Project Assignment_______

___________________7302ENG (2010)

Laterally loaded piles and pile groups

(Project Assignment)
Aim To understand and analyses nonlinear response of piles and pile groups. To assist you master relevant principles studied in the course.

Question A A steel pipe pile was tested in a stiff clay near Manor (Reese et al 1975). Guo (2006) provided the following: The pile was 14.9 m in length (L), and 0.641 m in diameter (d). The moment of inertia, Ip was 2.33510-3 m4, and the flexural stiffness, EpIp was equal to 493.7 MN-m2. The undrained shear strength, Cu of the clay increases linearly from 25 kPa at the ground level to 333 kPa at depth 4.11 m. In the plot of pu/(dCu), however, the Cu was simply taken as 153 kPa. The submerged unit weight, s was 10.2 kN/m3. Subgrade modulus k was estimated as 331.3 MPa. Lc/ro was estimated as 10.8, thus the pile was infinitely long. Note c = 545.1, ratio of the shear modulus over the undrained strength, Gs/Cu; The pu profile was estimated by using J = 0.92, and then modified using the depth factor suggested by Reese. The LFP thus obtained can be described by using Ng = 0.961, Nco = 0.352, and n = 1.0, which is plotted in Fig. 1(a) as Stiff clay (J = 0.92). Using this LFP, good predictions of the pile responses to a load level of 450 kN are achieved against the measured data (Fig. 1). To improve the overall predictions, an excellent back-estimation was undertaken which rendered the three parameters Ng, Nco, and n to be adjusted to 0.854, 0, and 1.5, respectively. The slip was initiated upon loading, thus the back-figured LFP is rational. Bending moment profiles were computed for lateral loads of 179.7, 317.7, 485.6, and 606.2 kN, respectively. With Ng = 0.854, Nco= 0, and n = 1.5, using the simple expressions developed by Guo (2006), such as those in Appendix I, calculate load, groundline deflection, depth of maximum bending moment, and maximum bending moment. (Hint: slip depth xp may be taken as 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 0.8, 1.0, 1.3, 1.6, 1.9, 2.1, 2.5, 2.8) Question B Four of the steel pipe piles will be tested near Manor. The piles and soil are assumed to have identical properties to those shown in Question A. If the piles have a rigid pile cap, and are installed at a pile center-center spacing of 3 pile diameters. Predict pile-head loadgroundline displacement curve, and pile-head load maximum bending moment curve for the pile group. (Note the pile cap is just above ground surface, the loading eccentricity may be taken as zero). (Hint: study carefully the example given by Guo (2010)).

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Project Assignment_______
0

___________________7302ENG (2010)
750

(a) pu
1 Stiff clay (J =0.92) n = 1.5 & Different c

xp = 2.71 m (b) P - wg 500

3 xp = 2.71 m 4

P (kN)
250

x/d

Stiff clay (J = 0.92) n = 1.5 Different c Measured

5 0 2 4 6 8 10

0 0 10 20 30

pu /(Cud)
750 xp = 2.71 m (c) P - Mmax

wg (mm)
0

IV

III

500

II

Depth, (m)

P (kN)

4 n = 1.5 Measured 6 Pile-head load: I: 606.2 kN II: 485.6 kN III: 317.7 kN IV: 179.7 kN (d) Bending moment profiles

250 Stiff clay (J =0.92) n = 1.5 Measured

0 0 500 1000 1500

8 0 -500 -1000 -1500

-Mmax (kN-m)

Mmax (kN-m)

Fig. 1 Comparison between the calculated and measured (Reese et al 1975) response of the Manor test

