The 12 International Conference of International Association for Computer Methods and Advances in Geomechanics (IACMAG) 1-6 October, 2008

Goa, India

th

Analysis of Single and Group of Piles Subjected to Lateral Load Using Finite Element Method
Krishnamoorthy
Dept. of Civil Engineering, Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal, Karnataka, India

K.J.Sharma
Dept. of Civil Engineering, Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal, Karnataka, India

Keywords: laterally loaded piles, nonlinear finite element analysis, hypoelasticity model, group of piles. ABSTRACT: Load carrying capacity and load deformation behaviour of a single pile and group of piles subjected to lateral load is obtained using nonlinear finite element method of analysis. In finite element analysis the soil is modeled using eight noded brick elements, pile is modeled using two noded frame elements and pile cap is modeled using plate bending elements. A hypoelasticity constitutive model is used to model the behaviour of soil. The analysis is used to study the load versus displacement behaviour of a single and group of piles subjected to lateral load. The effect of spacing of piles on load deformation behaviour of a group of pile is also studied. It is concluded that the load carrying capacity of each pile in a group is less than the load carrying capacity of a single pile. Further, as the spacing of piles in a group increases, the load carrying capacity of each pile in a group also increases and deformation of the pile decreases.

1 Introduction
Pile foundations are generally preferred when heavy structural loads have to be transferred through weak subsoil to firm strata. These foundations in some situation are subjected to significant amount of lateral loads besides vertical loads. In practice, piles are used in groups and are connected by a cap at the pile heads. The analysis of lateral load carrying capacity of the pile is essential for the safe and economical design of pile foundations. Various approaches available for the analysis of a single and group of piles may be broadly grouped as subgrade reaction approach, elastic approach and the finite element approach. Subgrade recation approach idealises a pile as an transversly loaded beam supported by a series of unconnected linearly elastic or non linear springs representing soil whereas in the elastic approach, the soil is represented as an elastic continuum. Due to the availability of high speed large storage computers finite element method is widely used for solving problems of continuum mechanics and is very popular due to its versatility. Pressley and Poulos (1986) analysed a group of piles using finite element method with elastic perfectly plastic soil model. Brown and Shie (1990) and Trochanis et al. (1991) studied the behaviour of a single pile and group of piles with elastic plastic soil using a 3D finite element analysis. Muqtadir and Desai (1986) studied the behaviour of a pile group with nonlinear elastic soil model. Zhang and Small (2000) analysed capped pile groups subjected to horizontal and vertical loads. From these studies it is demonstrated that finite element method can capture the essentail aspects of behaviour of a pile. However, In most of the analyses of laterally loaded piles using finite element method, the behaviour of soil is modeled as either linearly elastic or elastic plastic. However, the behaviour of soil is nonlinear from the beginning, it depends on stress path and shows a different behaviour when subjected to different conditions of loading. Hence some form of a constitutive model to consider the realistic behaviour of soil is to be used and there is a need to use a realistic constitutive relatioship to model the behaviour of soil. In the present work, the pile resting in soil is analysed using three dimensional finite element method. To model the behaviour of soil, a hypoelasticity constitutive model proposed by Yin et al. (1989) is used. The model considers the important soil properties like nonlinearity, dilatancy and stress path dependency. The model requires six parameters which can be determined easily from the isotropic consolidation test and undrained triaxilal compression test. In a finite element model the soil is modeled using eight noded brick elements with three translatory degrees of freedom at each node whereas, the pile is modeled using line elements (also known as frame elements) with three transnational and three rotational degrees of freedom at each node. The pile cap is modeled with plate bending elements with three transnational degrees of freedom and two rotational degrees of freedom at each node. Behaviour of a single free head pile and fixed head piles when subjected to lateral load are studied using the analysis. The effects of spacing of piles on load carrying capacity when piles are placed in groups are also

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studied.

