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CLAY
Thepycurvesprocedureforcohesivesoilscanbesummarizedinthefollowingsteps:
1.Obtainingthebestpossibleestimateofthevariationofshearstrength(c),submergedunitweight(g)andthevalue
ofthestraincorrespondingtoonehalfofthemaximumprincipalstressdifference(50).Ifnostressstraincurves
areavailable,typicalvaluesof50aregiveninTable1.
2.Computingtheultimatesoilresistanceperunitlengthofthepile(Pu).
3.Computingthedeflectionatonehalfoftheultimatesoilresistance(y50)orothertransactionpointsinthecurve.
Table1.Typicalvaluesfore50relatedtotheundrainedshearstrength.
UndrainedShear
strength,cu[kN/m2]

50[]

<12

0.02

1224

0.02

2448

0.01

4896

0.006

96192

0.005

>192

0.004

Matlocketal.(1970)
Matlock (1970) conducted fullscale lateral test on 0.3m diameter steel piles embedded in soft clay deposit in Lake
Austin,Texas.Later,APIsponsoredastudyforclay(ONeillandGazioglu,1984),withthepurposetoincludethepile
diameter effects in an alternative clay py procedure, known as Integrated Clay Py Procedure. However, API did not
adopttheproposedchangesandtheMatlockclaycriterionremainstheAPIrecommendedclaypyprocedure.
Matlock(1970)proposedaparabolicpycurveshape(Eq.1)characterizedbyatheoreticalinitialtangentmodulusthatis
infinite at zero deflection. To formulate the initial tangent py stiffness, the soil strain, e, has been used. The ultimate
capacityofthepycurve,pu,isstronglydependenttothedepthandthediameter(Eq.2).
Theproposedformulationforsoftclaysinthepresenceoffreewaterisasfollows:

(1)

with
(2)
with
(3)

Figure1.Pycurvesforclay:Matlocketal.(1970).

Reeseetal.(1975)
Reeseetal.(1975)proposedapycurveformulationtorepresenttheresponseofstiffclaysinthepresenceoffreewater.
Thismethodologywasdevelopedafterlateralloadtestsontwo0.6mdiametersteelpilesembeddedinstiffclayunder
watertableatManor,Texas.Theproposedcurvesarecomposedbyfiveportions(Eq.48)anditsshapeispresentedin
Fig.2.Theinitialstraightline(Eq.6)hasaninitialstiffness,Kpy ,whichiscalculatedfromacoefficientofvariationin
subgrademoduluswithdepth(FL3). Once it has been multiply by depth z, the initial stiffness can be assumed to be
independentofpilediameter,b.Thisassumptionisvalidonlyinthecaseofdeflectionslessthan0.02inch.Atanynon
zero deflection values, the secant stiffness will be dependent on both the initial tangent modulus and pu, strongly
dependentondiameter(Eq.9).

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Theultimatesoilresistancepuandy50aregivenbyEq.4and5:

(4)

(5)
Reeseetal.spycurveiscomposedbyfiveparts,givenbythefollowingequations.Theinitialstraightlineisgivenby:

(6)
withtheinitialstiffness,Kpy ,dependingoncuz (Table2).

Table2.Initialstiffness,Kpy,accordingtoReeseetal.(1975).

Averageundrainedshearstrength,ca[kPa]
50100

200300

300400

Kpy(static)[MN/m3]

135

270

540

Kpy(static)[MN/m3]

55

110

540

Thestraightlineisfollowedbytwoparabolicportions,givenby:

(7)

(8)
Thetwofinalstraightlinesaregivenby:

(9)

(10)
As isdimensionlessparameterusedinstaticloadingandfunctionofthedepthandpilediameter.

Figure2.Pycurvesforclay:Reeseetal.(1975).

