ABSTRACT
Pile foundations can be used to transmit both vertical and horizontal loads. Many pile foundations supporting structures such as wharfs and jetties along the coast, offshore structures, bridge foundations, tall structures like chimneys, TV towers, and high rise buildings are subjected to significant lateral forces. The lateral forces are mainly due to the action of wind and earth pressures due to lateral soil movement in case of on land structures. While in the case of coastal and offshore structures, the predominant forces leading to lateral movements are mainly due to waves, currents, winds berthing forces, mooring forces, lateral earth pressure due to unstable slope as a result of dredging or siltation, etc. Many analytical approaches have been developed in recent years for the response analysis of laterally loaded piles. The various analytical and numerical methods that are commonly employed to study the static and dynamic behaviour of laterally loaded piles are (a) Beam – on Winkler foundation approach (b) Elastic Continuum approach; (c) Boundary Element method; (d) Finite Element approach; (e) Finite difference approaches, etc. Most of the approaches consider either the theory of subgrade reaction (Matlock and Ripperger, 1956) or the theory of elasticity (Pise, 1984). However, the load – deflection behaviour of laterally loaded piles is highly nonlinear in nature, and hence requires a nonlinear analysis. Several empirical and numerical methods have been proposed for analyzing the response of single and pile groups to lateral loading from horizontal soil movement. Most of the numerical methods that have been proposed utilize the finite-element method (Carter 1982; Broms et al. 1987, Springman 1989, Goh et al. 1997, Ellis et al. 1999) or the finite difference method (Poulos and Davis 1980). In the approach taken
by Poulos and Davies (1980), the solution is based on a point load in an elastic half-space (Mindlin’s solution) and empirically to account for the presence of rigid bearing layer. Prakash and Kumar (1996) developed a method to predict the load deflection relationship for single piles embedded in sand and subjected to lateral load, considering soil nonlinearity based on the results of 14 full-scale lateral pile load tests. Kim and Barker (2002) studied the effect of live load surcharge on retaining walls and abutments.
