Static and Dynamic Laterally Loaded Floating Piles

A previously formulated beam bending finite element of circular cross section enabled obtaining an economical solution to the three-dimensional problem of static and dynamic laterally loaded piles embedded in elastic media. The general solution is almost solely a function of the ratio of Young's modulus (E) of the pile divided by E of the soil; neither Poisson's ratio of the soil nor the mass density of the pile are important for practical application purposes. Static loading results are presented in the form of flexibility coefficients for a range of two-layer soil systems. The dynamic loading fundamental solution for a pile embedded in an elastic half space is presented in terms of the statics solution multiplied by the associated complex, frequency-dependent factors. Since this statics solution can be presented as a linear relationship between the logarithm of the flexibility coefficient and the logarithm of the Young's moduli ratio, both the statics and dynamics solutions can be approximated by a simple closed form expression.