Behavior of Pile Groups under Lateral Load

Based on investigation and model tests, and in combination with the research work on group effect for pile groups under lateral loads relating to the code of fixed offshore platforms, a series of studies have been performed on the behavior and failure mechanism of laterally loaded pile groups, critical pile spacing inducing group effect, lateral bearing capacity of pile groups and its main influence factors, the stress-strain relationship for single piles and pile groups and so on. Some new laws about non-uniformity of load distribution in the longitudinal direction of pile groups and load-deflection (p - y) curves for pile groups have been discovered, and an empirical formula is presented in order to remedy the defect of current calculating methods at home and abroad. These results can be used for reference in the design of pile foundation under lateral loads.     

Assessment of CPTU and static load test methods for predicting ultimate bearing capacity of pile

For the static pressure pile, the most important is to determine the standard value of ultimate bearing capacity of single pile. At present, the bearing capacity of pile foundation is usually determined by the cone penetration test (CPT) test. The empirical formula was used in practice, but the effect of excess pore water pressure generated in the penetration on the measured cone-tip resistance and side friction is neglected. In this study, based on the field test results at Fengyu playground at Yancheng Institute of Technology by CPT and CPTU methods, the bearing capacity of pile was predicted by the standardized methods, the LCPC (France method) and CPTU direct prediction methods. The prediction was also compared with the results by the static load test method. The prediction accuracy of the CPTU method was then discussed as well. The results reveal that the accuracy of the CPTU method was the highest, which was consistent with the results obtained by the static load test method. It is the best method and worthy of being applied for predicting bearing capacity of piles in engineering applications.     

海上风电单桩基础土相互作用特性影响因素分析

采用有限元软件ABAQUS建立了海上风电单桩基础与土相互作用数值计算模型,将波浪、洋流及风荷载等效成双向对称循环荷载,研究了水平循环荷载作用下不同因素对桩身水平位移、剪力和弯矩的影响规律。研究表明,随着循环荷载比的增加,桩身位移零点和桩身剪力反弯点沿埋深逐渐下移,桩身弯矩最大值点位于浅层土体;不同荷载频率时桩身位移在零点以上变化较大,桩身弯矩随着频率的增加逐渐增大;单向循环荷载作用下桩身位移最大,双向对称循环荷载作用下桩身位移最小;壁厚较小时对桩身水平位移影响较大;在位移零点之上范围内可以考虑设计"上厚下薄"的钢管桩,以减小桩身水平位移;不同桩壁厚时桩身剪力曲线在埋深约6D处出现交点,且泥面处桩身弯矩变化不明显。     

Field and Theoretical Study of the Response of Super-Long Bored Pile Subjected to Compressive Load

In this article, two full-scale pile loading tests were conducted to observe the field performance of the super-long bored piles, and a simplified approach for nonlinear analysis of the load-displacement behavior of a single pile was presented. The field tests on piles indicates that, under the maximum test load, more than 70% of the pile top settlement is caused by the compression of pile shaft. For practical purposes, the pile top settlement can be reduced through improving the pile shaft strength. When the load reaches the maximum test load, the proportion of the load carried by the pile tip is approximately 30%. The super-long pile is functioning as an end-bearing friction pile. The skin friction at shallow depth is fully mobilized and decreases from a peak value with increasing load. However, the skin friction of deeper soil is not fully developed due to less relative displacement. Furthermore, a BoxLucas1 model is used to capture the relationship between unit skin friction and pile-soil relative displacement, whereas a hyperbolic model is used to describe the relationship between toe stress and pile base displacement. Based on the BoxLucas1 model and the hyperbolic model, a load transfer method is used to clarify the response of a single pile, and a computational flow chart is developed. The efficiency and accuracy of the present method is verified using the field tests on piles. The proposed simple analytical approach is economical and efficient, resulting in savings in time and cost.     