Reese&Welch(1972)
ReeseandWelch(1972)proposedapycurveformulationstiffclayswithnofreewaterafterconductinglateralloadtests
ona0.76mdiameterboredpileinHouston,Texas.Theshapeofthecurves(Fig.3)isthesameasMatlock(1970),but
stifferduetotheuseoftheforthdegreeofparabolicrelationshipbetweenpandy,whichisasfollows:

(11)
Thevalueofp/puremainsconstantbeyondy=16y50.

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Figure3.Pycurvesforclay:ReeseandWelch(1972).

Notations
Thefollowingsymbolsareused:
A=0.9forcyclicloading(3.00.8H/D)0.9forstaticloading[]
b=Diameter(width)ofthepile[m]
cuz (ca)=Undrained(average)shearstrengthatdepthz[kN/m 2]
J=0.5forsoftclays,0.25formediumclays.Thevalueof0.5isfrequentlyused[]
K0=Coefficientofearthpressureatrest=1sin[]
Ka=Minimumcoefficientofactiveearthpressure=tan2(45/2)[]
Kpy =initialmodulusofsubgradereaction[kN/m 3]
puz =Ultimatesoilresistanceatdepthz[kN/m]
z=Depthbelowgroundsurfacetopycurve[m]
s =/2
=Approximatedtobe45+/2[]
g=Averageeffectiveunitweightfromgroundsurfacetopycurve[kN/m 3]
g=Averageunitweightfromgroundsurfacetopycurve[kN/m 3]
=Frictionangle[].

SAND
Reese,CoxandKoop(1974)
ThesandpycurvemethodwasoriginallydevelopedbyReese,CoxandKoop(1974)fromtheresultsoftestsat
MustangIslandontwo0.6mdiameterpilesembeddedinadepositofsubmerged,dense,finesand.Thecharacteristic
shapeofthepycurveisdescribedbythreestraightlineportionsandaparaboliccurve,asillustratedinFig.4.
Theprocedureisforshorttermstaticloadingandforcyclicloading.Theultimatesoilresistanceisgivenbythesmallest
resultsofthefollowingtwoequations:

(12)
Thepycurveiscomposedbyfourparts:aninitialstraightline(13),aparabolicportion(14),andafinalstraightline(15):

(13)
withKpy ,dependingonf(Table3).As andBs aredimensionlessparametersusedinstaticloadingandfunctionofthe
depthandpilediameter.
Table3.Initialstiffness,Kpy,accordingtoReese,CoxandKoop1974.

Loose
(f<30)

Medium
(30f<36)

Dense
(f36)

Kpy (belowwatertable)
[MN/m 3]

5.4

16.3

34

Kpy (abovewatertable)
[MN/m 3]

6.8

24.4

61

(14)

With:
(15)

(16)

(17)

Thevalueofpremainsconstantafter

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Figure4.Pycurvesforsand:Reese,KoopandCox(1974).

ONeillandMurchinson(1983)
Subsequently,paralleltothestudyconductedbyONeillandGazioglu(1984)inclay,APIalsosponsoredastudyfor
sandbyONeillandMurchinson(1983)withthepurposetosimplifytheoriginalReesesprocedurewithoutintroducing
fundamentalchanges(Lam,2009).Theonlymodificationregardsthechangeoftheoriginalparaboliccurveshapeintoa
hyperbolicone.Otherwisethetwomethodsareidentical,asdemonstratedbytheidenticalinitialtangentstiffnessandthe
ultimatecapacityinthehyperboliccurve.Moreover,thelengthyequationsfordeterminingtheultimatesoilpressurewere
simplifiedbytheuseofthreecoefficientsC1,C2andC3asafunctionofthefrictionangle(Eq.19).
Theproposedpycurveparameterizationisasfollows:

(18)

(19)
WithC1,C2,C3=dimensionlesscoefficientsrelatedtofkpyisdeterminedasfunctionoff.

