
vr  y ð13Þ pile rotation is given by:
¼ 2Cu ln
r0
  dKðyÞ
vr0 þ ðv  1Þy DrrK ¼ ðy  y0 Þcz ð15Þ
¼ 2 ln Cu dy
r0
where y0 is the initial soil displacement (m), y is the soil
Hence, the expression of the corresponding radial soil
displacement after deep pile rotation, and K(y) is the
stress increment induced by the vertical soil stress incre- coefficient of lateral earth pressure corresponding to y.
ment is defined as:
Starting from the initial rotational moment (amount to
Drr;2 ¼ KðyÞ  Drz y0 = 0) of the pile foundation, Eq. (15) can be simplified
  as follows:
vr0 þ ðv  1Þy ð14Þ
¼ 2KðyÞ  ln Cu
r0

σz0 = Σγz σz = Σγz+∆σz

σr0 = K0Σγz σr = K0Σγz+ k0∆σz

K0Σγz Σγz σz σr σ

Fig. 5 Diagram of the soil stress state along with the lateral pile
movement Fig. 6 Change of radial soil stress affected by deep pile rotation

123
Construction and verification of a unified p–y curve for laterally loaded piles

dKðyÞ The p–y curve shown in Eq. (23) is a unified model

DrrK ¼ ycz ð16Þ
dy considering the three effects together from the radial soil
Hence, the radial soil stress increment induced by deep stress increment, vertical soil stress increment and deep
pile rotation is determined as: pile rotation. The proposed p–y curve is generated from
the stress increment perspective, which is distinguished
dKðyÞ
Drr;3 ¼ DrrK ¼ ycz ð17Þ from the conventional p–y methods. It is suitable for
dy cohesive soils and can also be properly applied in sands
Finally, lateral soil resistance p(y) is the stacking result in a poor drainage condition. The main advantage of the
of the radial soil stress increment, vertical soil stress unified p–y curve model is that it does not depend on the
increment and deep pile rotation effect, which can be back analysis and data fitting of lateral pile load tests
obtained from Eqs. (12), (14) and (17), given as follows: and can be suitable for a broad application space. In
addition, considering the contribution of the vertical soil
pðyÞ ¼ ðDrr;1 þ Drr;2 þ Drr;3 Þ  D ð18Þ
stress increment and deep pile rotation to the lateral soil
where p(y) is the lateral soil resistance (N m-1); D is the resistance, Eq. (23) can also reflect the variation char-
pile diameter (m). acteristics of p–y curves along the pile depth and deal
The process of soil around the pile changing from a resting with the large deformation problems for rigid and flex-
state to limit the passive state is gradual. The lateral earth ible piles.
pressure applied on the pile is influenced by both the dis-
placement values and displacement modes. There have been
various methods for estimation of the coefficient of lateral earth Validation using case examples
pressure K(y) (Schmidt 1966; Soubra 2000; Mei and Zai 2001).
In this study, K(y), considering the lateral pile deflection effect Comparison with 1 g model test results
proposed by Mei and Zai (2001), is adopted as follows:
  To examine the validity of the proposed method, laboratory
k k  4 k0
KðyÞ ¼ ln A   ð19Þ 1 g model test results were collected from the literature and
1 þ e sa y 2 2
used for this examination. The 1 g model test results in this
where study were selected from Zhu et al. (2010). These were
kp  ka selected because the derivation of p–y curves was obtained
A¼ ð20Þ from large deformation tests of laterally loaded piles. The
kp  2k0 þ ka
laboratory 1 g model test was carried out using China
4kp Qiantang River silty sand and a steel rigid pile of a
k¼ 4 ð21Þ
k0 diameter and length equal to 114 mm and 7 m, respec-
tively. The 1 g model test was conducted at an indoor box
where sa is the lateral soil displacement corresponding to
with poor drainage conditions. Hence, the silty sand in the
active earth pressure; k0, ka and kp are the coefficients
box is in a state of poor drainage and has an actual
corresponding to earth pressure at rest, active earth pres-
undrained shear strength. The detailed soil parameters in
sure and passive earth pressure, respectively, which can be
the test are given in Table 2.
calculated by the effective internal friction angle of soils
Figure 7 shows the comparison of p–y curves from the
(Clough and Duncan 1991). The rate of the coefficient of
model test and different methods. The predicted methods in
lateral earth pressure, denoted [dK(y)/dy], is given by:
this study include those from Reese et al. (1974), API
y
dKðyÞ k0 k ln A  Asa (1987) and Kim et al. (2004) besides the proposed unified
¼ y
2 ð22Þ
dy p–y curve method. Results show that the predicted p–
2sa Asa þ 1
y curves from the proposed unified method are in agree-
Finally, introducing a simplified symbol H, the p–y ment with the measured data. Yet, the predicted ultimate
curve function generated from Eqs. (18–19) and Eq. (22) lateral soil resistances based on the methods of Reese et al.
can be defined as follows: (1974), API (1987) and Kim et al. (2004) are much smaller
8 than the measured results, which indicates that the three
>
> dKðyÞ conventional methods are not suitable for the analysis of
< pðyÞ ¼ 2Hr0 þ 2r0 KðyÞðH  Cu Þ þ 2r0 ycz
   dy laterally loaded piles with large deformations. Moreover,
>
> vr0 þ ðv  1Þy the initial stiffnesses of p–y curves calculated by the Reese
: H ¼ 1 þ 2 ln Cu
r0 et al. (1974) and API (1987) method, respectively, are both
ð23Þ larger than those of the measured p–y curve. Instead, the

