LATERALLY LOADED PILES IN LAYERED SOIL.

Abstract

Laterally loaded circular elastic piles in layered soil are analyzed by means of a rigorous elastic load transfer theory. In terms of effective stresses, the problem is decomposed into extended soil layers with elastic properties of the layered soil and a fictitious pile characterized by Young's modulus of the real pile and the respective Young's moduli of the soil layers. The unknown fictitious-pile shear force is determined from the condition that the horizontal displacement in the extended soil layers along the centroidal axis of the original pile location caused by a system of interactive forces is equal to the horizontal displacement in the fictitious pile. The real-pile shear force is obtained by combining the fictitious-pile shear force with the areal integral of the effective horizontal shear stress in the extended soil layers at the original pile position. Extensive parametric studies with regard to the maximum bending moment and pile top deflection are presented in graphical form for the design and analysis of laterally loaded piles in layered soil.