海底防沉板—桩复合基础承载特性数值分析

为了研究桩长对海底防沉板—桩复合基础在水平、弯矩和扭转荷载作用下承载特性的影响,以我国南海水深200 m的某工程实例为研究对象,利用Flac3D有限差分仿真软件建立了计算模型。研究了桩长为4 m、6 m和8 m的防沉板—桩复合基础在水平、弯矩和扭转荷载作用下的极限承载力和荷载传递机理。结果表明,桩长超过6 m时复合基础的水平承载力显著增长,在水平加载过程中,防沉板总是先达到极限状态而破坏,桩基础的贡献在加载后期体现,且桩长为4 m、8 m时,桩基础与防沉板的连接处弯矩最大;随着桩长的增加,复合基础的抗弯承载力大幅提高,桩基础对复合基础的抗弯承载力贡献增大,当桩长超过8 m,桩长的增加对提高复合基础的抗弯承载力意义不大;在弯矩加载过程中,桩长对于防沉板、桩基础的荷载分配有显著影响,桩长为4 m时,外荷载主要由防沉板承担,当桩长超过4 m时,外荷载主要由桩基础承担;当扭转荷载不超过2 100 k N·m时,防沉板承担主要荷载,直至防沉板达到极限状态而发生旋转,随后桩基础的承载力逐渐发挥;对于桩长为6 m、8 m的复合基础,其极限状态根据防沉板适用性准则确定。     

Field Study on the Behavior of Destructive and Non-Destructive Piles Under Compression

This paper presents a series of full-scale load tests on long bored piles instrumented with strain gauges along the shafts, including eight field tests of piles loaded to failure and one non-destructive pile load test. The load-displacement response, skin friction, end resistance, and the threshold of the pile-soil relative displacement for fully mobilizing skin resistance were discussed. A simple softening model was proposed to describe the degradation behavior of the skin friction along the pile-soil interface and the load-displacement relationship developed at the pile base. It is found that the shaft resistance degradation investigated in the non-destructive load test only occurs at a shallow depth, and the skin friction of deeper soil is not fully developed. However, unlike the results of the non-destructive load tests, the softening is accompanied by a reduction in skin friction and observed to be along the whole pile depth. The thresholds of pile-soil relative displacement for fully mobilizing skin resistances in different soils have been found to be in the range 0.6% to 2.4% of the pile diameter. Moreover, in practical applications, a bilinear model is assumed to be feasible in analyzing the load-settlement relationship developed at the end of non-destructive pile, whereas the load transmission curve of the soils below the pile base corresponds to a softening model in the field tests of piles loaded to failure.     

桩靴贯入黏土层时邻近群桩相互作用分析

为研究钻井船插桩对邻近平台群桩相互作用的影响,采用耦合欧拉拉格朗日(CEL)方法对桩靴贯入黏土层时邻近群桩中各桩荷载分担比、桩头附加位移及两桩相互作用系数进行了分析。首先通过对缩尺模型试验的数值分析,验证了CEL方法的可行性;然后进一步分析了桩靴贯入黏土层时对邻近群桩相互作用的影响;最后探讨了净间距、桩间距对群桩相互作用的影响。结果表明,在桩靴贯入中,前桩的荷载分担比大于后桩,且桩靴贯入至一定深度后,当净间距越小或桩间距越大时,前桩的荷载分担比越大、后桩的荷载分担比越小,但各桩的荷载分担比随桩靴贯入深度增加时的变化规律不变;净间距越大,桩头附加位移及相互作用系数越小;在桩靴贯入时,由于受群桩遮拦效应的影响,桩头附加位移及相互作用系数随桩间距的变化规律同插桩前有所不同,当桩间距大于3倍桩径时,随桩间距的增加而减小,当桩间距小于3倍桩径时,随桩间距的增加而增大。     

Study of the Bearing Capacity at the Variable Cross-Section of A Riser-Surface Casing Composite Pile

