ABSTRACT
Recently, with the development of new piling methods, steel sheet piles can be penetrated into various grounds with high quality and precision. Though the piles for deep foundations are usually pipe piles, sheet piles could become an alternative. However, the bearing capacities of sheet piles have not been clarified fully yet. In this research, a series of monotonic and quasi-static cyclic load tests on model steel sheet piles in a saturated clay ground have been conducted. The test results show that excess pore water pressures generated during the pile installation and loading, as well as cyclic loading significantly influenced the bearing capacities. Moreover, compared with pile tip resistance, shaft resistance was more influenced by the excess pore water pressures generated and the effect of consolidation. Therefore, the bearing capacity of sheet piles immediately after pile penetration could be used as an index for conservative design.
