BEHAVIOR OF PILES IN SAND SUBJECTED TO INCLINED LOADS

Piles are normally subjected to axial loads. However, in many cases lateral loads have also to be transferred in addition to axial loads. Till now, it is not clear how important the interaction effects are, dependent on various factors such as pile stiffness, soil type and loading conditions. In this paper, results of numerical simulation of behavior of short and nearly rigid piles as well as long, flexible piles embedded in sandy soil under inclined loads are presented. For the sandy soil an elasto-plastic constitutive material law has been used. The results are shown in terms of load-deformation curves for the lateral and the axial loading portions. It is shown that for inclined compression loading the behavior under lateral load is nearly independent of a vertical load, whereas the behavior under vertical load is strongly influenced in particular for short piles. For inclined tension loading of short piles also the horizontal load deformation curve is dependent on the vertical load portion, because it significantly affects the ultimate vertical load. Interaction diagrams are presented, which characterize the pile behavior under inclined loads.