Indian Geotechnical Conference ~ 2010, GEOrrend: December 16-18, 2010 IGS Mumbai Chapter & IT Bombay Granular Anchor Pile System for Resisting Uplift Forces Sawant, V. A. Kumar, Pradeep" Ranjan, Gopal Assistant Professor Scientist Director e-mail: vasawans@ yahoo.com Deparimentof Civ! Engineerign, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee 'Central Building Research Institute. Roorkee *College of Engineering, Roorkee ABSTRACT Granular Anchor Pile (GAP) developed is capable of providing resistances against compressive and pullout loads in addition t0 the ground improvement, Its relatively a new concept that extends the functional utility of granular piles to withstand uplift loads also. When GAP's are provided in suitable groups, it is envisaged that shear and torsional resistances can also be achieved. Most of the methodologies developed for predicting pullout capacities have rarely considered the improved soil properties that are usually achieved during the construction of granular piles itself. The efficacy of Granular Pile Anchor arises from the fact that the Bulging Failure occurs at depth near the toe and increases with the relative length of GPA unlike that of GP in Compression for which it occurs at the top and is independent ofthe relative length of GP. A numerical solution to predict the response of single Granular Anchor Pile in weak subsoil conditions has been discussed in the present study: 1, INTRODUCTION Granular piles are one of the ground improvement techniques used for increasing the bearing capacity and reducing the seitlements of loose sand deposits and soft clay beds. However, a mere granular pile cannot resist the tensile uplift force caused on the foundation by the swelling soils by virtue of it being a particulate medium. On the other hand, if the foundation is anchored at the bottom of the granular pile (0 a mild steel anchor plate through mild steel anchor rod, the granular pile becomes a tension- resistant granular pile-anchor foundation and counteracts the upward tensile force caused on the foundation by the swelling soil and reduces heave (Phanikumar 1997), Granular Anchor Pile (GAP) developed is capable of providing resistances against compressive and pullout loads im addition to the ground improvement. Itis relatively a ‘ew concept that extends the functional utility of granular piles to withstand uplift loads also. When GAP’s are provided in suitable groups, itis envisaged that shear and torsional resistances can also be achieved. Tests conducted fon model granular pile anchors (Phanikumar 1997) in ‘expansive clay beds indicated that about 96% of heave could be reduced. Pullout tests conducted on model GPAs ‘embedded in expansive clay beds showed that pullout ‘capacity increased with the increasing length and diameter of the GPA and increasing relative density of granular pile material, A well documented study has been carried out in the Laboratory before its application to actual field conditions (Phanikumar et al 2004). An extensive field study was conducted (Rao et al. 2005) on theiin situ behavior of GPA. The study included heave behavior of expansive clay beds reinforced with GPA and also pullout behavior of GPAs. Srirama Rao et al (2007) presented the results of a field-scale test program conducted to study the pullout response of GPAs embedded in expansive clay beds. Pullout load tests were conducted on GPAs of varying lengths and. diameters. It was found from the field pullout load tests that granular pile anchors of larger surface area resulted in higher pullout capacity. Of the various single granular pile anchors with L/d values between 2.5 and 10, the GPA oflength 1000 mm and diameter 200 mm (L/d=5) showed the best pullout load response when tested alone, resulting ina failure uplift capacity of 14.71 KN. Increase in diameter and length of granular pile anchor increased the uplift capacity. ‘The behavior of foundation anchored to GPAs depends ‘on the uplift capacity ofthe GPA. The granular pile-anchor foundation must be designed such that it resists the upward, force in the foundation and does not fail in pullout. The resistance to upward force and safety against pullout depend ‘upon the swelling pressure, the surface area of the GPA. and the relative density of the granular pile material350 VA. Sawant, Pradeep Kumar and Gopal Ranjan (Phanikumar 1997). However, a full-scale field study and. consequent numerical modeling are also necessary to establish the technique of GPAs as a foundation practice in expansive clays. Most of the methodologies developed for predicting pullout capacities have rarely considered the improved soil properties that are usually achieved during the construction of granular piles itself. The efficacy of Granular Pile Anchor arises from the fact that the Bulging Failure occurs at depth near the toe and increases with the relative length of GPA unlike that of GP in Compression for which it occurs at the top and is independent of the relative length of GP. A numerical solution to predict the response of single Granular Anchor Pile in weak subsoil conditions has been discussed in the present study, 2, METHODOLOGY OF RESEARCH ‘The efficacy of Granular Pile Anchor arises from the fact, that the Bulging Failure