By Mohsenm - Baligh: J. Geotech. Engrg. 1985.111:1108-1136

STRAIN PATH METHOD
By Mohsen M. Baligh 1
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ABSTRACT: The Strain Path Method provides an integrated and systematic

framework for elucidating and predicting pile foundation behavior, interpreting
in situ tests, assessing sampling disturbance effects and, in general, approach-
ing "deep geotechnical problems" in a consistent and rational manner. This
article describes the fundamentals of the method and presents solutions for the
effects of quasi-static undrained penetration of piles, cones and samplers on
the deformations and strains in saturated isotropic clays. Procedures to deter-
mine penetration stresses and pore pressures and extensions of these solutions
in an approximate form to more realistic conditions (e.g., anisotropic clays and
drained penetration in sands) by means of the Strain Path Method are outlined.
Estimates of undrained soil distortions due to sampler penetration indicate the
necessity of reevaluating standard sampling and laboratory testing procedures
utilized at present to estimate the in situ behavior of foundation soils, especially
in the cases of soft clay deposits.
INTRODUCTION
In the last 30 years, significant improvements have been achieved in

our capability as a geotechnical profession to predict the behavior of
shallow foundations due to better identification and understanding of
the important mechanisms governing foundation behavior. Essential ele-
ments in improving predictive capabilities were newly developed ana-
lytic procedures, advances in the understanding and formulation of soil
behavior, better methods to characterize in situ soil conditions and more
reliable observations of field prototype behavior.
Unfortunately, the same improvements could not be directly utilized
in "deep" geotechnical problems, e.g., long piles, in situ tests, soil sam-
pling, and other situations involving deep penetration of foundation ele-
ments and devices. Penetration causes significant shearing and distor-
tion of the surrounding soil and, as yet, no realistic and rational methods
are available to develop the necessary understanding of disturbance ef-
fects.
The Strain Path Method is an approximate analytic technique to pre-
dict soil disturbances caused by the installation of various rigid objects
in the ground. Since this is the first step in understanding, formulating
and predicting the behavior of "deep" foundations, the method pro-
vides a comprehensive framework that enables these problems to be ap-
proached in a realistic, systematic, and rational manner.
The paper describes the essence of a major research effort conducted
at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) over the last 10 years
to develop what is now known as the Strain Path Method and presents
applications of the method to deep penetration in saturated clays.
^Prof. of Civ. Engrg., Massachusetts Inst, of Tech., Cambridge, Mass. 02139.
Note.—Discussion open until February 1, 1986. To extend the closing date one
month, a written request must be filed with the ASCE Manager of Journals. The
manuscript for this paper was submitted for review and possible publication on
February 6, 1984. This paper is part of the Journal of Geotechnical Engineering,
Vol. Ill, No. 9, September, 1985. ©ASCE, ISSN 0733-9410/85/0009-1108/$01.00.
Paper No. 19988.
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J. Geotech. Engrg. 1985.111:1108-1136.

BACKGROUND
The importance of soil disturbances caused by installation of deep

foundation elements and devices in the ground has long been recog-
nized. The development of a sound understanding and reliable predic-

tive methods for disturbance effects are complicated by the following
factors:
1. Singularities and high gradients in these two-dimensional problems

where the field variables (displacements, strains, stresses, and pore
pressures) depend on the radial and vertical locations.
2. Large deformations and strains in the soil observed in laboratory
and in situ situations.
3. Very complicated behavior of soils including nonlinearities, inelas-
ticity and anisotropy and, possibly, time-dependent (visco-elastic) and
frictional response.
4. The presence of water (and possibly gas) in the pores requiring the
treatment of the soil as a multiphase medium.
5. Characteristics of the soil-indenter interface that cannot be simu-
lated by linear modeling, e.g., Coulomb friction.
Realistic closed-form solutions to installation problems are not con-

ceivable. On the other hand, numerical techniques such as the Finite
Element Method (FEM) have been sufficiently developed to overcome
the aforementioned difficulties and can provide numerical solutions. But
realistic FEM solutions that will help develop a sound basic understand-
ing of the phenomenon of disturbance are considered beyond the reach
of existing computers, especially in view of the high gradients near the
penetrometers and, thus, the fine resolutions needed. Experience in
geotechnical engineering and other disciplines indicates that valuable re-
finements and checks can be expected from FEM solutions only after the
fundamentals of the problem have been solidly established.
The most widely accepted methods for estimating installation effects
revolve around Cavity Expansion Methods (CEM) that assume condi-
tions of radial symmetry and thus restrict the dependence of field vari-
ables (i.e., displacements, strains, stresses, and pore pressures) to the
radial coordinate only. One-dimensional simplifications proved to be very
useful in many other geotechnical applications and enabled more atten-
tion to be focused on the difficulties of soil behavior, e.g., Terzaghi's
theory of consolidation. In fact, simplified approaches often played a
vital role in the development of science by providing the basic under-
standing and, thus, the impetus for more comprehensive general the-
ories. For example, since Galileo's work in 1638, the Simple Theory of
Beams developed very slowly but was reasonably well formulated by
Coulomb in 1776 long before the foundations of the general Theory of
Elasticity were laid by Navier, in 1821, and established by Stokes in 1845.
On the other hand, simplifications have also caused major retrogres-
sions in science and engineering primarily due to hasty generalizations
and the adoption of unestahlished hypotheses. Numerous examples of
retrogressions can be found in the work of hundreds of elasticians be-
tween Galileo and Stokes, and, amazingly, even after the more correct
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theories had been presented. For example, in spite of his landmark con-
tributions, Poisson, in 1828, adopted unjustified hypotheses and erro-
neously proved that the elastic parameter now known as "Poisson's ra-
tio" must equal 1/4.
Modern CEM appear to have been first developed for applications to

metal indentation (Bishop, et al., 1945) and were then generalized and
utilized in geotechnical applications primarily for the interpretation of
the pressuremeter test, but also for the bearing capacity of deep foun-
dations and for estimating disturbances due to installation (Chadwick,
1959; Gibson and Anderson, 1961; Ladanyi, 1963; Butterfield and Ban-
nerjee, 1970; Baguelin, et a l , 1972; Palmer, 1972; Vesic, 1972; Prevost
and Hoeg, 1975; Ladanyi, 1976; Carter et a l , 1978; and others). CEM
were the "raison d'etre" for the pressuremeter test, and thus their use
in this application is fully justified. Furthermore, the utilization of CEM
in pile foundation analyses up to, say 1975, represented a definite im-
provement over methods available at the time. However, the author be-
lieves that, in the last five to ten years, use of CEM in the analysis of
deep foundations started to enter a retrogressive stage sometimes gen-
erating more distractions and confusion than providing useful answers.
FUNDAMENTALS OF STRAIN PATH METHOD
Observations of soil deformations caused by the undrained penetra-

tion of rigid objects in saturated clays led Baligh (1975) to hypothesize
that, due to the severe kinematic constraints that exist in "deep" pen-
etration problems, soil deformations and strains are, by and large, in-
dependent of the shearing resistance of the soil. This means that these
problems are essentially strain-controlled and implies that, even if rel-
atively "simple" soil properties (e.g., isotropy) are utilized to estimate
deformations and strains caused by penetration, the errors introduced
are expected to be reasonably small. Approximate stresses and pore
pressures can then be computed by utilizing realistic soil behavioral re-
sponses and by satisfying equilibrium conditions. Exact stresses and pore
pressures would be obtained if and only if the estimated soil deforma-
tions were identical to those experienced in the actual problem. The lat-
ter depend, in general, on soil behavior (unless the problem is fully strain-
controlled) and cannot be exactly known a priori.
Strain Path versus Stress Path Method.—Table 1 describes the essen-
tial features of the Stress and Strain Path Methods and emphasizes their
strong similarities in approaching geotechnical problems. Strictly speak-
ing, the Stress Path Method as described by Lambe, 1967, is an ap-
proximate analytic technique to predict the stability and deformation of
"shallow" foundations, e.g., footings, mats, excavations, natural slopes,
earth dams, and other situations where the depth of the soil of interest
below ground surface is relatively small compared to its lateral extent.
The widespread utilization of the method in geotechnical practice as well
as teaching offers ample evidence of the real merit of the method, it
provides an integrated, systematic, and simple framework for elucidat-
ing and solving shallow foundation problems.
Table 1 outlines the basic steps utilized by the Stress Path Method to
estimate deformations in shallow foundation problems with emphasis
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TABLE 1.—Comparison of Stress Path and Strain Path Methods
Stress path method Strain path method
APPLICATIONS
Shallow Problems: Depth of soil of Deep Problems: Soil of interest is

