Chapter 1

Introduction

1.1 General
When a soil of low bearing capacity extends to a considerable depth, piles are generally
used to transmit vertical and lateral loads to the surrounding soil media. Piles that are
used under tall chimneys, television towers, high-rise building, high retaining walls,
offshore structures, etc. are normally subjected to high lateral loads.
Pile foundations are subjected to lateral loads and moments which come up due to
wind load and seismic forces in buildings, earth pressure in retaining walls and water
pressures in water front structures. The conventional analysis assumes that the piles do
not resist any load in bending and the soil reaction to piles due to lateral movement is
negligible. Piles are, thus, assumed to resist load and moment in axial compression or
tension only. Further, as per the conventional approach, vertical piles cannot resist lateral
loads. Inclined piles (termed batter piles) are necessary to resist lateral loads. The
conventional approach is unrealistic, later theories which take the bending of piles into
account are more realistic for analysis of laterally loaded piles.
Piles or pile group may be subjected to static, cyclic or dynamic loadings. The static
loadings may be of short duration or sustained loadings. The lateral loads on tall
structures, due to wind and on offshore structures due to sea waves or winds are example
of cyclic loadings. Loads due to ship thrust on offshore structures, lateral loads due to
earthquakes, bomb blasts, etc. are examples of dynamic loadings. Sustained lateral loads
occur on piles used in the foundations of earth retaining structures and other similar
types. Pile foundation may be subjected to combined vertical and lateral loads or
horizontal loads only. These loads cause lateral and vertical displacements and rotation of
the pile cap. These displacements of the pile cap produce certain movements at each of
the pile heads. The movements at the pile heads, in turn, cause an axial load, lateral load
and a moment to be applied to the pile cap. The entire system will be in equilibrium when
the reaction at the pile head is consistent with the deformation characteristics of pile.

1.2 Failure Mechanisms

Vertical piles can resist lateral forces to a certain extent depending on the strength and
stiffness of the pile and the soil. According to I.S. 2911-1985, permissible lateral load of a
vertical pile is 2-5% of the permissible vertical load. For a greater lateral load , additional
reinforcement is to be provided in the pile or raker piles may be used. The short and long
piles fail under different mechanisms. A short rigid pile, unrestrained at the head tends to
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rotate or tilt and passive resistance develops above and below the point of rotation on
opposite sides of the pile. If pile head is restrained by a cap, there will be lateral
translation. In both the cases, the pile will fail when the applied load exceeds the passive
resistance of the soil.
Fig.
1.1

Deflection of a pile under lateral load

For a long pile, the passive resistance is very large and pile cannot rotate or tilt. The
lower portion remains almost vertical due to fixity while the upper part deflects in
flexure. The pile fails when a plastic hinge is formed at the point of maximum bending
moment.
As a consequence, a short pile fails when passive resistance of soil exceeded (soil failure)
and a long pile fails when the moment capacity exceeded (structural failure).
For development of ultimate resistance, the lateral movement is generally too large.
Therefore, after calculating the ultimate resistance and dividing by a factor of safety, it is
necessary to check that the permissible deflection of pile head is not exceeded.

1.3 Stiffness Factors and Subgrade Modulus

The stiffness factors, R and T, of the pile soil system determine the behavior of a pile
as a short rigid pile or a long flexible pile. These factors depend on the stiffness, EI of the
pile and the compressibility of soil expressed in terms of a soil modulus. The soil
modulus depends on the type of soil, the width of pile and the depth of influence area.
For stiff overconsolidated clay the soil modulus is assumed to be constant with depth and
the stiffness factor is given by

R=

EI
KD

in unit of length

where, K = K1/1.5 in which K1 is Terzaghis subgrade modulus in kg/m3 or kN/m3

2

D = diameter of the pile

For soft normally consolidated clays and for granular soils, the soil modulus is assumed
to increase linearly with depth. For this case, the stiffness factor is given by
T=

EI
nh

in unit of length

where, nh = coefficient of modulus variation

= KD/x, where x is the depth of soil consider

1.3 Design Criteria

1.3.1 Determination of Lateral Load
The allowable lateral loads on piles are determined from the following two criteria:
1. Allowable lateral load is obtained by dividing the ultimate (failure) load by an
adequate factor of safety.
2. Allowable lateral load is corresponding to an acceptable lateral deflection. The smaller
of the two above values is the one actually adopted as the design lateral load.

