*Single-Pile–09: The friction of a concrete pile in granular soils.

Find the length of a 14” square pile required to carry a 50 ton load embedded in a firm
sand (N = 25).

Given: Design load Qdesign = 100 kips

Side length of the square pile D = 1.167 ft
Atmospheric pressure Pa = 2 ksi
Avg. corrected SPT at 10D above and 4D below pile point (N1)60 = 25
Average standard penetration resistance ( N 1)60 = 25
Factor of safety FS = 3

Solution:

Ultimate load Qult = Qdesign FS = (100)(3) = 300 kips

Length of the pile is found from Meyerhof’s method,

Qult = 4Pa(N1)60Ap + 0.02Pa( N 1)60As

300 = 4(2)(25)(1.36) + 0.02(2)(25)(4.67)L = 272 + 4.67L
L = (300 – 272) / 4.67 = 6 feet

where Ap = D2 = (1.167)2 = 1.36 ft2 and As = 4DL = (4)(1.167)L = 4.67L

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