Effect of Scour on the Behavior of Laterally Loaded Single Piles in Marine Clay

Most offshore and coastal structures are supported by pile foundations, which are subjected to large lateral loads due to wind, wave, and water currents. Water currents can induce scouring around piles that reduces lateral capacity and increases lateral deflection of a pile. Current design methods mostly consider the complete removal of soil layers around piles by scouring. In reality, however, scouring creates scour holes at different shapes, sizes, and depths. Their effects on the behavior of laterally loaded piles are not well investigated. A numerical model of a single pile in soft marine clay was first calibrated against field test data without scour. Then several key factors of scour were analyzed, such as the depth, width, and slope of the scour hole and the diameter and head fixity of the pile. The relationships of the ultimate lateral capacity of the single pile with the depth, width, and slope angle of the scour hole were obtained. The numerical results show that the scour depth had more significant influence on the pile lateral capacity than the scour width. In addition, the pile with a free head was more sensitive to scour than the pile with a fixed head.

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