interest is relatively small compared relatively deep below ground
to its lateral extent. surface compared to its lateral
extent.
b. STEPS
1. Estimate initial stresses. 1. Estimate initial stresses.
2, Estimate incremental stresses. 2. Estimate incremental strains.
3. Perform stress path tests on 3. Perform strain path tests on
samples (or use adequate soil samples (or use adequate soil
model) to obtain strains at selected model) to obtain effective stresses
locations. at selected locations.
4. Estimate deformations by integrat- 4. Estimate pore pressures by
ing strains. integrating equilibrium equations.
c. APPROXIMATIONS
In Step 2 stresses are approximate In Step 2 strains are approximate thus
thus leading to path-dependent leading to either: (1) Path dependent
deformations in Step 4, i.e., strains pore pressures in Step 4, i.e., total
violate some compatibility stresses violate some equilibrium
requirements. requirements; or (2) effective
stresses that violate some
constitutive relations.
d. ITERATION (IMPROVEMENT OF SOLUTION)
Use results of Step 3 to improve Use results in Step 3 to improve
estimates in Step 2. estimates in Step 2.
on simplifications involved in the m e t h o d a n d their consequences. A key

element in the success of the m e t h o d is the fact that shallow problems
are essentially stress-controlled a n d thus estimates of stress increments
based on simple soil properties (e.g., linear elasticity) generally involve
sensibly small errors that can be tolerated by the geotechnical engineer
predicting foundation performance, especially in view of other major
uncertainties associated with the actual in situ behavior of the founda-
tion soils. Table 1 provides the same information for the application of
the Strain Path Method to " d e e p " problems. In concept, the m e t h o d is
virtually identical to the Stress Path Method except for one fundamental
aspect that really represents the difference between shallow versus deep
problems, namely, the stress-controlled nature of shallow problems ver-
sus the strain-controlled nature of deep problems (which, in fact, rep-
resents the most rigorous definition of shallow versus d e e p problems).
Clearly, the basic simplification introduced by the Strain Path M e t h o d
consists of hypothesizing that estimates of strain (instead of stress) in-
crements based on simple soil properties will introduce reasonably small
errors that may be tolerated in view of other major uncertainties in soil
behavior.
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Implementation to Deep Penetration in Saturated Clays.—Deep quasi-
static penetration of axisymmetric rigid bodies (e.g., piles, cone pene-
trometers, samplers, etc.) in saturated clays provides a good illustration
of the application of Strain Path Method to important geotechnical prob-
lems. Considering undrained shearing of the clay and neglecting vis-

coelastic effects, a steady mode of penetration can be assumed without
loss of generality. Steady state means that, to an observer moving with
the indenter, the deformations and strains in the soil do not vary with
time. Assuming that inertial effects can be neglected, the process of pen-
etration is reduced to a flow problem where soil particles move along
streamlines around a fixed rigid body. A solution therefore consists of
obtaining the deformations, strains, stresses, and pore pressures at var-
ious soil elements along different streamlines.
Fig. 1 describes the necessary steps to obtain solutions by means of
the Strain Path Method:
INITIAL SOIL
STRESSES. ' VELOCITIES,
V|
RATES
3 - DEFORMATIONS
t . _ STRAIN PATH
3 £ | | ALONG
STREAMLINES
6 . A EFFECTIVE STRESS APPROACH 6 . B TOTAL STRESS APPROACH
MODEL- E F F E C T I V E MODEL: DEVIATORIC MODEL! SHEAR INDUCED

STRESS vs. STRAIN STRESS vs. STRAINS PORE PRESSURES Vs.
STRAINS
DEVIATORIC SHEAR INDUCED

STRESSES PORE PRESSURES
EQUILIBRIUM
7-
8-
FIG. 1.—Application of Strain Path Method to Deep Penetration in Clays
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1. Estimate the initial stresses, (cr,y)°, and initial pore pressure, u„, in
the soil prior to penetration.
2. Estimate a velocity field satisfying the conservation of volume (or
mass) requirement and the b o u n d a r y conditions. The velocity field de-
scribes the velocity (or rate of deformation) of soil particles as they move
around the indenter and is covered subsequently.
3. From the velocity field determine soil deformations by integration
along streamlines. If possible, compare with experimental model or field
test results.
4. Compute the strain rates, e,y, along streamlines by differentiating
the velocities with respect to the spatial coordinates.
5. Integrate the strain rates, e,y, along streamlines to determine the
strain path (e,y) of different soil elements.
6. At this stage, and in the case of undrained shearing of clays, the
effective stresses can be determined from the strain p a t h (or history) of
various elements by either: (a) A n effective stress approach utilizing an
effective stress versus strain model, or alternatively; (b) a total stress
approach utilizing two models. The first model determines the devia-
toric stresses, s,y (= cr,y — aoct8,y), and the second estimates the shear-
induced pore pressures, us, such that the effective stresses, <r,y (= s,y —
ws8,y), can be computed. For conciseness, tensor notation is used w h e r e
8,y represents the Kronecker delta (= 0 for i ¥" j and = 1 for i = / ) , crocl
= 1/3 ukk and, repeated indices imply summation over indices 1, 2
and 3.
7. Given the effective stresses, a,y, the pore pressures u (= croct + us)
are computed from equilibrium considerations. This step requires special
treatment and is covered subsequently (see also Appendix I).
8. Knowing u and <x,y, the total stresses a,y (= cr,y + w8,y) can be easily
computed at every soil element.
The important steps in the m e t h o d are examined in the following.

Velocity Field.—The Strain Path Method hinges on the assumption that
soil deformations during d e e p penetration can be estimated with a rea-
sonable degree of accuracy without the need to consider constitutive re-
lations for the soil. This decoupling drastically simplifies the problem.
Fig. 1 recommends that deformations be obtained from velocities by in-
tegration rather t h a n the more obvious alternative of determining de-
formations (e.g., from laboratory penetration measurements) a n d t h e n
deriving strains by differentiation. This avoids the significant errors caused
by the process of differentiation given the limited accuracy of existing
deformation measurements.
One of the most accurate methods of measuring deformations utilizes
X-ray techniques. Levadoux and Baligh (1980) evaluate the accuracy of
X-ray measurements (Arthur a n d Phillips, 1975) a n d show that, even
under ideal conditions involving uniform strain fields the m e t h o d is im-
precise. In penetration experiments in clays, the use of X-ray techniques
is further complicated by the very high deformation gradients encoun-
tered and thus the high resolution needed, the inevitable variability of
the soil in a model test; the limited size of the clay sample that can be
penetrated by regular X-ray machines for reasonable exposure time and
sufficient image sharpness (=20 cm); the limited penetrometer size in
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order to avoid boundary effects; and the limited acceptable density of
the lead shots in order to avoid interference with clay deformations.
Therefore, although available experimental measurements of soil defor-
mations during penetration are valuable in evaluating predictions, they
should not be used to estimate strain fields.

Constitutive Relations.—The strain paths of soil elements during pen-
etration are complicated, involve large strains, and cannot be duplicated
by existing laboratory testing capabilities. However, for a known strain
path of a soil element along a given streamline, the effective stress path
can be determined by either a comprehensive effective stress model or
by a total stress approach in which deviatoric stress and shear-induced
pore pressure models are used. This process is repeated along a number
of streamlines and the effective stress field is thus evaluated at as many
discrete points as required by the resolution needed.
Equilibrium.—The expansion of a spherical cavity in saturated, ho-
mogeneous, isotropic clays initially subjected to isotropic stresses rep-
resents a problem where solutions by the strain path method are exact
because soil strains are completely independent of material properties.
On the other hand, in more realistic situations (e.g., anisotropic clays)
where the strains are "slightly" dependent on material properties, so-
lutions based on simplified strain fields are approximate and the effec-
tive stresses computed by means of a given constitutive model will not
satisfy all equilibrium requirements. Appendix I provides a detailed
treatment of equilibrium considerations and shows that, if the pore pres-
sures, M, are computed by direct integration of equilibrium equations,
the values of u will depend on the path of integration. Equilibrium can
however be satisfied by means of two approaches described in Appendix
I. The first consists of solving a succession of Poisson equations in the
pore pressures, u, until the required accuracy is achieved or the nu-
merical differentiation errors prevent further improvements. The second
approach is more engineering oriented and consists of solving one Pois-
son equation to determine the first order pore pressure distribution and
one set of linear elasticity equations to determine the corrective total
stresses required to balance equilibrium and satisfy imposed boundary
conditions involving surface tractions, e.g., given interface characteris-
tics between penetrometer and soil. These corrective stresses introduce
effective stresses and thus will violate the given constitutive relations of
the soil. Appendix I provides means of assessing the accuracy of solu-
tions and methods to evaluate the errors introduced by the proposed
strain path solution method. Clearly, these errors will be small if the
assumed strain field is close to the actual one.
Extensions and Generalizations.—Applications of the Strain Path
Method to deep penetration of rigid indenters in incompressible satu-
rated clays on the basis of procedures described previously and accord-
ing to steps outlined in Fig. 1 have been pursued at MIT in the last 10
years in order to: (1) Predict soil velocities, deformations, strain rates
and strains during penetration; (2) develop comprehensive anisotropic
clay behavior models capable of providing reliable estimates of effective
stresses; (3) predict soil stresses and pore pressures during penetration
in selected clay deposits with well defined properties; (4) develop new
in situ testing devices [e.g., the Piezocone (Baligh, et al., 1981)] and in-
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strumented model piles [e.g., the PLS cell (Baligh, et al., 1985)] capable
of checking predictions by means of measurements of pore pressures
and total stresses during penetration; (5) conduct penetration tests in
natural clay deposits; and (6) evaluate, validate and establish limitations
of strain path concepts and predictions. In view of space limitations, the

