Effects of width for square centrifuge displacement piles in sand

The shaft capacity of displacement piles depends, amongst other things, on the alteration of the lateral stress regime induced by pile installation and the decrease/increase in lateral stress due to contraction/ dilation at the soil-pile interface during pile loading. The investigation described in this paper examines the effect of pile width (B) on these lateral stress changes in sand. Experiments were performed in the UWA drum centrifuge using square model piles equipped with lateral stress sensors to assess the effect of B on lateral stresses measured during and after monotonic installation and during static tension testing. The influence of the proximity of the wall of the drum channel to a pile test location is also examined.