Reducing the cost of offshore platform construction is an urgent issue for marginal oilfield development.The offshore oil well structure includes a riser and a surface casing.The riser,surface casing and oil well cement can be considered special variable cross-section piles.Replacing or partially replacing the steel pipe pile foundation with a variable cross-section pile to provide the required bearing capacity for an offshore oil platform can reduce the cost of foundation construction and improve the economic efficiency of production.In this paper,the finite element analysis method is used to investigate the variable cross-section bearing mode of composite piles composed of a riser and a surface casing in saturated clay under a vertical load.The calculation formula of the bearing capacity at the variable section is derived based on the theory of spherical cavity expansion,the influencing factors of the bearing capacity coefficient N_c are revealed,and the calculation method of N_c is proposed.By comparing the calculation results with the results of the centrifuge test,the accuracy and applicability of the calculation method are verified.The results show that the riser composite pile has a rigid core in the soil under the variable cross-section,which increases the bearing capacity at the variable cross-section.     

Small- and large-scale model tests on the buckling property of slender pile

Slender piles embedded in soft ground or liquefied soil may buckle under vertical load. In this paper, both small- and large-scale model tests are conducted to investigate the buckling mechanisms of a slender pile and the lateral earth pressure acting on the pile. To observe the buckling of a slender pile, the strain-controlled loading method is adopted to apply a vertical load. When the two ends of a slender pile are hinged, the buckling mechanisms of small- and large-scale model tests are same. It should be noted that this applies only to a system with a small ratio of pile bending stiffness to soil bending stiffness. An applied vertical load increases with an increasing pile head settlement until it reaches the critical buckling load. By further increasing the pile head settlement, the measured load approaches the critical buckling load. In the large-scale model test, the measured lateral earth pressure (i.e., active and passive) acting on the slender pile varies linearly with the lateral pile displacement when the measured range is 3–5?m beneath the ground. A critical buckling calculation method has been adopted to compare with the conventional “m” method. The two-sided earth pressure calculation method can achieve more approximate results with the model test.     

Vertical vibration capacity of a single pile in dry sand

In this study, the dynamic response of pile foundation in dry sandy soil excited by two opposite rotary machines was considered experimentally. A small scale physical model was manufactured to accomplish the experimental work in the laboratory. The physical model consists of two small motors supplied with eccentric mass (0.012?kg) and eccentric distance (20?mm) representing the two opposite rotary machines, an aluminum shaft as the pile, and a steel plate a pile cap. The experimental work was achieved taking the following parameters into considerations: pile embedment depth ratio (L/d, where L is the pile length and d is its diameter) and operating frequency of the rotary machines. All tests were conducted in medium dense fine sandy soil with 60% relative density. Twelve tests were performed to measure the change in load transferred through the pile’s tip to the underlying soil. To predict precisely the dynamic load that will be induced from the rotary machines, a mini load cell with a capacity of 100?kg was mounted between the aluminum plate (the machine base) and the steel plate (pile cap). The results revealed that, before machine operation, the pile tip load was approximately equal to the static load (machine and pile cap), whereas during machines’ operation, the pile tip load decreased for all embedment depth ratios and operating frequencies. This reduction was due to the action of skin friction that was mobilized along the pile during operation, and as a result the factor of safety against pile bearing failure increases. For all operating frequencies and pile lengths, the factor of safety against bearing failure increased during machines’ operation, where the pile tip load became less than its value before starting operation. During operation, the skin friction resistance mobilized along pile length led to decrease the bearing load.     

Lateral loading of a pile using strain wedge model and its application under scouring

The scour hole around a pile will reduce the capacity of a laterally loaded pile. The strain wedge model is capable to derive a p–y curve for the analysis of a lateral loaded pile on a nonlinear Winkler foundation. To improve and extend the ability of the strain wedge method, a modified strain wedge (MSW) method is developed, in which a nonlinear lateral deflection of the pile is assumed to describe the varied soil strain distribution in the passive wedge. And then by treating the soil weight involved in the strain wedge as a vertical load at the bottom of the scour hole, an equivalent wedge depth is obtained to consider the effect of scour hole dimensions on the response of laterally loaded piles in sand. The validity of the MSW model is proved by comparisons with a centrifuge test without scour. And its applicability in the problem of a pile with scour is performed by a comparison with a model test and a FE analysis. The analysis shows the pile displacement at the pile head with scour can be obtained by multiplying the corresponding deflection without scour with an amplification factor related to scour depth at large load level.     