paper presents some results of item 1 only. Most of the details and re-
sults of the entire theoretical and experimental study can be found in
four Ph.D. dissertations (Vivatrat, 1978; Levadoux, 1980; Kawadas, 1982;
and Morrison, 1984).
Applications and extensions presently under investigation at MIT in-
clude: (1) The incorporation of more realistic frictional characteristics at
the soil-indenter interface expected to be particularly significant in pen-
etration predictions in overconsolidated clays and sands; (2) the effects
of rate dependent (viscoelastic) behavior; and (3) deep penetration in
sands where compressibility of the soil is important.
SOIL DEFORMATIONS IN SATURATED CLAYS
This section considers soil deformations during undrained steady deep

penetration of axisymmetric bodies in saturated clays.
Spherical Cavity Expansion.—Consider a spherical cavity expanded
in an infinite incompressible, isotropic and homogeneous soil initially
subjected to an isotropic state of stress. Using a spherical coordinate sys-
tem, shown in Fig. 2(a), the cavity has a radius R(t) at time t and starts
from a zero radius, R(0) = 0 at t = 0. Conditions of spherical symmetry
and soil incompressibility require that, at any time t, the radial location
of a soil element, p(t), be related to its initial location p0 [= p(0)] by the
expression
P(f) = [p* + R3(t)]1/3 (1)
According to Eq. 1, at any time t, if the cavity radius R(t) is known, soil
deformations are totally described and thus soil strains are fully deter-
mined without the need to know the shearing behavior of the soil. This
result has very important consequences. In particular, it means that the
problem is totally strain-controlled and, for any given constitutive re-
lation, "exact" stress and pore pressure fields can be simply computed
and equilibrium directly satisfied. This is a major attractive feature of
cavity expansion methods because the computed strains apply to all ma-
terial properties provided the conditions required to keep spherical sym-
metry are maintained (e.g., isotropy and homogeneity).
Fig. 2(a) shows the distortion of a square grid at any time t, during
spherical cavity expansion. With time, the radius R(t) increases but the
distorted grid remains geometrically similar to that in Fig. 2(a). There-
fore, cavity expansion fails to capture two crucial aspects of vertical pen-
etration: (1) The special dependence of deformations on the vertical co-
ordinate, i.e., by observing Fig. 2(a) one cannot detect the direction of
penetration; and (2) the steady state.
Single Spherical Source.—An exactly equivalent method of simulating
spherical cavity expansion is to consider a single spherical source located
at p = 0 and discharging (emitting) an incompressible material at a rate
(of volume) V per unit time. Assuming spherical symmetry, this means
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z
Jk-'
Spherical Coordinate Cylindrical Coordinate

System ( p , 9, a>) System (r, 8, z)
:
-"~:~:4rH-
z
\S"TTTl
---TO-^/Rm^ffiiiy;
=::
:::ffi::3SE === -HH:
-R-4|U|||||
c raff [j-
i io5ffl4f
::::" ^SffiflTOm O
^-H
FIG. 2.—Deformation of Square Grid in Saturated Clays: (a) During Deep Spher-
ical Cavity Expansion (or Single Source); (b) During Penetration of "Simple Pile"
(Baligh, 1975)
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that, at any time t, the material occupies a spherical cavity of radius R(t)
given by
1 (2)
^-(iH '
For a given value of R(t), the soil deformations are described by Eq.
1 and soil strains are exactly the same as in the spherical cavity expan-
sion solution and the deformed grid is also given by Fig. 2(a). However,
the advantage of utilizing the single source formulation instead of the
core conventional cavity expansion approach is to develop the capability
of treating steady penetration situations of interest and problems in-
volving multiple sources, as will become evident shortly.
In a spherical coordinate system, the radial velocity of a soil element
located at any radius p is given by vp = V/^TT • 1/p2 and other velocity
components vanish. On the other hand, in a cylindrical coordinate sys-
tem, Fig. 2(a), the nonzero velocity components are given by:
V sin d> V cos <b
4TT p 4ir p
2 2 2
p = r + z ; r = p sin <j>, z = p cos <>
j (3)
in which the superscript o refers to the single spherical source situation.

Eqs. 3 could be presented in a more elegant and powerful format if
expressed in terms of a stream function ty defined, for axisymmetric
problems in a cylindrical coordinate system, by the expressions:
1T^ -13¥
"r = - — ; Vz = — — (4)
r dz r dr
For a spherical source, the stream function ty equals V, in which
V r
^ ° = — cos <j>; $ = arctan - (5)
4TT Z
Simple Pile Solution.—Fig. 2(b) shows soil distortions w h e n a single

spherical source discharging incompressible material is inserted in a uni-
form flow field. The following solution techniques a n d details should
not distract attention from our main objective of determining the veloc-
ity, deformation a n d strains during penetration.
Considering a single spherical source in a uniform flow w i t h velocity
U in the z-direction, the stream function *P a n d velocity components vr
and vz in a cylindrical coordinate system are given by
r2
* = ^°--LZ; vr = v°; vz=U+v° (6)
in which ty°, v"r, and v°z correspond to the point source solution given
by Eqs. 5 and 3. From Eqs. 6 a n d 3 it is clear that, by adding a uniform
flow to the single spherical source, the only change in velocity occurs
in vz which increases by a uniform amount equal to U, whereas the strain
rates in the n e w problem obtained b y differentiating velocity with re-
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spect to the spatial coordinates are the same as in the single source so-
lution (see Appendix II for details).
Fig. 2(b) is constructed solely on the basis of Eqs. 6. The stream lines
are represented by the distorted shape of initially vertical lines. Com-
paring the results in Figs. 2(a-b) to identify the effects of adding a uni-
form velocity field, U, to a single spherical source (or spherical cavity)
solution on deformations we note that:
1. Soil deformation patterns change drastically due to the addition of

U and the essential features of penetration by a rigid axisymmetric body
start to emerge. The body in Fig. 2(b) corresponding to one single spher-
ical source in a uniform flow will be called a "simple pile" and consists
of a blunt penetrometer with a radius r that changes with the vertical
coordinate, z, according to the expression r/z = (/ — 1)1/2 in which / =
[2(r/R)2 - l]" 2 . Far behind the tip, the shaft radius R of the simple pile
approaches (V/TTU)1/2 whereas the pile tip (r = 0) is located at z = —R/
2. The simple pile radius increases indefinitely with the vertical distance
but, practically, can be considered to have a cylindrical shaft above a
distance 4R behind the tip (point C in Fig. 2(b) where r exceeds 99% R).
2. When the radii of the pile and sphere are approximately the same,
as in Fig. 2, the distortions observed ahead of the pile exhibit some sim-
ilarity with those corresponding to spherical cavity solutions. This is
probably the reason why researchers with penetrating insight, e.g., Vesic
(1972, 1975, 1977), utilized spherical cavity expansion solutions as a basis
for estimating the point resistance of piles. However, Vesic also realized
that the similarity between cavity expansion and pile penetration was
far from perfect and thus introduced empirical or engineering modifi-
cations to cavity expansion solutions in order to reach his bearing ca-
pacity theory, which is considered at present to be one of two or three
leading theories on deep foundations and probably the least empirical
theory as well. Finally it is important to note that Fig. 2 was prepared
with the objective of enhancing the similarity between spherical cavity
expansion and simple pile penetration. In actual fact, the two solutions
are quite different especially in the far field where cavity expansion sig-
nificantly underpredicts deformations (and strains).
3. Soil deformations behind the tip of the pile, Fig. 2(b), bear abso-
lutely no resemblance to the spherical cavity solution in Fig. 2(a). In fact,
deformations around the pile shaft are also different from cylindrical cavity
expansion predictions that are presently the leading analytic tool used
to study the shaft behavior of piles [see Carter, et al. (1978); and Ran-
dolph, et al. (1979)]. Contrary to actual physical behavior, cylindrical
cavity expansion assumes radial soil deformation in a cylindrical coor-
dinate system and thus neglects vertical soil deformations.
4. Cavity expansion solutions can thus be regarded as a one-dimen-
sional subset of strain path solutions which are too simplistic to model
the two-dimensional problem of deep penetration.
Applicability of Simple Pile Solution.—Baligh (1975) derived the sim-

