ABSTRACT

Pile design methods generally do not consider that the presence in the soil surrounding the piles of a microstructure related to phenomena such as aging, cementation and weathering, could significantly affect their performance. Analyzing soils classified as NC with reference to the CPT-based SBT classification system recently updated by P.K. Robertson, it is possible to highlight, via the normalized small-strain rigidity index K*G, the presence of a microstructure and to define his impact on piles design.