湛江某海上风电桩基局部冲刷特征研究

海上风电场桩基局部冲刷是工程设计与运行阶段的重要参数之一。基于湛江某海上风电场桩基3次现场局部冲刷实测数据,进行冲刷坑最大深度、冲刷坑半径和冲淤变化特征的分析与研究;根据桩基局部冲刷经验公式,采用工程海域实测海洋水文动力学数据进行最大冲刷深度与冲刷半径的计算,并进行公式计算值的对比与分 析。结果表明:桩基础在防冲刷设施的保护下,3次实测最大冲刷深度基本稳定为4.0 m,最大冲刷深度与桩径之比为0.57。而经验公式的最大冲刷深度与桩径之比均超过了1.1,说明桩基防冲刷设施取得了一定的效果,冲刷坑半径的计算值与现场实测值吻合较好。建议海上风电场在运行阶段进一步加强桩基冲刷坑监测与防护。     

Influence of cap size and strength on settlements of TDM-piled embankments over soft ground

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of pile cap size, soft layer thickness and pile strength on load transfer and settlement behaviors of embankments supported by floating and fixed T-shaped deep cement mixing piles and conventional DCM piles under volume control. Preliminary investigation is performed by a series of small-scale physical model tests. The results reveal that the differential settlement can be substantially reduced with an enlarging pile cap as a result of larger embankment load transferred to the piles. The extended numerical analysis results demonstrate that the pile efficacy is related to the individual pile bearing capacity, which, in turn, depends on the pile cap size. The soft layer thickness has an insignificant effect on differential settlement but a significant effect on average settlement, while the pile strength plays an important role in differential settlement only when the cap size is not very large. Shape factor of at least 3.0 is recommended to ensure the reduction in differential settlement and minimize the effect of the change in pile strength.     

Reinforcement and Arching Effect of Geogrid-Reinforced and Pile-Supported Embankment on Marine Soft Ground

The effectiveness of constructing a geogrid-reinforced and pile supported embankment on soft ground to reduce differential settlement has been studied by pilot scale field tests and numerical analysis. Three-by-three pile groups with varying pile spacing were driven into a layer of soft ground, and a layer of geogrid was used as reinforcement over each pile group. Further, a 2-D numerical analysis has been conducted using the computer program FLAC 2D. The mechanisms of load transfer can be considered as a combination of embankment soil arching, geogrid tension, and stress transfer due to the difference in stiffness between pile and soft ground. Based on the pilot scale field tests and results of numerical analysis, we find that the geosynthetic reinforcement slightly interferes with soil arching, and helps reduce differential settlement of the soft ground. Also, the most effective load transfer and vertical stress reduction at the midspan between piles occurs when the pile cap spacing index D/b (D: pile cap spacing, b: diameter of pile) is 3.0.     

Numerical study on long-term monopile foundation response

This paper analyzes the long-term monopile foundation that undergoes numerous mechanical cycles. The semiempirical scheme is adopted to involve a mechanical constitutive model to extract stress and strains at the first cycle and polynomial-type strain accumulation functions to track the progressive plastic deformation. In particular, the strain function contains the fundamental features that require simulating the long-term response of geomaterials: volumetric strain (terminal void ratio) and shear strain (shakedown or ratcheting), the strain accumulation rate, and stress obliquity. The numerical simulation shows evolution of displacements, pile rotation, and stress redistribution along the embedded pile as the number of load cycles increases. The analysis highlights that the pile rigidity affects the pattern of horizontal stress and displacement. The repetitive lateral load enhances the lateral load resistance due to soil densification along the pile.     

