ACE060 Deep Foundations

Jelke Dijkstra
jelke.dijkstra@chalmers.se
SB-445
 Lateral Capacity
l Design basis
- Installation (implictly accounted)
- Axial Capacity (previous lecture)
- Lateral Capacity (this lecture)
- Group Effects (seperate lecture)
- Other considerations (seismic response, local
seabed stability & scour)
 Lateral Capacity
l Later loads are governing for
- Anchor piles
- Monopiles
 Lateral Capacity
l Major difference between axial and lateral
loading is that lateral loading effects are
confined in the upper ~1-15 diameters of the
pile length.
 Lateral Capacity
l Following considerations:
- Lateral pile stiffness
l Prevent excessive lateral deflection of the pile
- Lateral pile strength
l Prevent failure by the pile moving sideways or rotating
through the soil
l Prevent bending failure of the pile
 Lateral Capacity
l Following considerations:
- Cyclic effects
l Assess any significant reduction in stiffness under cyclic
loading due to post-holing; this is the process by which a
gap opens behind the pile during horizontal deflection.
l Assess the distribution of cyclic bending moments along
the pile, which contributes to fatigue damage of the pile
Lateral Capacity
 Lateral Capacity
l Failure Mechanisms
- Difference between long and short piles
- Difference between unrestrained (free moving and
rotating pile head) and restrained pile heads (fixed
in structure)
 Lateral Capacity
l Laterally loading to failure
- Short piles: rigid rotation of the entire pile about a
centre of rotation zcrit below soil surface
Lateral Capacity
 Lateral Capacity
H ult = P ab− P bc
H ult e= − P ab L ab+ P bc Lbc

l A direct solution is found if the forces and

distances can be analytically expressed in
terms of zcrit
l Otherwise you have to iterate until a correct zcrit
is found.
 Lateral Capacity
- Long piles: formation of a plastic hinge at a depth
zcrit below soil surface. Maximum bending moment
and zero shear force!
 Lateral Capacity
l Horizontal equilibrium above and below the
plastic hinge. → only consider those above
l Maximum soil resistance needs to equal the
ultimate horizontal load
Lateral Capacity
 Lateral Capacity
H ult = P ab
M p = P ab (L ab+ e)

l z crit can be found iteratively if the plastic

moment of the pile is known. Subsequently, use
z crit calculate
to H ult
 Lateral Capacity
l Failure mechanisms pile with fixed head
l Three modes indentified
- Mode a: no plastic hinges
- Mode b: one plastic hinge
- Mode c: two plastic hinges
 Lateral Capacity
l Pile with fixed head, mode a
- No plastic hinges, pile will fail by rigid body
translation.
- The failure load is the integrated lateral resistance
along the length of the pile.
 Lateral Capacity
l Pile with fixed head, mode b
- 1 plastic hinge, an intermediate-length fixed head
pile will fail by rigid body rotation with a hinge
forming in the pile cap
- Same as unrestrained short pile with an additional
Mp term in the moment equilibrium equation about
the line of action of H
 Lateral Capacity
l Pile with fixed head, mode c
- 2 plastic hinges, a long fixed head pile will fail by
hinges at the pile cap and point of zero shear force
- Same as unrestrained long pile with an additional
Mp term in the moment equilibrium equation about
the line of action of H
 Lateral Capacity
l Pile with fixed head, mode c
- Same as unrestrained long pile with an additional
Mp term in the moment equilibrium equation about
the line of action of H
- Use twice the value for Mp in the equation:
M p = P ab (L ab+ e)
 Lateral Capacity

rigid body translation

rigid body rotation

 Lateral Capacity
l We now have an idea about the mechanism,
but how do we obtain Pf?
l Lateral resistance is related to soil shear
strength via a failure mechanism.
l Different failure mechanisms close to the
ground surface compared to at depth!
Lateral Capacity
 Lateral Capacity
l Limiting Soil Resistance, simplified cases:
- Shallow (uniform clay, normally consolidated clay,
sand)
- Deep (uniform clay, normally consolidated clay,
sand)
 Lateral Capacity
l Limiting Soil Resistance, uniform clay: shallow
- Failure of wedge of soil in front of the pile
- Gap is formed behind the pile
- Limiting resistance lower than at depth
 Lateral Capacity
l Soil wedge ahead of pile
 Lateral Capacity
l Limiting Soil Resistance, uniform clay: shallow
 Lateral Capacity
l Limiting Soil Resistance, uniform clay: shallow