123

Table 2 Soil conditions and
properties adopted in the
analysis Basic indexes
Soil pressure indicators
Fig. 7 Comparison of p–y curves from the model test and different
methods at depth of three times the pile diameter along the ground
depth (Zhu et al. 2010)
proposed unified p–y curve can efficiently predict the
development process of lateral soil resistance; meanwhile,
the prediction accuracy is greatly enhanced in the analysis
of the laterally loaded pile with large deformations.
Field lateral pile load tests
To further verify the proposed unified p–y curve method
for actual field conditions, a field lateral pile load test was
conducted. The test site was located in Jingjiang, near the
Yangtze River in China. The soil profile at the test site
showed a composite soil layer condition with silty clay,
soft clay and some sand layers. CPTU tests adjacent to the
test pile were conducted with a penetration depth reaching
z = 33 m. The ground water table (GWT) at the test
locations was documented immediately after the CPTU
tests. A representative profile of the CPTU sounding is
presented in Fig. 8. The u0 line is on behalf of the hydro-
static pressure line.
The test bored pile was installed and loaded in the
medium-coarse sand layer with a diameter (D) and length
equal (L) to 1.0 and 68 m, respectively. The flexural
rigidity of the pile shaft is EI = 0.16 9 107 kN m2. The
123
H. Li et al.
Soil parameters
c (kN m-3) u0 (°) l E (MPa) Cu (kPa)
17.5 28.5 0.34 2.2 13.3
k0 ka kp sa (mm)
0.523 0.361 2.770 1.14
Fig. 8 Representative profiles of the piezocone penetration test
one-way circulation loading method and hierarchical load
modes are used during the static free-head testing. Prior to
conducting the lateral pile load test, a series of reinforce-
ment stress meters was placed along the pile. Loading
continued until the pile head lateral displacement reached
6 mm for ensuring the pile’s later use. Figure 9 presents
detailed configurations of the test pile, and Fig. 10 shows
the pictures of lateral loading arrangements in the testing
process. In addition, the bending moments of the pile shaft
at every loading step are calculated by reinforcement stress
meters, from which the p–y curves can be obtained from
double differentiation and integration of the bending
moment profiles (Mezazigh and Levacher 1998; Kim et al.
2004).
The p–y curves derived from Eq. (23) in comparison
with those of lateral pile load tests are depicted in Fig. 11.
Soil properties have been identified by field and laboratory
tests. Soils at the scope of 5D depth are silty clay, the
required parameters of which are presented in Table 3 for
the proposed unified p–y curve method. The predicted p–
y curves using the proposed method are in similarly close
agreement with the measured curves. While the results in
Fig. 11 validate the proposed unified p–y curve method, it
is also indicated that the depth profiles for the construction
of p–y curves are important and significantly affect the
calculated lateral soil resistances.
Construction and verification of a unified p–y curve for laterally loaded piles