ple pile solution using a graphical technique, and showed that the pre-
dicted distortions capture the basic features of actual pile penetration in
clays by means of comparisons with measurements. However, he did
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not discuss uniqueness of deformations and strains and their applica-
bility to various clays.
The simple pile solution basically consists of adding a uniform velocity
field involving no distortions or strains to a single source (or spherical
cavity) solution that is valid for any shearing behavior of the clay pro-
vided spherical symmetry is maintained. In order to retain the very at-
tractive feature of independence of shearing response of the clay, we
consider the undrained deep penetration of a rigid simple pile in an
incompressible, homogeneous, isotropic clay which is initially subjected
to an isotropic state of stress and relax the boundary conditions in the
tangential direction to the pile-soil interface, i.e., do not impose realistic
surface roughness conditions at this stage. Soil velocities in Eq. 6 are
tangential to the pile wall, thus simple pile solutions presented in the
following satisfy boundary conditions in the direction normal to the pile-
soil interface but, in general, will violate conditions in the tangential di-
rection. Moreover, under these conditions, Appendix II shows that the
deformations and strains are unique independently from the shearing
behavior of the soil.
The implications of uniqueness are very significant. For one, it estab-
lishes the superiority of the simple pile solution over cavity approaches
in simulating the penetration process because it is more realistic (see Fig.
2) yet retains the main attractive features of cavity expansion, namely,
the independence of deformations and strains on soil properties and the
simplicity of the results (see Appendix II for closed-form solutions). Other
valuable implications of uniqueness include the availability of closed-
form reference solutions to calibrate numerical calculations incorporating
the effects of anisotropy of the initial stresses and in shear behavior of
clays, realistic frictional characteristics at the pile wall interface, and other
aspects of penetration problems of practical interest.
The method of superposition utilized in deriving the smooth simple
pile solution is a well established procedure in Potential Theory (Kel-
logg, 1929) with extensive applications in fluid mechanics (Rouse, 1959).
Since the method holds when one spherical source is added to a uniform
flow and yields unique deformation and strain fields, it can also be shown
to hold and to yield unique solutions when numerous sources (and sinks)
are added to a uniform velocity field. More realistic geometries of pene-
trometers can be simulated by means of multiple sources (and sinks).
The following sections present unique soil deformation fields caused by
axisymmetric rigid penetrometers and samplers in an incompressible,
homogeneous, isotropic clay initially subjected to an isotropic state of
stress. Practically, these conditions are closely met by moderately over-
consolidated clays with an at-rest earth pressure coefficient K0 nearly
equal to unity and little or no inherent anisotropy. Conditions imposed
by the surface roughness of the penetrometer walls have not been im-
plemented and thus stresses and pore pressures estimated on the basis
of the following solutions will be, in general, approximate. Stress fields
will be exact only in the limiting trivial case when the shear strength of
the clay vanishes and solutions will correspond to a smooth simple pile
in an ideal fluid.
Deep Penetration of Cones and Samplers.—Using the method of su-
perposition of stream functions corresponding to a number of point
1119
J. Geotech. Engrg. 1985.111:1108-1136.

FIG. 3.—Deformation of Square Grid During Deep Cone Penetration in Saturated

Clays
FIG. 4.—Deformations During Sampling of Saturated Clays: (a) Flat-Ended Wall;

(b) Simple Sampler
sources with intensities and distributions determined by the required

geometry of the penetrometer considered, the distortions caused by a
blunt 60° cone a n d a sharp 18° cone can be obtained, Fig. 3. Details of
the method and the necessary computer programs are given by Leva-
1120
J. Geotech. Engrg. 1985.111:1108-1136.

doux and Baligh (1980). Observation of the predicted deformed grids in
Fig. 3 indicate the following:
1. Soil distortions due to a blunt 60° cone are similar to the simple pile
solutions and involve large deformations that are clearly visible in the
vicinity of the tip and near the shaft.
2. The mechanism of penetration b y the sharp 18° cone is different
from the blunt cone and consists of cutting instead of p u s h i n g the soil
ahead of the cone. Furthermore, the magnitudes of the shear distortions
(of the e,,-type) are smaller for the sharp cone.
Clay distortions resulting from cookie-cutter penetration of open-ended
o Cone at Location ©
© Cone at Location ©
A At Vertical Distance I R Behind Tip
^Location ©
E
~v-
T
I
Imtiiol
of
elevation
ectad
elements
X^ ^T
ft
- Location ©
-Location ©
w ^
0 E
of selected
elements
Location ©
E
~T£^~ "W" bj±
^_J^~
O.I P. I
O.IR
a D • D D DISPLACEMENT SCALE
* t t t t
R 2R 3R 4R 5R
FIG. 5.—Soil Deformation Paths During Penetration

1121
J. Geotech. Engrg. 1985.111:1108-1136.

piles and samplers (i.e., involving no plugging) are shown in Fig. 4 for
a cylinder with straight flat-ended wall, Fig. 4(a), and for a "simple sam-
pler," Fig. 4(b), having the same diameter to wall thickness ratio, B/t =
20. The "simple sampler" solution corresponds to the superposition of
one single ring source and a uniform velocity field. The flat-ended wall
is obtained by superimposing a large number of sources to obtain the
geometry in Fig. 4(a). Results in Fig. 4 provide the first comprehensive
analytic attempt to understand and formulate disturbance caused by
sampler penetration effects and the behavior of open-ended piles exten-
sively used offshore. Fig. 4 shows the following: (1) The effect of the
CYLINDRICAL EXPANSION STRAIN,

20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
-20 i ""• i
! , Range of Triaxiat
Extension Test
i
0^ F^e
iu go
ill ' Range of Trio <ial
' Compr *ssion Tt St
!>w 1
40
J 60
B 8°
> Soil E lement Gy
100
120
-Range of Pressuremeter Test
0 1
1 l
Ay Range of Laboratory
Direct Simple Shear Test
20
8? 40
?
60
<
a.
80
Deviatoric Strains Horizontal Soil Vertical
Location Element Location Symbol
< r„/R z/R
UJ 100
x E2= (err-Ee8)//3 1.0 A 1
o
E3 *Z-Z,i//i
0.5 F 1/2 A
0.2 G 0 ©
120
1 - 1 / 2 (tip) o
-1 A
140 /
Soil El sment ( /
\
160
180,
20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
FIG. 6.—Deviatoric Strain Paths During Simple Pile Penetration

1122
J. Geotech. Engrg. 1985.111:1108-1136.

cutting shoe geometry on soil distortions is only visible in the vicinity
of the sampler walls (say within a region of width = 3t); (2) deformations
of the soil penetrating into the sampler (inner soil) are different from
the soil outside; (3) visual inspection of Fig. 4 reveals n o soil distortions
near the sample centerline. In practice, these samples would be thus

classified as excellent or extremely undisturbed based on available X-ray
techniques or visual observations. Details a n d programs necessary for
the solution depicted in Fig. 4 are presented by Chin and Baligh (1983),
w h o also determine the effects of wall thickness on deformations, strains
and strain paths during sampling operations and show that the pre-
dicted deformations compare favorably with observations of actual sam-
pling distortions. They also identify the shortcomings of utilizing cylin-
drical cavity expansion in predicting installation effects of open-ended
piles.
Deformation Paths.—Fig. 5 presents soil deformation paths at selected
initial locations due to penetration of a simple pile and piles with 60°
and 18° conical tips. The scale of Fig. 5 was selected in order to show,
to the extent possible, the type of deformation measurements a n d level
of details that one would expect to obtain in penetration experiments
conducted in the laboratory. Fig. 5 shows that the three pile geometries
give similar results a n d that: (1) In the radial direction, the soil is m o n o -
tonically p u s h e d outwards to a determined final location that is basically
imposed by the conservation of volume requirement; and (2) in the ver-
tical direction, the soil is initially p u s h e d d o w n w a r d s in the direction of
penetration and then p u s h e d u p w a r d s after passage of the cone base.
The tendency for soil particles to return to their initial elevation was
observed in laboratory experiments conducted by Randolph, et al. (1979).
Analytic expressions in Appendix II corresponding to simple pile pen-
etration, show that soil elements at a sufficiently large distance from the
pile (i.e., in the far field) return exactly to their initial elevation.
STRAIN PATHS
During undrained axisymmetric penetration in saturated clays, three

strain components are sufficient to fully describe the state of strain. The
three deviatoric strains, E, (= E1,E2,E3), defined in Fig. 6 are selected
to study the strain paths of soil elements. The £,-strains provide a clear
picture of the shearing m o d e s of the soil because, u n d e r idealized testing
conditions, conventional triaxial tests impose Ex shearing strain; pres-
sure meter tests (or cylindrical cavity expansion) apply E 2 ; a n d simple
shear tests impose an E3 m o d e . Maximum straining levels in these tests
are about 15% as indicated by the s h a d e d area in Fig. 6.
Fig. 6 shows the strain p a t h projections in the E,-space during pene-
tration of a simple pile for three soil elements initially located at r0/R =
0.2, 0.5, a n d 1, i.e., relatively close to the pile axis. Fig. 6 shows the
following:
1. Strain levels caused by cone penetration are m u c h greater than nor-

mally encountered in c o m m o n laboratory a n d pressure meter tests.
Therefore, the post peak behavior of the clay should be expected to have
1123
J. Geotech. Engrg. 1985.111:1108-1136.