-2DSu corresponds to passive

failure in front and gap behind
-9DSu corresponds to
transition from wedge to
horizontal flow around the
pile (plasticity theory).
 Lateral Capacity
l Limiting Soil Resistance, uniform clay: shallow

conservative assumption:
-low values near surface
-real values (9DSu-12DSu)
 Lateral Capacity
l Limiting Soil Resistance, uniform clay: deep
l Flow around a pile (plasticity solution)
 Lateral Capacity
l Limiting Soil Resistance, uniform clay: deep
l Flow around a pile (plasticity solution)
P f = 9Dsu
l Further analysis, taking into
account pile roughness
P f = 9.14Dsu − 11.92Dsu
smooth rough
 Lateral Capacity
l Limiting Soil Resistance, uniform clay: deep
l Experimental evidence for values as high as
P f = 10.5Dsu
l Rate effects from wave-induced loading results
in higher strain rates with corresponding higher
operative soil strength.
 Lateral Capacity
l Limiting Soil Resistance, uniform sand
l More difficult to determine, i.e. no standard
plastic failure mechanism.
- Lower bound stress fields difficult to construct, due
to combined self weight and load induced stress
- Upper bound for deep failure at constant volume is
required for kinematically admissable solution,
however this is impossible due to the required
normality condition which requires dilation.
 Lateral Capacity
l Empirical relations calibrated against database
l Dimensionless factor N
Pf Pf
N= =
Dσv D γ ' z
'

l N depends on friction angle, passive resistance

very close to surface level
 Lateral Capacity
l N depends on friction angle, passive resistance
very close to surface level, approach Barton:
P f = D K 2p σ 'v= D K 2p γ ' z

l Where the K p is the passive earth pressure

coefficient
1+ sin ϕ
K p=
1− sin ϕ
 Lateral Capacity
l API overpredicts for
long piles!
l Broms: N = 3 K p
2
l Barton: N = K p
 Lateral Capacity
l API overpredicts for
long piles!
l Broms: N = 3 K p
2
l Barton: N = K p

don't use for

carbonate soils!
 Lateral Capacity
l Limiting Soil Resistance, nc clay
l Normally consolidated clay has an increasing
shear strength profile with depth, simply:
su = k su z
l Limiting lateral resistance already reached near
surface. Deep flow round mechanism can be
assumed to act on the entire pile length
 Lateral Capacity
l Any shallow wedge
shaped failure mode can
be ignored; the limiting
lateral resistance
becomes:
P f = 9su D= 9Dk su z
 Lateral Capacity
l In summary:
 Lateral Capacity
l Design Charts
- By combining the equilibrium mechanisms and
lateral soil resistance descriptions a set of design
charts can be derived.
l Uniform Clay (Short and Long Piles)
l Linearly increasing soil resistance (nc-clay or sand)
 Lateral Capacity
l Design Charts
- Convert a combined moment and horizontal load
(both working in the same direction) in a horizontal
load applied at an eccentricity e, i.e.
M
e=
H
- Check if design load and pile combination lie at a
point below the appropriate failure line, use both
charts to confirm neither a short or long failure
mechanism will occur.
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l Uniform clay short piles

l H = horizontal load
l d=D = pile diameter
l e = load eccentricity
l l=L=pile length
l cu = su = shear strength
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l Uniform clay: long piles
l Mp is limiting moment
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l Linear increasing strength: short piles
P f = nzd
l Sand

l Clay
 Lateral Capacity
l Linear increasing strength: long piles
P f = nzd
l Sand

l Clay
 Lateral Capacity
l Previous solutions are idealized solutions for
limiting capacity in non-layered soils and linear
shear strength profiles.
l Also for lateral capacity beam column approach
 Lateral Capacity
l Load Transfer Analysis
D
τ sf
ultimate shaft
resistance

axial non-linear w 2 τ sf
elastic range: D = G
spring
Local settlement, w/D

pf
lateral non- ultimate lateral
linear spring resistance
y P/ D p
≈ =
elastic range: D 4G 4G

Lateral Displacement, y/D

 Lateral Capacity
l Beam column approach
 Lateral Capacity
l Closed form solution
- Lateral load f applied on pile (shear force Q and
bending moment M); force-bending moment

dQ
Q =− f
dz
dM
=Q
dz
Q+ Δ Q
d2M
2
=− f
dz
 Lateral Capacity
l Closed form solution Verruijt
- Young's Modulus E of pile and 2nd order moment I
- deformation pile-bending moment:
2 2
d u d M
Q EI 2 = − M 2
=− f
dz dz

Q+ Δ Q d4u
EI 4 = f
dz
 Lateral Capacity
l Closed form solution Verruijt
- Choose linear relation between horizontal pile
displacement and force: subgrade modulus k kN/m3
f = − ku d4u
EI 4
+ ku= 0
4 dz
d u
EI 4 = f d 4 u 4u
dz 4
+ 4= 0
dz λ
4 EI
λ=
k
 Lateral Capacity
l Closed form solution Verruijt
4
d u 4u 4 EI
4
+ 4= 0 λ=
dz λ k