2 Modeling the Behaviour of Soil

A hypoelasticity model proposed by Yin et al. (1989) is used to model the behaviour of soil. The model considers the important soil properties like nonlinearity, dilatancy and stress path dependency. The model requires six parameters which can be determined easily from isotropic consolidation test and undrained triaxilal compression test. The increments of strains d11,d22, d33, d12, d23, d31 corresponding to the increment of stresses d11, d22, d33, d12, d23, d31 are related using the following equation d11 d22 d33 d12 d23 d31 = a1+2b1 a2 + b1 +b2 a2+b1+b3 c1/2 c1/2 c1/2 a2+b1+b2 a1+2b2 a2+b2+b3 c2/2 c2/2 c2/2 a2+b1+b3 a2+b2+b3 a1+2b3 c3/2 c3/2 c3/2 c1 c1 c1 1/2G 0 0 0 c2 c2 c2 c3 c3 c3 0 d11 d22 d33 d12 d23 d31

1/2G 0 0 1/2G

in which a1 = (1/9K ) + (1/3G) b1 = (211 - 22 - 33 )/6qJ b3 = (233 - 11 - 22 )/6qJ c2 = d23/qJ a2= (1/9K) (1/6G) b2= (222 - 11 - 33 )/6qJ c1= d12/qJ c3 = d31/qJ

(1)

p and q are effective mean stress and shear stress respectively. For a three dimensional stress state the values of p and q can be obtained using the equation p = (11 + 22 + 33 )/3 q = 1.414 [(11 - 22 )2 + (22 - 33 )2 + (33 - 11 ) 2 + 6(12 + 23 + 31 )1/2 ] (2)

11, 22, 33 and 12, 23, 31 are the normal and shear stresses respectively. Bulk modulus, K can be determined from isotropic consolidation test. The coupling modulus, J and shear modulus, G can be determined from conventional undrained triaxial compression test.

2.1 Determination of Modal Parameter K

In isotropic consolidation test, the soil sample in a triaxial test apparatus is compressed in all the directions by applying al round cell pressure in increments. And for each increment of cell pressure (increment of mean pressure, dp) the corresponding change in volume (dv) is measured. The effective mean stress, p and volumetric strain, v obtained from the test can be related using the equation v = /Vi ln (p ) + pcons (3)

This relationship plotted on a semi log plot with log p on x axis and v on y axis is a straight line. The slope of this line gives the value of /Vi . The value of bulk modulus K for any values of p can be obtained using the relationship K = p / (/Vi ) (4)

2.2 Determination of Model Parameter J

Coupling modulus J relates effective mean stress p and shear strain s as well as shear stress q and volumetric strain v behaviour. This can be determined from conventional undrained triaxial compression test. In conventional undrained triaxial compression test, initially, the soil sample is consolidated by applying al round cell pressure

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(pcons). The load in vertical direction is then applied in increments and for each increment of load, the corresponding change in axial deformation and change in pore pressure is measured. The values of q, p and s for each increment of load can be obtained using these data. The relationship between q / pcons versus p/ pcons can be modeled in the form q / pcons = A(1- p/ pcons ) n (5)

This relationship plotted on log log plot with log (1 - p/ pcons ) on - x axis and log (q / pcons ) on y - axis is a straight line. The slope of this line gives the value of n. Value of q / pcons on y - axis corresponding to value of log (1- p/ pcons ) equal to 1.0 on x - axis gives the value of A. The value of J for any values of q can then be obtained using the equation J = KnA
1/n

(q/ pcons )

( n-1/ n)

(6)

2.3 Determination of Model Parameter G

The model parameter G can also be determined from the data obtained from conventional undrained triaxial compression test. The relationship between s and q/ p can be modeled using a hyperbolic equation as (q / p) = s /(E + Fs ) (7)

This relationship plotted on log log plot with s on x - axis and s/ (q/ p ) on y - axis is a straight line. The slope of the line gives the value of F. The intersection of this line with s/ (q/ p ) axis gives the value of E. The parameter D for any values of p and q can then be obtained from the equation D = (1/3E) p (1-Fq/ p) The value of G can then be calculated from equation G = DJ / (J + 3DK)
2 2 2

(8)

(9)

Thus the constitutive model requires three modulus functions K,G and J. These modulus are the functions of mean stress p and shear stress q and changes as the state of stress in soil changes.