an important effect on stresses and pore pressures in the vicinity of the
pile.
2. Since the peak strength is reached at relatively low strains, espe-
cially in normally consolidated clays, results in Fig. 6 indicate that initial
failure of soil located near the axis takes place ahead of the pile essen-
tially due to Ej straining (i.e., vertical compression) with possibly some
contribution of E3 straining well before £ 2 (i.e., cylindrical cavity expan-
sion) is felt.
3. The strains caused by penetration are not monotonic. Reversals of
the Et and E3 strains (i.e., e22 and e,.2 strains) during penetration of a
simple pile are clear. Reversals of E 2 , the pressure meter or cylindrical
cavity mode of shearing, do not exist in Fig. 6 because of the particular
geometry of the simple pile. However, results obtained by Levadoux
and Baligh (1980) indicate that reversals of £2 also take place during pen-
etration of the conical penetrometers of the type shown in Fig. 3.
The effect of strain reversals on stresses and pore pressures is an ex-

tremely important feature so far unappreciated in penetration studies
because of the fact that, in a nonmonotonic strain path, if the last in-
crement of strain is of significant magnitude (i.e., exceeding 1% or 2%),
it is more likely to have more influence on the stresses than all the pre-
vious straining history. In order to illustrate the importance of strain
reversals during penetration and how misleading the interpretation of
large soil deformations can be, the following exercise is proposed. On
the basis of the distorted grid in Fig. 6, attempt to estimate the direction
of the shear stress o>2 for an element such as A when it is located behind
the tip at z/R = 1. Now using the E3 path in Fig. 6 for the same element,
and noting that after z = 0 (i.e., z > 0), increments of er2 (or E3) are
significant in magnitude and act in the opposite direction of the final e,2
strains. Repeat the procedure. If you have participated in this exercise,
your second estimate of the urz direction will probably differ from the
first and you will conclude that the question was unfairly posed. This
is indeed the case for the following reason: In large deformation prob-
lems, no rational discussion of stresses can be initiated without a full
description of the strain paths (or histories) of soil elements. As a cor-
ollary, the absence of soil deformations after an event involving pene-
tration is not sufficient to prove that the soil was not significantly strained
during the event. For example, the absence of distortions in a soil sam-
ple does not necessarily mean that the sample did not fail during sam-
pling operations regardless of measurement accuracy. On the other hand,
distortions detectable by the naked eye provide, in most cases, sufficient
evidence of excessive shearing.
For elements located at some distance from the pile (e.g., rJR > 5)
Appendix II provides analytic expressions for the far field strains which
indicate the following:
1. The strain magnitudes are proportional to (and thus can be nor-

malized by) the ratio (R/ra)2 in which the initial location of an element,
r„, can now be substituted by its final radial location, r, because the
strains are small.
1124
J. Geotech. Engrg. 1985.111:1108-1136.

2. The strain paths are similar to those of element A in Fig. 6 with
one important exception: Perfect symmetry and antisymmetry now exist
in the strain paths of £ 3 and E1, respectively, when plotted versus E 2 .
3. When the soil element is at an elevation R/2 behind the tip (z =
0), Ei vanishes, £3 reaches a maximum, and E2 equals half its maximum

value.
4. Far behind the tip (i.e., z —» °° or 4> —» 0), the strains are given by
e,T = 1/2 (R/rf; em = —err; e22 = e,, = 0 (see Eq. 29). As expected, these
are the strains corresponding to cylindrical cavity expansion and indicate
that both Ej and E3 vanish whereas E2 reaches a maximum value.
The octahedral strain, 7 ocl , representing the second deviatoric strain
invariant provides a good measure of shearing and is of direct signifi-
cance for isotropic clays:
7„ct = 4 = (E? + Ej + El)1/2 (7)

V2
Fig. 7 shows contour lines of the octahedral strains, 70Cl, and strain
rates, 7oct (defined in the figure) during penetration of a simple pile that
are considered essential in the development of a sound understanding
of penetration mechanisms and the proper utilization of penetration data,
e.g., cone resistance and pore pressure measurements during cone pen-
etration. Examination of Fig. 7(a) reveals many interesting aspects of deep
penetration:
1. Contour lines of 7ocl provide a good indication of the shearing se-
verity during penetration in isotropic clays and conveniently divide the
soil mass into an inner plastic zone and an outer "elastic" domain. For
example, the contour of 7oct = 2% in Fig. 7(a) represents the boundary
of the plastic zone surrounding the simple pile in a clay obeying Von
Mises criterion for yielding at this strain level (corresponding to an en-
gineering strain of 4.9% in simple shear). Outside the contour, the strains
are relatively small and the soil does not reach failure and thus signif-
icant analytic simplifications are permitted. The shape of the inner plas-
tic zone in the case of a Tresca clay (or Mohr-Coulomb criterion for un-
drained yielding) will be different but not significantly.
2. Soil elements under the pile centerline (r = 0, —R/2 > z > — °°) are
subjected to a monotonic triaxial compression mode of shearing with
e,T = 6fle = —e22/2 and thus 7oct = e 22 /V2. For a smooth simple pile, these
elements have 7oct = -(1/V2) lng, in which g = 1 - (2z/R)~2. Therefore,
during penetration in a slightly overconsolidated clay (e.g., OCR = 4)
with a peak shearing resistance reached at e22 = 3% (i.e., 7oct = 2.1%) in
triaxial compression, failure of the soil will take place to a depth 2.4
times the pile radius ahead of the tip. On the other hand, if the clay is
normally consolidated and reaches its peak strength at 0.3% axial strain
in triaxial compression, failure will extend to a much larger distance of
8.6 times the radius ahead of the pile tip.
3. The strains can be very large in the inner soil near the pile. Bearing
in mind that existing laboratory tests enable reliable measurements of
undrained shear behavior up to a maximum strain of about 10-20%, Fig.
7(a) therefore indicates that a soil zone of thickness about R-R/2 exists
1125
J. Geotech. Engrg. 1985.111:1108-1136.

r ~i
< ^]_T_T__T r
50 20 10 5 2
E2 = ( E r r - E 9 8 ) / / 3 !_L_J___1 L.
100 CAVITY EXPANSION, y %

E, = 2 E r I / / 3
4 2 0 2 4
RADIAL DISTANCE, r/R
Octahedral Strain Rate, y oc , % / h r Octahedral Strain, y o c | %
Pile Radius = R = 1.78 cm, Velocity =2cm/sec
FIG. 7.—Strain and Strain Rate Contours During Simple Pile Penetration
ahead and around the pile where uncertainties in material behavior char-
acterization invariably exists.
4. Contour lines of yucl far behind the tip are virtually identical to those
predicted by cylindrical cavity expansion except in the vicinity of the
shaft where the amount of shearing is slightly larger during pile pene-
tration. However, in view of the strain reversals of individual strain
components and their effects discussed earlier, this does not imply that
strains determined by cylindrical cavity expansion provide reliable es-
timates of stresses and pore pressures especially in the inner soil close
1126
J. Geotech. Engrg. 1985.111:1108-1136.

to the pile. Furthermore, strain analyses conducted by Chin and Baligh,
(1983) indicate that, for open-ended piles, cylindrical expansion signifi-
cantly underpredicts the magnitudes of the octahedral strains near the
pile walls because of the dominant effect of the neglected vertical soil
deformations in this zone.