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Project Assignment_______

___________________7302ENG (2010)

APPENDIX I Simplified expressions (at o = 0, and N = 1) Provided that o = 0, and N = 1 (i.e. N = 1), The following expressions may be used to predicted pile head- load, P, ground line deflection wg, and . Pn +1 0.5 x p [(n + 1)(n + 2) + 2 x p (2 + n + x p )] = AL ( x p + 1 + e )(n + 1)(n + 2)
wg kn AL 2 n +3 2 x p + (2n + 10) x p + n 2 + 9n + 20 (2 x p + 2 x p + 1) x p = xp + 3 x p +1+ e ( x p + 1 + e )(n + 2)(n + 4) + 2 x + (n + 4)( x p + 1)[2 x + (n + 1)( x p + 1)] e ( x p + 1 + e )(n + 1)(n + 4)
4 p 2 p 2 2 n

(1)

(2)

(x p ) =

2 x p (2 + n)e 2(1 + n) x p + (n + 2)(n + 1) 2(n + 2)( x p + 1 + n)e + [2 x p + 2(2 + n) x p + n + 2](n + 1)

2

(3)

Under the above-mentioned conditions, constants C1( x p ), and C3( x p ) are given by

0.5 x p 1 + n + 2 x p 2 + n + 2x p C1 ( x p ) = + e x p 2+n x p +1+ e 1+ n

n

C 2 ( x p ) = 0.5 x p

(4)

(a) If ( x p ) > 0, then zmax > 0. The maximum moment Mmax should occur in elastic zone, thus it locates at a depth (measured from mudline) that is equal to xp + zmax. The value of Mmax may be estimated using Eq. (5) by replacing z with zmax, i.e. Mmax = MB(zmax). M B ( z ) = e z [C1 ( x p ) cos z + C 2 ( x p ) sin z ] (5)

Eq. (3) allows the normalised slip depth, x p (rewritten as x ) at ( x ) = 0 to be obtained as

x =
'

0.5(2 + n) 2+n 2 e + 0 .5 [ e ] + 2( n + 2) 1+ n 1+ n

(6)

The condition of x p > x will lead to ( x p ) < 0, thus maximum bending moment should occur above the slip depth. The estimation using abovementioned expressions is referred to as S. Eqs. It can be readily undertaken in a spreadsheet, similar to the form shown in Table 4 for pile A (Guo 2006).
Submission of the Design FRI 3 PM (Week 14), in Assignment Box (Outside School Office). Late submission 10% off per day late. > 1 week late, zero.

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Project Assignment_______

___________________7302ENG (2010)

Report of the Design The assignment should be around 3 (A4) pages, but use plenty of diagrams, and spread it out. Individual, not team. Weighting 45%. Presentations Your name, subject, and name of assessment item are essential. No need for plastic pockets, folders, cover sheets etc on small assignments < 10%. Just a staple at top left hand corner. Use just enough words to make clear your train of thought. Use plenty of simple diagrams (they can be freehand). Plagiarism By all means help each other to understand, and learn from each other, but dont switch your brain off and mindlessly copy others work. Because its usually pretty obvious to the marker, even if you change a few words, so youll get caught and you could get kicked out of the university for cheating. References Lecture and PowerPoint notes by Dr. Wei Dong Guo Reese, L.C., W.P. Cox, and F.D. Koop. Field testing and analysis of laterally loaded piles in stiff clay. in Proc. 7th Annu. Offshore Technol. Conf. OTC. 2312, Offshore Technology Conference. 1975. Dallas, Texas. Guo, W. D. (2006). "On limiting force profile, slip depth and lateral pile response." Computers and Geotechnics 33(1): 47-67. Guo, W. D. (2009), "Nonlinear behaviour of laterally loaded fixed-head piles and pile groups." International Journal of Numerical & Analytical Methods in Geomechanics, Vol. 33, No. 7, 879-914. Guo, W. D. (2010), "Predicting Non-linear Response of Laterally Loaded Pile Groups via Simple Solutions." GeoFlorida 2010: Advances in Analysis, Modeling, & Design, Proceedings of the GeoFlorida 2010 Conference, GSP 199, p1442-1449.

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