The effect of pile shape on the horizontal shaft stress during installation in sand

Taenaka, S., White, D.J. and Randolph, M.F. (2010) The effect of pile shape on the horizontal shaft stress during installation in sand. Springman, Sarah (ed.) In Research and Innovation Using Geotechnical Physical Modelling : Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Physical Modelling in Geotechnics 2010, ICPMG 2010. vol. 2, CRC Press. pp. 835-840 .

Record type: Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)

Abstract

The shaft friction of displacement piles in sand depends, amongst other things, on the change in the horizontal stresses during installation. This is influenced by many factors, but there have been few studies examining the influence of pile shape. This paper examines the horizontal stress changes due to the pile shape, especially from the effect of the cross-sectional geometry-referred to here as shape effects. Experiments were preformed in the UWA drum centrifuge, comparing the horizontal stresses acting on 7 different shaped piles during installation into medium dense sand. The measured profiles of horizontal stress demonstrate a surprisingly high variation in horizontal stress due to the shape effect. The governing mechanism behind this phenomenon is discussed, and a back-analysis based on arching theory is presented.

This record has no associated files available for download.