The strain rate contours of 7oct in case of a simple pile consist of spheres
centered at the origin located a distance R/2 behind the tip and have a
radius p = R(2\/2 Ryocl/U)~1/3 (see Appendix II). The contours in Fig.
7(b) correspond to a pile with a radius R - 1.78 cm pushed with a steady
velocity If = 2 cm/s as in cone penetration testing. Clearly, the soil is
sheared nonuniformly and very rapidly during penetration up to sig-
nificant distances from the pile. For example, the soil in the shaded area
in Fig. 7(b) is strained more than 14,000 times faster than undrained triaxial
tests conducted at an axial rate e22 = 0.5% per hour and the soil within
a radius 74 times that of the pile is sheared at a higher rate than these
laboratory tests. Such high strain rates have important effects on soil
behavior, e.g., increasing the peak strength, decreasing the strain to peak,
and enhancing strain softening. Similar observations of the strain rates
around a penetrometer tip were made by Ladanyi (1976) with particular
reference to the case of frozen soils.
APPLICATION: SAMPLING DISTURBANCES
Soil disturbances due to sampling operations are of major concern to

the geotechnical engineer attempting to estimate in situ properties of
foundation soils by means of laboratory tests. Over the years, "good"
sampling practices have been developed by the profession on the basis
of engineering judgment and tedious experimental observations to min-
imize sampling disturbances. By and large, earlier studies concentrated
on the effects of estimated differences in stresses and pore pressures
between in situ conditions and sample conditions during the test. Strain
path solutions provide the means to determine analytically disturbance
effects due to undrained sample penetration and thus enable the sys-
tematic evaluation and improvement of existing methods for soil sam-
pling.
In order to minimize sampling disturbance effects on the engineering
properties of deep clay deposits, experience indicates that laboratory tests
should be conducted on the clay located at (or near) the centerline of
cylindrical samples retrieved by vertical, rapid (undrained) and quasi-
static pushing of smooth-walled samplers. Simulation of such sampling
conditions to study disturbance effects of saturated clays can be achieved
by strain path solutions described earlier (see Fig. 4). These solutions
apply to undrained sampling of saturated, homogeneous, isotropic clays
that are initially subjected to isotropic stresses. Fig. 8 shows the strain
history of an element at the centerline of simple samplers [see Fig. 4(b)]
having a diameter to wall thickness ratio B/t = 10, 20, and 40. Condi-
tions of cylindrical symmetry and incompressibility imply that this ele-
ment, suffering the least disturbance in the sample, is subjected to triax-
ial (Ei) shearing only with e„. = eee = -(1/2) e22, and er2 = 0. The vertical
strain, ezz, history in Fig. 8(b) shows the following: (1) The sample strain-
ing (disturbance) depends on the aspect ratio, B/t, of the sampler; thin-
1127
J. Geotech. Engrg. 1985.111:1108-1136.

0"v = Vertical Stress
<TU = Horizontal Stress

n
r7 = Maximum Post Pressure
OCR = Overconsolidation Ratio
- 2 - I O I 2
VERTICAL STRAIN, E z z %
2.0
0.5
1.0 ompress
B/t = C-^.—
20/
/ 4 0/
<
o 0.5
o <
L±J
s
tu
EJ -0.5 40/
_i y/ZO
< .X" /t = IO
^ -1.0 Extens
f£
UJ
>
-1.5
- 2 - 1 0 1 2
-2.0
VERTICAL STRAIN, E z z %
FIG. 8.—Clay Disturbances During Sampling: (a) Undrained Triaxial Behavior of

Boston Blue Clay; (b) Strain History at Sampler Centerline
walled Shelby tubes typically have B/t = 40 to 47 (ASTM) and thick-

walled standard split barrel samplers have B/t = 6.4; and (2) even though
the strain levels are significantly smaller than during penetration of closed-
ended penetrometers (cf Figs. 7 and 8) they deserve more attention and
concern.
For a given sampler, the importance of sampling disturbances on en-
gineering properties depends on the soil type. Fig. 8(a) shows the be-
havior of resedimented Boston Blue Clay during undrained triaxial
shearing (E1 straining), from i<C0-consolidation conditions as expected in
situ, for a normally consolidated sample, OCR = 1, and a sample with
OCR = 4 (Germaine, 1982). The clay exhibits clear anisotropic behavior
and thus violates the conditions of isotropy assumed by the solution in
Fig. 8(b) especially for OCR - 1 involving a K„ value significantly dif-
ferent from unity. However, according to the fundamental hypothesis
of the Strain Path Method, the strain history in Fig. 8(b) closely simulates
actual sampling straining and thus implies that, even under ideal con-
ditions, thin-walled samplers (B/t = 40) cause the following: (1) Serious
disturbances of the overconsolidated clay; and (2) unacceptable distur-
bances of the normally consolidated clay because the compressive peak
1128
J. Geotech. Engrg. 1985.111:1108-1136.

strength is exceeded and failure of the soil takes place even before the
soil enters into the sampler.
Similar analyses conducted on samplers with flat-ended walls [Fig. 4(a)]
indicate no significant effect of sampler geometry on the strain history
at the centerline, Fig. 8(b). This strongly suggests that, even though the
exact geometry of thin-walled samplers has not yet been analyzed, a
thorough reexamination of sampling disturbances is needed, especially
for soft sensitive clays where, on one hand, disturbance effects on en-
gineering properties are most significant and, on the other hand, foun-
dation designs cannot often afford the luxury of wide margins of safety.
CONCLUSIONS
This article provides the fundamental concepts behind the Strain Path
Method. Strictly speaking, the method consists of an approximate an-
alytic technique to predict soil disturbances caused by the installation of
foundation elements and devices at depth in the ground, e.g., long piles,
in situ testing tools, soil samplers, etc. However, since soil disturbances
are often of paramount importance and their estimates represent the first
step in understanding, formulating, and predicting the behavior of deep
foundations, the Strain Path Method provides an integrated and system-
atic framework for elucidating and solving deep geotechnical problems.
The educator will find the method valuable in explaining the subject of
deep foundations in a rational manner and the geotechnical designer can
utilize the method to identify problem areas, focus on important issues,
and ultimately make more realistic and informed predictions of deep
foundation performance.
Other interesting results presented herein include the following:
1. Soil deformations and strains caused by the deep undrained pen-

etration of piles, cones, samplers, and other rigid indenters in saturated
isotropic clays initially subjected to isotropic stresses. These solutions
provide more realistic predictions than Cavity Expansion Methods uti-
lized at present to estimate installation effects and the bearing capacity
of deep foundations. The Strain Path Method offers the means of ex-
tending penetration solutions in an approximate form to more practical
situations of interest, e.g., anisotropic clays, rough piles, compressible
and frictional soils, etc. and provides the techniques to determine stresses
and pore pressures in the soil caused by penetration.
2. Estimates of undrained shearing disturbances caused by sampling
of saturated clays. Results indicate the need for a reevaluation and pos-
sibly modification of existing standard soil sampling and laboratory test-
ing practices for estimating the in situ engineering properties of foun-
dation soils. This is especially needed in soft clay deposits where
disturbance effects on engineering properties are more pronounced and
the luxury of wide margins of safety often cannot be afforded in foun-
dation designs.
APPENDIX I.—EQUILIBRIUM CONSIDERATIONS
Knowing the strain paths of soil elements during penetration, effective

1129
J. Geotech. Engrg. 1985.111:1108-1136.

stresses, oy, in the soil can be determined by means of constitutive
models. In deep foundation problems, the effects of gravity on the changes
in stresses within the soil of interest are negligible and thus the equilib-
rium equations in a cartesian frame of reference expressed in terms of
the total stresses, cr,-,, become
—2 = 0 (8)
dXj
in which x, (= x ; ,x 2 ,x 3 ) are the coordinates of a material point and re-

peated indices imply summation over 1, 2, and 3. Using the effective
stress principle (cr,-, = a|°' + wS,-,), we can write
- = ~pf (9)
Ax,-
in which pf = - ^ - (10)
dXj
In two-dimensional problems, Eq. 9 represents two scalar equilibrium

equations that can be used to determine the pore pressure, u, in terms
of the known effective stresses,CT;°, by integration. However, the values
of u obtained by this process depend on the integration path unless the
effective stresses satisfy the following condition: (dpi0'/dx2) = (dp^'/dXj).
This occurs only if the assumed strain field is exact, i.e., it corresponds
to the constitutive relations utilized to determine the effective stresses
by the strain path method.
In order to satisfy equilibrium, a number of approaches may be used.
It is however important to note, before introducing two such approaches
that, by taking the divergence of Eq. 9 we get
V2u = - V • p(0' (11)
Eq. 11 is a Poisson equation that can be easily solved because the vector
'p(o) is known from strain path solutions.
Mathematical Approach.—Let us write the solution u in the form of
a series:
u = «<0) + um + u(2) + ... + u(k) + (12)
{0)
in which the first term u is the solution of Eq. 11, i.e.
<0)
VV°> = -V • p (13)
Substituting from Eq. 12 into Eq. 9, we get
d[um + w(2) + U...+ u{k) + ...] m
vXi —»m - (14)

du{0)
in which pj1' = + pf (15)
Now, if we let the second term w(1) be the solution of another Poisson
equation:
V2«(1> = -V-p ( 1 ) (16)
1130
J. Geotech. Engrg. 1985.111:1108-1136.