Notations
Thefollowingsymbolsareused:
A=0.9forcyclicloading(3.00.8H/D)0.9forstaticloading[]
b=Diameter(width)ofthepile[m]
cuz (ca)=Undrained(average)shearstrengthatdepthz[kN/m 2]
J=0.5forsoftclays,0.25formediumclays.Thevalueof0.5isfrequentlyused[]
K0=Coefficientofearthpressureatrest=1sin[]
Ka=Minimumcoefficientofactiveearthpressure=tan2(45/2)[]
Kpy =initialmodulusofsubgradereaction[kN/m 3]
puz =Ultimatesoilresistanceatdepthz[kN/m]
z=Depthbelowgroundsurfacetopycurve[m]
s =/2
=Approximatedtobe45+/2[]
g=Averageeffectiveunitweightfromgroundsurfacetopycurve[kN/m 3]
g=Averageunitweightfromgroundsurfacetopycurve[kN/m 3]
=Frictionangle[].

SILT
There are no available recommendations on developing py curves for soil with cohesion and friction angle that are
generallyaccepted.Generally,indesign,thesoilisclassifiedinonlytwodifferenttypes:cohesiveorcohesionless.Inthe
practice,thissimplificationleadstoasignificantlyconservativedesigninthecaseofcementedsoilorsilt,whichalways
neglectsthesoilresistancefromthecohesioncomponent(Juirnarongritetal.2005).
Evans and Duncan (1982) proposed the following procedure for developing py curves in silty soils. The ultimate soil
resistanceisgivenby:

(20)
Withpufisthesmallestof(12),whereaspuc isthesmallestof(1).Thedimensionlessparameter,As ,isfromReese,
KoopandCox(1974).Thispycurveiscomposedbyaninitialstraightline(21),aparabolicportion(14)andtwostraight
lines.

Thevalueofpremainsconstantbeyond

(12)
With:

,whereKc andKf arerespectivelyfunctionsofcuz andf.

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Figure2.Cfmodelspycurve.

LOESSSOIL
Johnsonetal.(2006)studiedtheresponseofloesssoilsandproposedthefollowingstepprocedure:

1.Developinganidealizedprofileofultimatesoilresistance(Puo)withdepth.Thisidealizedprofileshouldbe
reducedby50%atthesoilsurface.Puoreturnstofullvalueatadepthequaltotwopilediameters.CPTtestingis
recommendedusingtheconetipresistance(qc ).
(22)
2.Theultimatesoilresistanceisgivenbythefollowingexpression:

(23)
3.Selectingareferencedisplacement(yi)representativeoftherateatwhichtheresistancewilldevelopanddevelop
theinitialmodulus(Ei)andthesecantmodulus(Es )withthefollowingequations:

(24)

(25)

With:
(26)
4.ThesoilresistancePisanexpressionofthepiledisplacement(y)andthesecantmodulus(Es )atthat
displacement(22).

(27)

Notations
Thefollowingsymbolsareused:
a=correlationconstant[]
A=0.9forcyclicloading(3.00.8H/D)0.9forstaticloading[]
b=Diameter(width)ofthepile[m]
cuz (ca)=Undrained(average)shearstrengthatdepthz[kN/m 2]
CN=correlationconstant[]
Ei=initialmodulus[kN/m 2]
Es =secantmodulus[kN/m 2]
J=0.5forsoftclays,0.25formediumclays.Thevalueof0.5isfrequentlyused[]
K0=Coefficientofearthpressureatrest=1sin[]
Ka=Minimumcoefficientofactiveearthpressure=tan2(45/2)[]
Kpy =initialmodulusofsubgradereaction[kN/m 3]
N=loadcyclenumber[]
puz =Ultimatesoilresistanceatdepthz[kN/m]
qc =conetipresistance[kN/m 2]
y h=hyperbolicterm[]
z=Depthbelowgroundsurfacetopycurve[m]
s =/2
=Approximatedtobe45+/2[]
g=Averageeffectiveunitweightfromgroundsurfacetopycurve[kN/m 3]
g=Averageunitweightfromgroundsurfacetopycurve[kN/m 3]
=Frictionangle[].

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