ABSTRACT
A large scale model test rig was built to investigate the lateral soil pressure acting on pile in sand when it is subjected to horizontal soil movement. In the tests, an instrumented rigid model pile was fixed within a moving sand mass. Five miniature pressure transducers were affixed on the model pile so that the lateral soil pressure could be measured directly. 16 single pile tests were carried out under different soil movement profile, sand densities and surcharge load. It was found that along the depth of the pile, the lateral soil pressure increased to reach a peak. Thereafter, the lateral pressure decreased rapidly with depth, typically registering a minimum value in the stationary soil zone. The limit pressure measured was expressed as PL = KPp, where Pp is the Rankine passive pressure. The range of K (K = PI/pp) magnitude computed ranged from 1.8 to 9.1.