Reinforcement and Arching Effect of Geogrid-Reinforced and Pile-Supported Embankment on Marine Soft Ground

The effectiveness of constructing a geogrid-reinforced and pile supported embankment on soft ground to reduce differential settlement has been studied by pilot scale field tests and numerical analysis. Three-by-three pile groups with varying pile spacing were driven into a layer of soft ground, and a layer of geogrid was used as reinforcement over each pile group. Further, a 2-D numerical analysis has been conducted using the computer program FLAC 2D. The mechanisms of load transfer can be considered as a combination of embankment soil arching, geogrid tension, and stress transfer due to the difference in stiffness between pile and soft ground. Based on the pilot scale field tests and results of numerical analysis, we find that the geosynthetic reinforcement slightly interferes with soil arching, and helps reduce differential settlement of the soft ground. Also, the most effective load transfer and vertical stress reduction at the midspan between piles occurs when the pile cap spacing index D/b (D: pile cap spacing, b: diameter of pile) is 3.0.     

具有结构-桩-土相互作用的海洋平台结构体系承载能力的概率分析

本文研究了桩在竖向荷载和横向荷载作用下承载能力的计算模型,给出了单桩承载能力的概率分析以及不同支承条件对海洋平台结构体系承载能力的影响;提出了具有结构－桩－土相互作用的海洋平台结构体系承载能力的概率特性和在极端荷载作用下海洋平台结构体系的可靠度计算方法。研究结果表明：对于桩支承海洋平台结构体系的承载能力,结构－桩－土相互作用的影响是不容忽视的,其偏差影响取决于土性的离散度。     

Experimental Study on the Interaction Mechanism of Cap—Pile Group—Soil

Static load tests on pile group with prototype size were carried out in order to study the behavior and the working properties of the cap—pile group—soil interaction in the pile group foundation. The soil resistance under the cap, the pile shaft resistance and the tip resistance were measured by installing various measuring gauges. Based on these test results, the cap—pile group—soil interaction characteristics were analyzed. The regulations of the soil reaction on the cap, the shaft resistance and the tip resistance of pile, the mechanism of load transfer have been discussed with comparison to the result of the single pile tests. The bearing capacity of pile group is greater than the sum of the bearing capacity of the single pile obtained from testing in the same site in pile group foundation in the case presented here.     

A wave-flume study of scour at a pile breakwater: Solitary waves

Understanding the sediment transport and the resulting scour around coastal structures such as pile breakwaters under local extreme wave conditions is important for the foundation safety of various coastal structures. This study reports a wave-flume experiment investigating the scour induced by solitary waves at a pile breakwater, which consists of a row of closely spaced large piles. A wave blacking gate with a simple operation procedure in the experiment was designed to eliminate possible multiple reflections of the solitary wave inside the flume. An underwater laser scanner and a point probe were used in combination to provide high-resolution data of the bed profile around the pile breakwater. Effects of incident wave height and local water depth on the maximum scour depth, the maximum deposition height and the total scour and deposition volumes were examined. An existing empirical formula describing the evolution of the scour at a single pile in current or waves was extended to describe the scour at the pile breakwater under the action of multiple solitary waves, and new empirical coefficients were obtained by fitting the formula to the new experimental data to estimate the equilibrium scour depth. It appears that the maximum scour depth and the total scour volume are two reliable quantities for validation of numerical models developed for the scour around pile breakwaters under highly nonlinear wave conditions.     

V⁃H荷载作用下海洋平台吸力式桩桶桩土承载特性研究

用于海洋平台的吸力式桩桶基础作为一种新型平台基础正逐渐成为人们研究的重点。为研究吸力式桩桶单桩基础的受力特性,对V-H（竖向—水平）联合荷载作用下的吸力式单桩基础桩土的承载特性进行了数值模拟,并将数值模拟的有限元解通过与API规范中对p-y曲线的计算方法进行对比来验证有限元模型的可行性,最后采用分级作用力的加载方式对其破坏包络曲线进行绘制,并推导出相应的函数表达式。研究表明,采用ABAQUS有限元分析软件对吸力式桩桶进行数值模拟是可行的,随着对吸力式桩桶所施加V-H联合荷载的不断增大,吸力式桩桶所能体现的应力和弯矩极限值也在随之增大,其位移变化主要在施加荷载的区域附近,最后在联合荷载作用下所体现的极限承载状态,即包络曲线大致呈四分之一的椭圆形状。