- General solution:
u= C 1 exp( z / λ )cos(z / λ )+ C 2 exp( z / λ )sin ( z / λ )+ C 3 exp(− z / λ ) cos(z / λ )+ C 4 exp(− z / λ )sin ( z/ λ )
 Lateral Capacity
l Closed form solution Verruijt
- General solution:
u= C 1 exp( z / λ )cos(z / λ )+ C 2 exp( z / λ )sin ( z / λ )+ C 3 exp(− z / λ ) cos(z / λ )+ C 4 exp(− z / λ )sin ( z/ λ )

- Requires four boundary conditions to solve C1-C4

- Inf. long pile (z= ∞ C1 = C2 = 0)
2
d u
M = − EI 2
=0
dz
z=0
d3 u
Q= − EI 3
=− P
dz
 Lateral Capacity
l Closed form solution Verruijt
- General solution:

P λ3
u= exp(− z / λ ) cos( z /λ )
2EI
3
Pλ
u head =
2EI
 Lateral Capacity
l Continuum Approach (Randolph)
l Instead of subgrade reaction, solutions are
generated using boundary element or finite
element analysis.
l The following definitions are followed:
Lateral Capacity
 Lateral Capacity
l Continuum Approach (Randolph)
l Modified shear modulus G* added (normalize
results with different poisson ratio)
 Lateral Capacity
l Continuum Approach (Randolph)
l A parameter is introduced to quantify the
degree of non-homogeneity:
∗
G z = Lc /4
ρc =
Gc
 Lateral Capacity
l Continuum Approach (Randolph)
l The average value of G* over the critical pile
length Lc is Gc where the critical pile length is:
 Lateral Capacity
l Continuum Approach (Randolph)
l For some special cases the results are
summarized in the following charts.
 Lateral Capacity
l Free-head piles (Mhead=M0 = 0)

displacement profiles bending moment profiles

 Lateral Capacity
l Free-head piles (Moment loading (H0 = 0)

displacement profiles bending moment profiles

 Lateral Capacity
l Fixed-head piles (rotation theta = 0)

displacement profiles bending moment profiles

 Lateral Capacity
l Effect soft/hard top layer (desiccated crust or
gravel on the seafloor)
l Thickness tl with
stiffness kl
l Relative stiffness

kl
f L=
k
 Lateral Capacity
l Effect of relative stiffness of
top layer compared to
subgrade reaction of other
layers. relative pile displacement

relative moment in pile

 Lateral Capacity
l API recommends p-y curves for calculations,
these differ from the Barton approach (see
previous slides).
l Sand:

l For cyclic loading A = 0.9

l For static loading
 Lateral Capacity
l API recommendations for Pf ; sand, the lesser of
(constants C1-C3 from tables in API):

P f = Dp f = D C 3 γ ' z
 Lateral Capacity
l API recommended p-y curves for calculations,
clay:

l Where the limiting soil resistance:

 Lateral Capacity
l API recommended p-y curves for calculations,
clay, cyclic loading reduction of peak resistance
after y = 3yc at depths below zr (where pf
reaches 9 su) to: 0.72p f
l The characteristic distance for mobilisation, yc is
defined as: y c = 2 ε50 D
 Lateral Capacity
l In summary:
 Lateral Capacity
l In summary (API curves):
- Sand is stiffer than clay
- Sand mobilises the full resistance at a pile head
movement of ~0.01D, whilst for clay ~0.1D is
required (this is somewhat unrealistic)
- Sand suffers little degradation during cyclic loading,
whereas the recommendations include 30%
softening in clay at depth. Increasing towards the
surface.
 Lateral Capacity
l In summary (API curves):
- API curves are 40 yrs old! Some salient
observations
- Clay can degrade even more than outlined in the
API. Particularly due to softening during remoulding.
Even worse when piles are at close spacing. ~0.6
(rather than 0.72)
 Lateral Capacity
l In summary (API curves):
- Calcareous soils have a lower initial stiffness than
silica sand. Use power law p-y curve instead

- Where R, n and m are respectively 2.7, 0.72 & 0.58

 Lateral Capacity
l It doesn't stop here, what about change in
loading direction?
 Lateral Capacity
l Soil driven horizontal load on the piles
l Consolidation driven horizontal movements
q
 Lateral Capacity
l Soil driven horizontal load on the piles

Mq bending moment from surcharge load Dq

yq lateral deflection of pile head from surcharge load Dq
()p properties of pile material
Es, hs, Young’s modulus and thickness of the soft clay layer
Leq equivalent length of the pile (L for restrained pile head; 1.3L for
free-headed pile and 0.6L where the pile head is pinned)
 Lateral Capacity
l Use chart to get DM and Dy in the pile for a
certain surcharge load Dq as function of relative
stiffness between soil and pile (KR)
 Lateral Capacity
• Bourges and Mieussens
 Lateral Capacity
• Bourges and Mieussens
 Lateral Capacity
• Bourges and Mieussens