3 Details of the Analysis

Figure 1 shows the finite element descretization of soil, pile and pile cap. Various types of elements used to represent the behaviour of pile, soil and pile cap in finite element analysis are 1. Pile is represented using two noded frame elements with three translatory and three rotational degrees of freedom at each node 2. Pile cap is represented by plate bending elements with three translatory and two rotational degrees of freedom 3. Soil is represented using eight noded brick elements with three translatory degrees of freedom With reference to Figure 1, the various boundary conditions imposed are as follows: The displacement along X direction is zero along ADHE and BCGF The displacement along Y direction is zero along ABFE and DCGH The displacement along X,Y and Z directions are zero along EFGH. The stiffness matrix for the soil is obtained using a constitutive relationship given in Equation 1. Stiffness matrix for the pile element and plate bending element are obtained using modulus of elasticity and Poissons ratio of pile and pile cap. The stiffness matrices of soil element, pile element and pile cap element are added at corresponding degrees of freedoms to obtain the overall stiffness matrix. The pile and pile cap are considered as elastic. The model for the soil is in incremental form and hence, an incremental solution technique in which the stiffness matrix for soil is modified for each increment of the load. For each increment of load the displacement of pile, stresses in soil and bending moments in pile are computed. The procedure of applying the load in increments, modifying the stiffness matrices for soil and computing the increments of displacement is continued until the displacement at pile top becomes sufficiently large. For each increment of load, the displacement of pile and stresses in soil are obtained. It is assumed that the soil separates from pile whenever the mean stress p in soil in contact with pile becomes negative (soil in tension). Hence, after each increment of load, whenever the value of mean stress p in any element in contact with pile becomes negative, these elements are separated from pile by making the values of stiffnesses of the corresponding elements very small.

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B Pile cap Pile Soil Soil

Y
Figure 1 Finite element descretization of pile and soil

X Z 4 Results and Discussions

The analysis explained above is used to study the behaviour of a single pile and group of piles subjected to lateral load. The various parameters considered for the pile and soil are Pile Length = 3.0 m Pile cap Modulus of elasticity Poissons ratio Thickness Soil Cohesion = 0.1 MPa 0 Angle of internal friction = 0 . Modulus of elasticity = 15 Mpa Poissons ratio = 0.45 Model parameters - /Vi = 0.04 A = 1.3 n = 0.4 E = 0.006 F = 0.45 pcons = 0.1 Mpa = 20000 Mpa = 0.15 = 0.5 m Diameter = 0.3 m Modulus of elasticity = 20000 Mpa

4.1 Analysis of single pile

Behaviour of a single free head and a fixed head pile are studied. In the case of a free head pile, it is free to translate in all the directions and is also free to rotate about all the three axes whereas in the case of a fixed head pile the pile head is free to translate in all the three directions but rotations are restrained about the entire three axes. Load is applied in increments and the displacements of the pile and bending moments in the pile at various depths are obtained for each increment of load. The variation of horizontal displacement and bending moment for free head and fixed piles with z/L ratio is shown in Figure 2 and Figure 3 when load on the pile is equal to 30 kN, 60 kN, 90 kN and 120 kN. The displacements are positive (along the direction of load) up-to a certain depth and becomes negative beyond this depth. The depth up-to which displacements are positive, however, increases with increase in load on the pile. The z/L ratio up-to which displacements are positive varies from 0.5 when load on the pile is equal to 30 kN to 0.7 when load on pile is equal to 120 kN for a free head pile

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and it varies from 0.6 when the load on pile is equal to 30 kN to 0.8 when load on the pile is equal to 120 kN for a fixed head pile. Thus the top part of pile moves along the direction of load and the remaining bottom part of pile moves opposite to the direction of load and the length of pile which moves in the direction of load and opposite to the direction of load depends on the magnitude of load on the pile. Also, the displacement of the fixed head pile is lesser than the displacement of the free head pile and the rotation of the pile at pile head is almost equal to zero in the case of a fixed head pile whereas it is not equal to zero in the case of a free head pile. In the case of a free head pile, the maximum bending moment occurs at z/L ratio equal to 0.2 when load on the pile is equal to 30 kN whereas at 120 kN load, the maximum bending moment occurs at z/L ratio equal to 0.38. Thus the depth at which maximum bending moment occurs varies with load on pile and it increases as the load increases. Also the bending moment is zero at both top and bottom end of the pile. In the case of a fixed head pile, the bending moment is maximum at pile head and becomes zero at z/L ratio nearly equal to 0.25 and then becomes positive when z/L ratio is more than 0.25. The maximum positive bending moment occurs at a depth ratio nearly equal to 0.5.

