CEN-306: Foundation Engg

Lecture-21; Dynamic Pile Formulae

Mahendra Singh
Department of Civil Engineering
IIT Roorkee, Roorkee- 247667, India
mahendra.singh@ce.iitr.ac.in; msingh.civil@gmail.com

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Axial pile load carrying capacity
Method 3: Dynamic Pile Formula
Hammer – Impact  Energy
 Work done in overcoming resistance of ground
to penetration of pile + loss of energy due to
elastic compression of pile , pile cap and soil.

𝑄𝑢 𝑆 ′ = 𝑊𝐻 (𝑊𝑜𝑟𝑘 𝑑𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑏𝑦 ℎ𝑎𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑟)

H: drop of hammer
W: Weight of hammer
S’= theoretical set (cm/blow)
S=final set (cm/blow) taken from last 5 blows of drop
hammer
A. Engineering News Formula
𝑊𝐻
𝑄𝑎 =
𝐹(𝑆 + 𝐶)
F=FOS=6
C= empirical factor allowing reduction in theoretical
set due to energy loss=2.5 for drop hammer (Q: Kg; S
cm/blow)
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Modified Hiley Formula
𝑊ℎ
• 𝑄𝑢 =
𝑆+𝐶/2
W: Weight of hammer in tonnes
h: effective fall of hammer
𝐸𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑦 𝑎𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑡
: efficiency of blow=
𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑦
S= final set = penetration / blow (cm)
C=total elastic compression= C1+C2+C3
C1= temporary elastic compression of dolly
and packing
C2=Temporary elastic compression of pile
C3= Temporary elastic compression of soil

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Axial pile load carrying capacity
Method 4: Correlations with penetration test data SPT/ SCPT
Driven piles in sand Skin Friction
• Based on SCPT Based on SCPT
Unit point bearing resistance, • Displacement piles
𝑞𝑐(𝑎𝑣)
𝑞𝑝𝑢 = 𝑞𝑐 𝑓𝑠 = 𝑘𝑁/𝑚2
2
𝑞𝑐 = Static cone penetration resistance • I/ H piles
Value has to be taken for last 3D length of pile 𝑞𝑐(𝑎𝑣)
𝑓𝑠 = 𝑘𝑁/𝑚2
4
• Based on SPT 𝑞𝑐(𝑎𝑣) =Average cone resistance over the
𝐿
𝑞𝑝𝑢 = 40 𝑁 𝑘𝑁/𝑚2 length of the pile
𝐷
N: SPT number without OB correction • Based on SPT
L = length of pile • Displacement piles
D = width or dia of pile 𝑓𝑠 = 2 𝑁𝑎𝑣 𝑘𝑁/𝑚2
• I/ H piles
𝑓𝑠 = 𝑁𝑎𝑣 𝑘𝑁/𝑚2
IS Code provides similar expressions

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 Under-reamed pile
• Bulb is provided (one or more than one) to enhance the
capacity
• Single under-reamed pile
• Multi-under-reamed pile
A. Clayey Soil
𝑄𝑢 = 𝐴𝑝 𝑁𝑐 𝑐𝑝 + 𝐴𝑎 𝑁𝑐 𝑐𝑎′ + 𝑐𝑎′ 𝐴′𝑠 + 𝑐𝑎 𝐴𝑠
𝐴𝑝 = 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎 𝑜𝑓 𝑝𝑖𝑙𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑚 𝑎𝑡 𝑡𝑜𝑒 𝑙𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑙
𝑁𝑐 = 9
𝑐𝑝 =cohesion of soil around toe
𝐴𝑎 = (𝐷𝑢2 − 𝐷2 )/4
𝑐𝑎′ =cohesion around under-reamed bulbs
𝐴′𝑠 =surface area of cylinder circumscribing the under-
reamed bulbs
=adhesion factor
𝐴𝑠 =surface area of stem

Single pile
𝑄𝑢 = 𝐴𝑝 𝑁𝑐 𝑐𝑝 + 𝐴𝑎 𝑁𝑐 𝑐𝑎′ + 𝑐𝑎 𝐴𝑠 (neglect friction 𝑐𝑎′ 𝐴′𝑠 )

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Sandy soil
Point Bearing
𝑞𝑢𝑝1 = 𝑞1𝑁𝑞1 + 0.5  𝐷 𝑁 ; Area =𝐴𝑝
𝑞𝑢𝑝2 = 𝑞2𝑁𝑞2 + 0.5  𝐷𝑢 𝑁 ; Area =𝐴𝑎 = (𝐷𝑢2 − 𝐷 2 )/4