Substituting into Eq. 14, we get
3[«(2)+ ... + u w + ...]
-pf}
dXj
f)\ OH t-t \
> _
in which p; = dXj
h p-
In a similar manner, we can determine the general term u{k) in the

series expansion of Eq. 12 as the solution of a Poisson equation in the
form
V2uw = - V • p w (17)
1}
in which pf = + pf (18)
dXj
Engineering Approach.—Another approach to satisfy equilibrium re-
quirements, directed more toward engineering, consists of solving one
Poisson equation and one set of elasticity (type) equations, instead of an
infinite number of Poisson equations. The procedure consists of consid-
ering the stress field as the sum of two parts:
<X0 = af + ACT,, (19)
{0
The first part, uf (= af + u %j), consists of the known effective
stresses, of, and the pore pressures, u{0), representing the first order
solution of Poisson equation (as described previously), i.e.
W ° > = -V-pO>; p<0) = ^ ^ (20)

dXj
The second part of the stress field, A<r1? , represents the correction needed
to satisfy equilibrium. Substituting from Eq. 19 into the equilibrium
equation, Eq. 9, and utilizing Eqs. 15 and 20, the corrective stresses,
Ao-y, must therefore satisfy the equation
- L - ^ + pP = 0 (21)
bXj
Eq. 21 indicates that p(1), given by Eq. 15, physically represents an im-
balanced body force vector field.
The corrective stresses, ACT,-, , satisfying Eq. 21 for a given distribution
of p(1) are possible to obtain by existing numerical methods (e.g., the
Finite Element Method). The pore pressure correction AH can then be
obtained from the equation AH = Acrtt/3. However, the effective stresses
&ii (= w,y - uhjj) will violate the constitutive relations of the soil by an
amount equal to Aa,-, (= ACT,-, - Aw8,y).
In order to evaluate the accuracy of solutions obtained by the Strain
Path Method and assess the importance of the errors introduced by as-
suming an approximate strain field, the following measures can be used:
1. The ratios AH/M or AH/W(D) provide an indication of the importance
of the imbalanced body force field p(1) compared to the actual or first
order pore pressure solutions, respectively. Locations in the soil mass
1131
J. Geotech. Engrg. 1985.111:1108-1136.

where these ratios are high indicate the zones where more realistic strain
fields should be utilized.
2. The ratios of the individual components of effective stresses Acr,y/
Uij or Aa^/ff'y that provide the percentage violation of the assumed con-
stitutive laws at different locations in the soil mass. Small errors within
the uncertainty range of the stress-strain relationship for the soil are con-
sidered acceptable. On the other hand, zones where the constitutive re-
lations are grossly violated will require a different strain field to be used.
Finally, it is interesting to note that the above treatment remains valid

if the effective stresses, <x,y, are replaced by the deviatoric stresses s,y (=
c,) ~ foetal)) and the pore pressure u is replaced by the octahedral stress
foct ( = 1 / 3 o-fet). The difference between the two approaches is the shear-
induced pore pressures us (= u — croct).
APPENDIX II.—UNIQUENESS AND FAR FIELD STRAINS DURING SIMPLE

PILE PENETRATION
Uniqueness of Displacements and Strains.—In a cylindrical coordi-

nate system the nonvanishing components of the strain rates during axi-
symmetric penetration in an infinite medium consist of three normal strain
rates (considered positive when compressive)
-dv r — dvz — vr
irr = ——; eZz = ——-; eee = (22)
dr dz r
and one shearing strain rate
1 /dv r dv,\
+ <23)
*-~i(* »)
in which the velocity components vr and vz in the positive r and z di-
rections, respectively, are assumed to be continuously differentiable.
From Eqs. 6, 3, 22, and 23, the strain rates during solid simple pile
penetration in an incompressible soil are the same as the single spherical
source and given by
-V -V -V -V
in = —~3Arr(<$>); ia = -—3Aa($); eBe = ——; e« = — - Arz(<|>) (24)
4TTP 4ITP 4TTP 4-jTp
in which An(§) = cos 4> - 2 sin ()>; Azz($) = sin <t> - 2 cos2 $; Arz($)
2 2 2
= -(3/2) sin (2()>); and § = arc tan (r/z) as in Fig. 2.

In order to prove the independence of the deformation and strain fields
in the simple pile solution on soil properties, it is sufficient to prove that
the velocity components vr and vz corresponding to the strain rates in
Eqs. 24 are unique.
Using the expressions of eee in Eqs. 22 and 24, the radial velocity vr is
clearly unique and given by
vr = r—, r = p sin 4v z = p cos <b, p = r + z (25)

4TT p
Furthermore, by selecting any of the other strain rates such as krz in
1132
J. Geotech. Engrg. 1985.111:1108-1136.

Eq. 23 and, by utilizing Eq. 25, one can easily show that:
V c o s <j>
v = + C 2 6
* ~
4TT
~T
p2 • • • • • • ( >
in which C is a constant i n d e p e n d e n t of r and z. Imposing the far field

condition, vz = +U at z = -°° w e get C = If. Therefore, Eqs. 25 and 26
become identical to Eq. 6 a n d t h u s the velocity field is unique and in-
dependent of the shearing behavior of the material.
It is important to note that uniqueness of displacement and strain fields
established previously does n o t imply that the overall simple pile so-
lution is complete, unique or exact. This is due to the fact that the
boundary conditions in the tangential direction to the pile-soil interface
reflecting the surface roughness of the pile have not been incorporated
in the analysis.
Far Field Strains.—At some distance from the pile, changes in soil
geometry may be neglected, stream lines become approximately vertical
and thus any strain rate c o m p o n e n t such as e 22 , is related to the cor-
responding strain e22 by the expression
U de22
e22 - — sin 2 <>
| — (27)
r d§
in which <)> = arc tan (r/z). This is simply because e22 = rfe22/df = lf(de 22 /
dz) and de 22 /dz = -(sin 2 4>/r)(de22/d(|)). Bearing in mind that R2 = V/vU,
Eqs. 24 and 27 indicate that the far field strains are given by
'R\ R^
e = BrrWb); 6zz= Ba(
" \2r) \2r) *);
699 =
(S) Bee(<W; e'z=\Yr) Br (<W
*
in which B,T((j>) = 1 + cos 4>(1 + sin 2 <j>); B22(cJ>) = - c o s 4> sin 2 4>;
Bee(<i>) = - ( 1 + cos «(>); B„(® = sm3 <$> (28)
When (|>->0, B r r - » 2 ; B22-^0; Bm->-2 and Br2->0 (29)
1 r\ tr\
When 4) -> TT, B„-> — - ; B„ ,
2 Vz/ \z.
2
UA
Bee^--(-| and B,.2^0 (30)
APPENDIX III.—REFERENCES
Arthur, J. R. F., and Phillips, A. B. (1975), "Homogeneous and Layered Sand in

Triaxial Compression," Geotechnique, Vol. 25, No. 4, pp. 799-815.
Baligh, M. M. (1975), "Theory of Deep Site Static Cone Penetration Resistance,"
Research Report No. R75-56, Order No. 517, Dept. of Civil Engineering, MIT,
Cambridge, Mass., Sept., 133 pages.
Baligh, M. M. (1976), "Cavity Expansion in Sands with Curved Envelopes," Jonr-
1133
J. Geotech. Engrg. 1985.111:1108-1136.

nal of the Geotechnkal Engineering Division, ASCE, Vol. 102, No. GT11, Nov.,
pp. 1131-1146.
Baligh, M. M., Azzouz, A. S., Wissa, A. Z. E., Martin, R. T., and Morrison,
M. J. (1982), "The Piezocone Penetrometer," Proceedings, Session on Cone Pen-
etration Testing and Experience, ASCE, St. Louis, Mo.

Baligh, M. M., and Levadoux, J. N. (1984), "Piezocone Penetration in Saturated
Clays," to be published in the journal of Geotechnkal Engineering, ASCE.
Baligh, M. M., Martin, R. T., Azzouz, A. S., and Morrison, M. J. (1985), "The
Piezo-Lateral Stress Cell," presented at the 11th International Conference of
Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, held at San Francisco, Calif.
Bishop, R. F., Hill, R., and Mott, N. F. (1945), "Theory of Indentation and Hard-
ness Tests," Proceedings, Physical Society of London, Vol. 57, Part 3, No. 321,
pp. 147-159.
Baguelin, F., et al. (1972), "Expansion of Cylindrical Probes in Cohesive Soils,"
Journal of the Soil Mechanics and Foundation Division, ASCE, Vol. 98, No. SM11,
pp. 1129-1142.
Butterfield, R., and Bannerjee, P. K. (1970), "The Effect of Pore-Water Pressures
on the Ultimate Bearing Capacity of Driven Piles," Proceedings, 2nd Southeast
Asian Conference on Soil Engineering in Singapore, June, pp. 385-394.
Carter, J. P., Randolph, M. F., and Wroth, C. P. (1978), "Stress and Pore Pres-
sure Changes in Clay During and After the Expansion of a Cylindrical Cavity,"
Report No. TR51, Dept. of Civil Engineering, University of Cambridge, En-
gland.
Chadwick, P. (1959), "The Quasi-Static Expansion of Spherical Cavity in Metals
and Ideal Soils," Quarterly Journal of Mechanics and Applied Mathematics, Vol. 12,
Part 1, pp. 52-71.
Chin, C. T., and Baligh, M. M. (1983), "Deformations and Strains due to Open-
Ended Pile Installation in Saturated Clays," Research Report R83-17, Order No.
757, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cam-
bridge, Mass.
Fung, Y. C. (1965), Foundations of Solid Mechanics, Prentice Hall, Inc., Englewood
Cliffs, N.J.
Germaine, J. T. (1982), "Development of the Directional Shear Cell for Measuring
Cross Anisotropic Clay Properties," thesis presented to the Massachusetts In-
stitute of Technology, at Cambridge, Mass., in partial fulfillment of the re-
quirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
Gibson, R. E., and Anderson, W. F. (1961), "In-Situ Measurement of Soil Prop-
erties with the Pressuremeter," Civil Engineering and Public Works Review, Vol.
56, No. 658, pp. 615-816.
Kavvadas, M. (1982), "Non-linear Consolidation around Driven Piles in Clays,"
thesis presented to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, at Cambridge,
Mass., in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of
Philosophy.
Kellogg, O. t>. (1929), Foundations of Potential Theory, Murray Co., N.Y.
Ladanyi, B. (1963), "Expansion of a Cavity in a Saturated Clay Medium," Journal
of the Soil Mechanics and Foundations Division, ASCE, Vol. 89, No. SM4, July,
pp 127-161.
Ladanyi, B. (1976), "Use of the Static Penetration Test in Frozen Soils," Canadian
Geotechnkal Journal, Vol. 13, No. 2, pp. 95-110.
Ladd, C. C , and Foott, R. (1974), "New Design Procedure for Stability of Soft
Clays," Journal of the Geotechnkal Engineering Division, ASCE, Vol. 100, No. GT7,
July, pp. 763-786.
Lambe, T. W. (1967), "The Stress Path Method," Journal of the Soil Mechanics and
Foundations Division, ASCE, Vol. 93, No. SM6, Nov., pp. 309-331.
Levadoux, J. N. (1980), "Pore Pressures in Clays due to Cone Penetration," the-
sis presented to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, at Cambridge, Mass.,
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philoso-
phy, 573 pages.
Levadoux, J. N., and Baligh, M. M. (1980), "Pore Pressure During Cone Pene-
1134
J. Geotech. Engrg. 1985.111:1108-1136.