0 0.2 z/L
z/L

0 0.2

0.4 0.6 0.8 1 -50 0

30KN 60KN 90KN 120KN 50 100

0.4 0.6 0.8 1 0 20 40 30KN 60KN 90KN 120KN 60

Horizontal displacement (mm)

Bending moment (kN-m)

Figure 2 Variation of displacement and bending moment with z/L for a free head pile

0 0.2 0.4 z/L 30 kN 0.6 0.8 1 -10 0 10 Displacement (mm) 20 30 60 kN 90 kN 120 kN

0 0.2 30 kN 90 kN 120 kN z/L -40 -20 60 kN 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 -80 -60 0 20 Bending moment (kN.m)

Figure 3 Variation of displacement and bending moment with z/L for a fixed head pile

4.2 Analysis of Group of Piles

Analysis explained above is also used to study the behaviour of piles arranged as a square group at various spacings. To study this four piles are placed at a spacing (s) of 3d, 4d, 5d and 6d where d is the diameter of each pile in a group. All the four piles are connected at top with a pile cap. Load on pile cap is applied in increments and for each increment of load, the lateral deformation at pile top is obtained. The results are presented in the form of lateral load versus lateral displacement. A non-dimensional parameter s/d where s is the center to center distance between piles and d is the diameter of the pile is used while presenting load versus displacement behaviour. Figure 4 shows lateral load versus lateral displacement relationship of each pile in a square group. The load versus displacement behaviour of a single fixed head pile is also shown in the same figure. It can be observed from the figure that, the load carrying capacity of a single fixed head pile is more than the load carrying

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capacity of each pile in a group. Also, as the spacing of piles in a group increases, the lateral resistance of each pile in a group also increases (ie the load on a pile for the same displacement increases as the spacing increases). When the spacing is equal to six times the pile diameter (s=6d), the load versus deformation behaviour of the single fixed head pile is nearly equal to the load versus deformation behaviour of each pile in a group.

200 180 160 140 Load (kN) 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 0

Four piles as square block

s = 3d s = 4d s = 5d s = 6d Single

10

20

30 40 50 Displacement (mm)

60

70

80

Figure 4. Load versus displacement behaviour of piles in a group with pile cap

5 Conclusions
Based on the analysis it is concluded that finite element analysis using an appropriate constitutive model to represent the realistic behaviour of soil can be used to model the behaviour of a single and group of piles resting in soil mass. Also, the load carrying capacity of each pile in a group is less than the load carrying capacity of the single pile and as the spacing of piles in a group decreases, the load carrying capacity also decreases.

6 References
Brown D.A., Shie C.F. 1990. Three dimensional finite element model of laterally loaded piles. Computers and geotechnics, . 10, 59 79. Muqtadir A., Desai C.S. 1986. Three dimensional analysis of a pile-group foundation. International journal for numerical and analytical methods in geomechanics, 10, 41-58 Pressley J.S., Poulos H.G. 1986. Finite element analyisis of mechanisms of pile group behaviour. International journal for numerical and analytical methods in geomechanics, 10, 213 221. Trochanis A.M., Bilak J.. Christiano. 1991. Three dimensional nonlinear study of piles. Journal of geotechnical engineering, ASCE, 117(3), 429 - 447. YIN J.H. GRAHAM J. SAADAT F. AZIZI F. 1989. Constitutive modelling of soil behaviour using th Int. Conf. on Soil Mech. and Foundation Engg., Riodejaneiro, 143 - 147. hypoelasticity. Proc. 12 three modulus

Zhang H.H. Small J.C. 2000. Analysis of capped pile groups subjected to horizontal and vertical loads. Computers and Geotechniques, 26, 1- 21

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