Friction
1. Stem portion:
Get critical depth;
Draw Variation of OB
Get fsav and fsmax
𝑄𝑓_𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑚 = 𝑓𝑠𝑎𝑣 𝜋𝐷𝐿𝑐𝑟 + 𝑓𝑠𝑚𝑎𝑥 𝜋𝐷𝐿2 (USE  and D)

2. Bulb portion
𝑄𝑓_𝑏𝑢𝑙𝑏 = (𝑓𝑠𝑚𝑎𝑥 𝑜𝑟𝑓𝑠𝑎𝑣 ) 𝜋𝐷𝑢 𝐿3 (USE  and Du)

For Single Bulb: Neglect additional friction along bulb

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Group Action of piles
• Field: Piles are generally provided in groups
(especially driven piles; they develop
eccentricity)
• Minimum= 3
• Bored cast in-situ piles  single or group
may be provided as per requirement
• Pile cap Reinforced slab above group of
piles
• Free standing pile group  If base of pile cap
is above ground surface  pile cap does not
directly transfer load to ground (entire load is
transferred through piles only)

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Ultimate load capacity of pile group
• Single pile: Stressed zone
• Closely spaced piles Overlapping of zones 
Highly stressed zones
•  Qug for group < sum of individual Qu of
individual pile
𝑄𝑢𝑔
• Group efficiency  =
𝑛 𝑄𝑢
• Generally  <1
• However for loose to medium sand 
densification may occur (driven piles)  group
efficiency may be >1
• Generally < 1 and it increases with spacing
• If spacing is very large  Design of pile cap may
be uneconomical
• IS: 2911 Min spacing = 2.5 D (point bearing)
=3.0 D (friction pile)
Loose deposits: Spacing = 2D.

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Pile Groups in Clay
Failure mode
• Block failure (Closely spaced)
• Individual pile failure (Widely spaced)
Block Failure
𝑄𝑝𝑢 = 𝐴𝑏 𝑁𝑐 𝑐𝑢𝑏 (Nc=9)
𝑄𝑓 = 𝑃𝑏 𝐿𝑐𝑢
Where: Pb: Perimeter of block
Cu = Average undrained strength of clay along the
length of the block
𝑄𝑢𝑔 = 𝑄𝑝𝑢 + 𝑄𝑓

For individual failure

𝑄𝑢𝑔 = 𝑛𝑄𝑢

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Pile groups in Sand
Similar procedure
• Driven piles- Loose sand- closer spacing 
Efficiency >1
• For higher spacing ( 5 to 6 times pile dia)  
approaches 1.
• Driven piles : Dense sand   may be <1.

• Generally for design prpose =1 is used.

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Settlement of pile group: Clays
Pile Group in Clay: Equivalent raft approach
• Case -1 Bored or end bearing piles on firm
stratum load is transferred at the end
• Case 2: Displacement or friction pile in
homogeneous clay  Load is transferred along
the length of pile (entire length of pile
contributes); EQUIVALENT RAFT at 2/3L depth.
• Case 3: Soft clay stratum underlain by hard
bearing stratum

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Settlement of pile group: Sands
Settlement of pile group is correlated with
settlement of single pile.
• Driven piles, (Skempton, 1953)
𝑆𝑔 4𝐵+2.7 2
Settlement ratio =
𝑆𝑖 𝐵+3.6
B: width of pile group in m;
If B>>0 (vely large)????
Si: Settlement from individual test;
• Meyerhof (1959)
𝑠
𝑆𝑔 𝑠(5− )
• Settlement ratio = 3
1 2
𝑆𝑖 (1+ )
𝑟

• s= ratio of pile spacing to pile diameter

• R=No. of rows in the pile group.

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Negative Skin Friction
• Filled up, loose unconsolidated layer
•  Move downward
• Drags pile downward
• force is applied on pile (Negative friction)
• Reduces the load carrying capacity
Computation of negative friction
Cohesive soil : single pile
𝐹𝑛 = 𝑃 𝐿𝑐 𝑐𝑢
Group of pile
For individual pile failure: 𝐹𝑛𝑔 = 𝑛𝐹𝑛
For block failure: 𝐹𝑛𝑔 = 𝑃𝑔 𝐿𝑐 𝑐𝑢 + 𝒘𝒆𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒔𝒐𝒊𝒍 𝒃𝒍𝒐𝒄𝒌
Consider Higher value in design
𝑈𝑙𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑 𝑐𝑎𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑓𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑒 𝑜𝑟 𝑔𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑝 𝑜𝑓 𝑝𝑖𝑙𝑒𝑠
𝐹𝑂𝑆 =
𝑊𝑜𝑟𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑 + 𝑛𝑒𝑔𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑
Cohesionless soil: single pile
𝑓𝑠 = 𝐾  ℎ tan 
𝐹𝑛 = 𝑃 𝐿𝑐 𝑓𝑠𝑎𝑣

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