H
1
2
3
4
5
6 Wire protection

7
Depth z (m)

8
9
10

11
Reinforcement Install sensor
stress meter Fig. 11 Measured and predicted p–y curves for the silty clay layer

Table 3 Soil parameters of the silty clay layer

Depth Cu (kPa)
.

Layers Pile sensor arrangement 1D c (kN m-3) u0 (°) E (MPa) 19.8

2D 18.6 19.5 11.9 21.6
Fig. 9 Arrangement and installation of reinforcement stress meters
3D l IP IL 23.9
corresponding to soil layers
4D 0.35 11.7 0.82 24.2
5D 25.5
Data collection box Test pile
Reaction block
Conclusions
Wires Pressure sensor
The p–y curve method is the most commonly employed
approach to analyze the behavior of piles subjected to
lateral loads. Efforts have been made in this article to
Hydraulic jack
PC develop a new method to build p–y curves for laterally
loaded piles based on the Vesic cavity expansion theory.
Fig. 10 Photos of lateral pile load test device and field data Case examples of laterally loaded piles in various soils
collection were executed to validate the proposed method. The fol-
lowing conclusions are derived:
Pile response computations based on the proposed p–
1. A unified p–y curve method for estimation of the lateral
y method were performed using the computer program
pile response was proposed. The proposed method can
Lpile (Ensoft 1999). The program has the advantage that
overcome the shortage of the back analysis required in
it allows inputing customized p–y curves from the
traditional p–y curves and reflect more comprehensive
external Eq. (23) against using the program’s own. Fig-
information of the pile’s properties and soil conditions.
ure 12a shows the measured and predicted pile top
2. Comparisons between predictions and measurements
deflection versus the applied lateral load, while the
for 1 g model test piles from the literature have been
measured and predicted moment distributions are shown
executed, and they provide strong evidence of the
in Fig. 12b. The results show that the predicted respon-
potential for the proposed unified method for the
ses are very close to the measured responses. The
laterally loaded pile design. The proposed unified p–
location of the maximum predicted bending moment is
y curve is more suitable for examining the development
downward with the increase of the applied lateral load.
properties of lateral soil resistance than conventional
The agreement evident in Fig. 12 confirms that the
approaches and give better predictions in large defor-
proposed p–y method is suitable for the analysis of lat-
mation analysis than the Reese, API and Kim methods.
erally loaded piles.

123

Fig. 12 Measured and predicted pile responses: a applied load versus
pile top deflection and b measured and predicted moment profiles
3. A field lateral pile test in Yangtze River alluvial soil
deposits was conducted to further verify the proposed
unified p–y curve for actual field conditions. The p–
y curves from the proposed method showed reasonable
agreement with the measured results.
Acknowledgements The majority of the work presented in this
article was funded by the National Key Research Projects of China
(Grant No. 2016YFC0800201), the National Natural Science Foun-
dation of China (Grant No. 41572273), the Construction Science and
Technology Research Project of Jiangsu Province (Grant No.
2014ZD66) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central
Universities and the Graduate Student Scientific Research Innovation
Program of Jiangsu Province (Grant No. KYLX16_0244). These
financial supports are gratefully acknowledged.
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