Influence of Sample Disturbance on Estimated Side Resistance of Driven Piles in Cohesive Soils

AbstractThis paper describes the influence of sample disturbance on laboratory undrained shear strength tests used for pile capacity calculations of driven close-end pipe piles, referencing an approach based on the stress history and normalized soil engineering properties (SHANSEP) for estimating the side resistance of pipe piles in cohesive soils. The SHANSEP technique provides a rational basis for relating the soil overconsolidation ratio (OCR) to the normalized side resistance overcoming the problems related to sample disturbance. Sample disturbance of soils with OCR<2 is identified as a significant factor affecting the selection of values of side resistance for pile design. The empirical record of load test sites was modified to remove test data that were likely affected by sample disturbance effects from the current database referencing the SHANSEP-based approach to provide a reliable set of reference undrained strengths and measured side resistance values, which produces an equivalent new undrained ...