1.3.2 Calculation of Lateral Resistance of Vertical Piles

Methods of calculating lateral resistance of vertical piles can broadly divided into two
categories:
1. Methods of calculating ultimate lateral resistance
2. Methods of calculating acceptable deflection at working lateral load

1.3.2.1

Methods of Calculating Ultimate Lateral Resistance

A. Brinch Hansens Method (1961): This method is based on earth pressure theory
and has the advantage that it is:
i.
Applicable for c- soils
ii.
Applicable for layered system
However, this method suffers from disadvantages that it is
i.
Applicable only for short piles
ii.
Requires trial-and-error solution to locate point of location
B. Broms Method (1946) : This is also based on earth pressure theory, but
simplifying assumptions are made for distribution of ultimate soil resistance along
the pile length. He presented the relationship between dimensionless parameters,

nh

3
5

and L for sand

EpIp
X 0

X 0( KDL)
Qg

and

, for clay

where, x0 = deflection at pile head

Ep = elastic modulus of pile
Ip = moment of inertia of pile section
nh = Kz/h = constant of horizontal subgrade reaction
K = modulus of subgrade reaction
D = diameter of the pile
L = length of pile
Qg = working load
h

=
Ep Ip

KD
4 Ep Ip

This method has the advantage that it is:

i. Applicable for short and long piles
ii. Consider both purely cohesive and cohesionless soil
iii. Consider both free-head and fixed-head piles that can be analyzed separately.
However, this method suffers from disadvantages that it is
i. . It is not applicable for layered system.
ii. It does not consider c- soils.

1.3.2.2

Methods of Calculating Acceptable Deflection at Working

Lateral Load

A. Modulus of Subgrade Reaction Approach (Reese and Matlok, 1956):

In this method it is assumed that soil acts as a series of independent linearly elastic
springs. The soil resistance is taken to be portioned to the deflection of the pile and
the modulus of subgrade reaction kh is assumed to increase linearly with depth. To
calculate the deflections and moments the following procedure are given
1. Assume a value of kh of soil.
5 EI
2. Calculate
T=
Kh

where, T = relative stiffness factor

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E = modulus of elasticity of pile

I = moment of inertia of pile
3. Compute Zmax = L/T
4. Determine the coefficients dt and dm or mt and mm against various values of Z by
his given plot.
5. Calculate deflections as

d = dt

[ ]
P tT 3
ET

+ d
m

[ ]
M tT 2
ET

and moment as
M = mt [ PtT ]

+ = m [ Mt ]
m

Fig. 1.2 Deflection, moment and shear of a pile under lateral load
This method has the advantage that:
i.
It is relatively simple.
ii.
It can incorporate factors such as nonlinearity, variation of subgrade
reaction with depth, and layered systems.
iii.
It has been used in the practice for a long time.
Therefore a considerable amount of experience has been gained in applying the
theory to practical problems. However, this method suffers from disadvantages that it is:
i.
It ignores continuity of the soil.
ii.
Modulus of subgrade reaction is not a unique soil property but depends on
foundation size and deflections.
B. Elastic Approach (Poulos, 1971):
In this method, the soil is assumed as an ideal elastic continuum. The method has the
advantage that:
i.
It is based on a theoretically more realistic approach.
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ii.
It can give solutions for varying modulus with depth and layered system.
However, this method suffers from disadvantages that:
i.
It is difficult to determine appropriate strains in field problems and the
corresponding soil moduli.
ii.
It needs more field verification by applying theory to practical problem.