tration," Research Report R80-15, Order No, 666, Dept. of Civil Engineering,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass., 310 pages.
Morrison, M. (1984), "In Situ Measurements on a Model Pile in Clay," thesis
presented to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, at Cambridge, Mass.,
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philoso-
phy.
Palmer, A. C. (1972), "Undrained Plane-Strain Expansion of a Cylindrical Cavity
in Clay: a Simple Interpretation of the Pressuremeter Test," Ceotechnique, Lon-
don, England, Vol. 22, No. 3, pp. 451-457.
Prevost, J. H., and Hoeg, K. (1975), "Analysis of Pressuremeter in Strain-Soft-
ening Soil," Journal of the Geotechnical Engineering Division, ASCE, Vol. 101, No.
GT8, Aug., pp. 717-732.
Randolph, M. F., Steenfelt, J. S., and Wroth, C. P. (1979), "The Effect of Pile
Type of Design Parameters for Driven Piles," Proceedings, 7th European Con-
ference on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, Brighton, England.
Rouse, H. (1959), Advanced Mechanics of Fluids, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New
York, N.Y.
Vesic, A. S. (1972), "Expansion of Cavities in Infinite Soil Mass," Journal of the
Soil Mechanics and Foundations Division, ASCE, Vol. 98, No. SM3, Mar., pp. 265-
290.
Vesic, A. S. (1975), "Principles of Pile Design," Lecture Series on Deep Foun-
dations, Sponsored by the Geotechnical Group, BSCE/ASCE, Cambridge, Mass.
Vesic, A. S. (1977), "Design of Pile Foundation," Synthesis of Highway Practice 42,
Transportation Research Board, National Research Council, Washington, D.C.,
68 pages.
Vivatrat, V. (1968), "Cone Penetration in Clays," thesis presented to the Mas-
sachusetts Institute of Technology, at Cambridge, Mass., in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Science, 427 pages.
APPENDIX IV.—NOTATION
The following symbols are used in this paper:
B = outer diameter of sampler;

B/t = diameter to wall thickness ratio of sampler;
C = constant;
Ei = deviatoric strains;
f = function;
G shear stiffness, shear modulus;
K = volumetric stiffness, bulk modulus;
OCR = overconsolidation ratio;
R radius of spherical cavity or shaft radius of solid pile;
r = radial coordinate in cylindrical system;
Sij deviatoric stress components;
t = time;
t = thickness of sampler walls;
U = uniform vertical velocity;
u pore pressure;
Us = shear-induced pore pressure;
V rate of volume emitted by point source;
Vi = velocities;
z = vertical coordinate in cylindrical system;
7oct octahedral shear strain;
7oct = octahedral shear strain rate;
h = Kronecker delta;
1135
J. Geotech. Engrg. 1985.111:1108-1136.

e,7 = strain components;
i-a = strain rate components;
0 = coordinate angle in cylindrical (or spherical) system;
v = Poisson's ratio;
p = radial coordinate in spherical system;

p, = functions;
Ujj = total stress components;
a,, = effective stress components;
ffoct = octahedral stress;
4> = coordinate angle in spherical coordinate system; and
^ = stream function.
1136
J. Geotech. Engrg. 1985.111:1108-1136.

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STRAIN PATH METHOD

ABSTRACT: The Strain Path Method provides an integrated and systematic

In the last 30 years, significant improvements have been achieved in

J. Geotech. Engrg. 1985.111:1108-1136.

The importance of soil disturbances caused by installation of deep

nized. The development of a sound understanding and reliable predic-

1. Singularities and high gradients in these two-dimensional problems

Realistic closed-form solutions to installation problems are not con-

J. Geotech. Engrg. 1985.111:1108-1136.

Modern CEM appear to have been first developed for applications to

FUNDAMENTALS OF STRAIN PATH METHOD

Observations of soil deformations caused by the undrained penetra-

J. Geotech. Engrg. 1985.111:1108-1136.

Shallow Problems: Depth of soil of Deep Problems: Soil of interest is

on simplifications involved in the m e t h o d a n d their consequences. A key

J. Geotech. Engrg. 1985.111:1108-1136.

lems. Considering undrained shearing of the clay and neglecting vis-

6 . A EFFECTIVE STRESS APPROACH 6 . B TOTAL STRESS APPROACH

MODEL- E F F E C T I V E MODEL: DEVIATORIC MODEL! SHEAR INDUCED

DEVIATORIC SHEAR INDUCED

FIG. 1.—Application of Strain Path Method to Deep Penetration in Clays

J. Geotech. Engrg. 1985.111:1108-1136.

The important steps in the m e t h o d are examined in the following.

J. Geotech. Engrg. 1985.111:1108-1136.

should not be used to estimate strain fields.

J. Geotech. Engrg. 1985.111:1108-1136.

of strain path concepts and predictions. In view of space limitations, the

SOIL DEFORMATIONS IN SATURATED CLAYS

This section considers soil deformations during undrained steady deep

J. Geotech. Engrg. 1985.111:1108-1136.

Spherical Coordinate Cylindrical Coordinate

J. Geotech. Engrg. 1985.111:1108-1136.

in which the superscript o refers to the single spherical source situation.

Simple Pile Solution.—Fig. 2(b) shows soil distortions w h e n a single

J. Geotech. Engrg. 1985.111:1108-1136.

1. Soil deformation patterns change drastically due to the addition of

Applicability of Simple Pile Solution.—Baligh (1975) derived the sim-

J. Geotech. Engrg. 1985.111:1108-1136.

J. Geotech. Engrg. 1985.111:1108-1136.

FIG. 3.—Deformation of Square Grid During Deep Cone Penetration in Saturated

FIG. 4.—Deformations During Sampling of Saturated Clays: (a) Flat-Ended Wall;

sources with intensities and distributions determined by the required

J. Geotech. Engrg. 1985.111:1108-1136.

FIG. 5.—Soil Deformation Paths During Penetration

J. Geotech. Engrg. 1985.111:1108-1136.

CYLINDRICAL EXPANSION STRAIN,

FIG. 6.—Deviatoric Strain Paths During Simple Pile Penetration

J. Geotech. Engrg. 1985.111:1108-1136.

near the sample centerline. In practice, these samples would be thus

During undrained axisymmetric penetration in saturated clays, three

1. Strain levels caused by cone penetration are m u c h greater than nor-

J. Geotech. Engrg. 1985.111:1108-1136.

The effect of strain reversals on stresses and pore pressures is an ex-

1. The strain magnitudes are proportional to (and thus can be nor-

J. Geotech. Engrg. 1985.111:1108-1136.

0), Ei vanishes, £3 reaches a maximum, and E2 equals half its maximum

7„ct = 4 = (E? + Ej + El)1/2 (7)

J. Geotech. Engrg. 1985.111:1108-1136.

100 CAVITY EXPANSION, y %

J. Geotech. Engrg. 1985.111:1108-1136.

deformations in this zone.

APPLICATION: SAMPLING DISTURBANCES

Soil disturbances due to sampling operations are of major concern to