CEG3203 Foundation design

Deep Foundations – Bearing Capacity - Worked example 2

Consider a steel pile 30m long, with circular cross-section, d = 406mm in clay, as shown in the figure.
Calculate the ultimate load Capacity of the pile.

Depth from Saturated unit Cu (kN/m2) OCR

ground surface weight (kN/m3)
(m)
0-5 18 30 1

5-10 18 30 1

10-30 19.6 100 2

Solution:

Dr Bruna Lopes 1
CEG3203 Foundation design
Deep Foundations – Bearing Capacity - Worked example 2

1. Determination of Qp Meyerhof’s Method

Saturated Clays under undrained conditions (φ=0)

𝑄𝑄𝑝𝑝 ≈ 𝑁𝑁𝑐𝑐∗ 𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝐴𝐴𝑝𝑝 = 9𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝐴𝐴𝑝𝑝

406 2
𝜋𝜋 �1000� 𝑚𝑚2
𝐴𝐴𝑝𝑝 = = 0.129𝑚𝑚2
4
𝑄𝑄𝑝𝑝 = 9 × 100𝑘𝑘𝑘𝑘/𝑚𝑚2 × 0.129𝑚𝑚2 = 116.5𝑘𝑘𝑘𝑘

2. Determination of Qs α Method

𝑄𝑄𝑠𝑠 = 𝛴𝛴𝑝𝑝∆𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿
𝑝𝑝 = 𝜋𝜋𝜋𝜋 = 𝜋𝜋 × 0.406𝑚𝑚 = 1.28𝑚𝑚

Obtain α

Depth (m) ∆L Cu (kN/m2) α αcup∆L (kN)

0-5 5 30 0.82 156.83

5-10 5 30 0.82 156.83

10-30 20 100 0.48 1224.0

Dr Bruna Lopes 2
CEG3203 Foundation design
Deep Foundations – Bearing Capacity - Worked example 2

𝑄𝑄𝑠𝑠 = 1538𝑘𝑘𝑘𝑘

3. Determination of Qu

𝑄𝑄𝑢𝑢 = 𝑄𝑄𝑝𝑝 + 𝑄𝑄𝑠𝑠 = 116.5𝑘𝑘𝑘𝑘 + 1538𝑘𝑘𝑘𝑘 = 1654.5𝑘𝑘𝑘𝑘

Dr Bruna Lopes 3