Lateral Response of Socketed Pile Under Cyclic Load

Abstract

The pile, carrying large axial and lateral load is often subjected to lateral cyclic load due to the wave action of water, glacier movement and by heavy wind action. Transfer of heavy load requires the pile to socket into the hard stratum. The existing p-y curve for socketed pile gives an approximate solution under static load. In order to overcome this, a series of experimental program was conducted on a model pile by varying its length of embedment to the length of pile ratio (L_e/L) 25%, 50% and 75%. The model pile of length 1200 mm was made up of a hollow aluminium pipe of 25.4 mm outer diameter and 3 mm thickness. Electrical resistance foil type strain gauges of 350 Ω were placed along the length of pile at equal intervals of 100 mm. LVDT’s were placed on the pile head and ground level to measure the lateral deflection. Lateral load was applied gradually at the pile head, the strains and deflection were measured using a data acquisition system connected to a computer. Load deformation response for varying frequencies and cycles were generated on the basis of the experimental analysis. The experimental results helped the observation that, socketing the pile has significant effects on lateral load carrying capacity. Embedding the pile into hard strata reduces the lateral displacements substantially compared with pile bearing over hard strata.