occurs at depth near the toe and. increases with the relative length of GPA unlike that of GP in Compression for which it occurs at the top and is, independent of the relative length of GP. Since bulging takes place near the toe, a constant modulus of deformation ccan be assumed, More realistic variation in modulus can bbe handled by more rigorous analysis using finite element method. In the present study, closed form solutions are derived for the case of constant modulus of deformation A single granular pile of length Z, and diameter d with modulus of deformation E and Poisson's ratio w, is considered for the purpose of analysis, A typical element of granular piles presented in Figure 1, slong with various forces acting on it. T Fig. 1: Af yis the unit weight of GP material, then the weight of clement of length dz is given by dW =y Adz, where rtttttt le |r teehee ‘Ais the cross sectional area ofthe element. The axial stress and shear stress t can be linked by considering the equilibrium of vertical forces on the element. (o44e oa-[evt8as)s-raddc-yademo fats {+5+7) The axial stress 6 and shear stress ¢ can be related to displacement with the following relation. @) In the above expression k is the shear interaction, coefficient for soil-GP interface. The value of which is related to shear modulus G of soil by the expression given by Scott(1981) as k=2G din(50) 3) Combining above equations, following governing differential equation can be obtained. Bo ae ako or TEE oy Ifthe constant ais assumed as, fe \ae Then, the solution of above differential equation is given by following expression nae YA cet Ze “ak 6 Constants C, and C,, can be obtained using the boundary condition a the top and tip ofthe granular pile wae" + L a=be,=2 aya! 2=0 and 6-0. z i After implementing the above two boundary conten, nl frm ofthe eto item llowing Fo. The ail sess in the granular pl canbe oiined from differentiating above equation and then multiplying by modulus of deformation E. -pttagtbon) o Displacements and stresses are normalized with the following equations ak and oy = =) oe ® CE Using the above relationship, non-dimensional displacements, and non-dimensional stresses are given by following equations. 9)Granular Anchor Pile System for Resisting Uplift Forces 851 a } (10) Tn the above expressions, the quantities az and al. are non-dimensional 3. PARAMETRIC STUDY A parametric study is carried out to investigate the effect of selected parameters like L/d ratio, and modulus ratio (EVE) on the response. The Lid ratio is varied within the range of 5 to 50, Three values of Modulus ratio has been tried as 5, 10 and 25. While changing these parameters pile diameter (0.5m) and soil modulus (6000 kPa) was ‘maintained constant. A vertical pullout load P of 100 KN ‘was applied at the top of pile. Variations in the non-dimensional displacement w;, along the depth of pile for different combinations are presented in Figure 2 and Figure 4. Similarly stress distribution along depth in non-dimensional form is, presented in Figure 3 and 5 for different combinations sffect of L/d ratioon the non-dimensional displacement is iMlustrated in Figure 2. In this case constant modulus ratio of 25 was employed. The effect of load is seen up toa depth of 10 diameter, after which displacement is nearly constant. Although increase in L/dratio reduces the displacement at the tip of pile. Effect of L/d ratio on stress distribution jure 3) indicate that for long piles, 80 percent stress is twansfer take place in the depth of top 5 diameter. The optimum length of the pile is around 10 times diameter after which the increase in the length does not contribute much towards the load sharing. Nonsimensional displacement ° ee ad baits 5 Fig. 2: Effect of Lid Ratio on Displacement Stress Ratio 0 02 08 06 08 3 ° Foe 4 Fig. 3: Effect of Lid Ratio on Stress Effect of modulus ratio is highlighted in Figure 3. The displacements are found to be decreasing with increase in the modulus ratio, however displacement patterns are parallel to each other. Stress distribution along the depth of the pile for different modulus ratio (constant Lid=10) is presented in Figure 5. Effect of modulus ratio is more effective inthe lower portion ofthe pile, where stresses are increasing with increase in the modulus ratio. It appears that GP behaves as rigid pile at lower modulus ratio (as apparent from linear distribution), while at the higher modulus ratio the behaviour is tansformed to flexible nature, Non-dimensional displacement 0 on 08 05 08 ° oe 04 __ Ros 10 os = 1 Fig. 4: Effect of Modulus Ratio on displacement ‘tress Ratio ° ozs 057 1 ° 02 a4 =z 96 10 Fig. 5: Effect of Moxlulus Ratio on Stress A numerical solution to predict the response of single Granular Anchor Pile in weak subsoil conditions (with the assumption of constant modulus of deformation) has been discussed in the present study, Following observations can bbe made form the present parametric study. + Although increase in the L/d ratio reduces the displacement at the tip of pile, the optimum length ofthe pile is around 10 times diameter after which the increase in the length does not contribute much towards the load sharing. + The displacements are found tobe decreasing with inerease in the modulus ratio