International Journal of Physical International Journal of Physical Modelling in Geotechnics

http://dx.doi.org/10.1680/jphmg.15.00023
Modelling in Geotechnics
Paper 1500023
Received 14/05/2015 Accepted 16/011/2015
Keywords: models (physical)/offshore engineering/piles & piling
Centrifuge model tests on laterally
loaded piles in sand
Zhu, Li, Xiong and Liu
ICE Publishing: All rights reserved

Centrifuge model tests on

laterally loaded piles in sand
&
1 Bin Zhu PhD &
3 Gen Xiong MEng
Professor, MOE Key Laboratory of Soft Soils and Geoenvironmental Former Graduate Student, MOE Key Laboratory of Soft Soils and
Engineering, Department of Civil Engineering, Zhejiang University, Geoenvironmental Engineering, Department of Civil Engineering,
Hangzhou, China (Corresponding author: binzhu@zju.edu.cn) Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
&
2 Tao Li MEng &
4 Jin Chao Liu MEng
Graduate Student, MOE Key Laboratory of Soft Soils and Senior Engineer, China Energy Engineering Group Co, Ltd,
Geoenvironmental Engineering, Department of Civil Engineering, Guangdong Electric Power Design Institute, Guangzhou, China
Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China

1 2 3 4

A series of centrifuge model tests on a single model pile subjected to different gravities in saturated sand were
carried out, to investigate the behaviours of slender piles subjected to lateral monotonic and cyclic loads. Both static
and cyclic p–y curves of the piles are derived from the measured bending moments of the pile shaft. The computed
results of the proposed hyperbolic p–y curves with a modified initial modulus of subgrade reaction are in good
agreement with the test results. For the model pile under lateral cyclic loads, it is indicated that the accumulated
horizontal displacement at the loaded position is approximately linear with the logarithm of number of cycles. The
effect of loading frequency on cyclic behaviours of the present model pile in saturated sand without an accumulation
of pore water pressure is limited. The cyclic degradation factor of saturated sand is significantly larger than that of
dry sand, which is mainly caused by the oscillated pore water pressure under cyclic loading. A group of cyclic p–y
curves related to the number of cycles and the cyclic soil reaction ratio are presented, and a corresponding analysis
approach is proposed for engineering applications.

Notation PR laterally static capacity of pile

D pile diameter ps static soil reaction per unit length
DR rate factor pu ultimate soil–pile reaction
d50 mean grain size of sand r cyclic reduction coefficient
E1, EN secant modulus of p–y curve in the first cycle and t cyclic degradation factor
the Nth cycle y1, yN horizontal displacement in the first cycle and the
Fρ rate coefficient Nth cycle
Kp coefficient of Rankine’s passive earth pressure α a constant
kini initial horizontal subgrade modulus γ′ effective unit weight of soil
N number of cycles λ real loading rate
n gravity scaling factor λr reference loading rate
nh constant of horizontal subgrade reaction ξb, ξc cyclic loading parameters
Pmax, Pmin maximum and minimum loads in a load cycle
p1 rate-corrected soil reaction per unit length in the
first cycle 1. Introduction
pc peak soil reaction per unit length in the first cycle Cyclic behaviour of offshore piles subjected to lateral wind,
p̃c cyclic soil reaction ratio wave, current and earthquake loads is one of the most impor-
pN peak soil reaction per unit length in the Nth cycle tant issues, which should be analysed in the design. For this

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 International Journal of Physical Modelling in Geotechnics
purpose, there are some approaches by degrading the coeffi-
cient of modulus of static horizontal subgrade reaction nh
(Davisson, 1970; Long and Vanneste, 1994). Another alterna-
tive way is to discount static p–y curves (Little and Briaud,
1988; Long and Vanneste, 1994). These approaches were pro-
posed based on the results of field tests on piles, which
are complicated and expensive. In view of this, the centrifuge
model test is an effective alternative to study the lateral cyclic
behaviours of piles (Taylor, 1995).
Verdure et al. (2003) have carried out a series of lateral cyclic
loading tests on single piles in dry sand. The deflection and
maximum bending moment of the pile shaft and the secant
stiffness of pile–soil interaction have been carefully studied
under different cyclic loading types and cyclic load amplitudes.
Rosquoet et al. (2007) also carried out a number of centrifuge
model tests on laterally loaded piles in dry sand and presented
a computed approach on cyclic deformation of pile shaft corre-
sponding to the cyclic load amplitude and number of cycles.
The approach can also take into account the effect of the rela-
tive density of dry sand. Li et al. (2010) conducted centrifuge
model tests on the lateral cyclic loaded monopile in dense dry
sand to study its long-term cyclic behaviours. It is found that
the accumulated displacement of the pile shaft is related to the
logarithm of number of cycles. Alderlieste (2011) also carried
out centrifuge model tests on a monopile subjected to lateral
monotonic and cyclic loading in dry sand. The test results
showed that the American Petroleum Institute (API) p–y
curves are not applicable for monopiles. Then the coefficient
of initial modulus of horizontal subgrade reaction was modi-
fied in the study. Zhu et al. (2013) obtained the cyclic de-
gradation factor of p–y curves based on a series of centrifuge
model tests on single piles subjected to lateral cyclic loading in
dry sand.
The soils around pile foundations of offshore structures will be
subjected to the lateral cyclic loads from pile foundations suf-
fered from the storm surge. As a result, the pore water pressure
in soil is oscillated and may be accumulated, which would
result in increasing the lateral deflection and decreasing the
lateral bearing capacity of the pile. Up to now, the number of
available centrifuge model tests on lateral monotonic or cyclic
loaded piles in saturated sand is very limited. Klinkvort and
Hededal (2013) and Klinkvort et al. (2010) have made a sig-
nificant investigation on cyclic accumulation of displacements
and change in secant stiffness for offshore monopiles in both
saturated sand and dry sand, based on a series of centrifuge
model tests. One of the most interesting works in these studies
is the effective stress scaling approach that has been verified by
comparing with test results of both saturated sand and dry
sand with the same effective stress of soils. This paper aims to
study both lateral monotonic and cyclic pile–soil interaction in
saturated sand based on centrifuge model tests. Then, both
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Centrifuge model tests on laterally
loaded piles in sand
Zhu, Li, Xiong and Liu
static and cyclic analysis approaches on laterally loaded piles
are proposed.
2. Test setup and programme
2.1 Test equipment
The present model tests were carried out on the centrifuge
ZJU400 at Zhejiang University (Chen et al., 2010). Its
maximum capacity and maximum acceleration are 400g t and
150g, respectively. The effective arm radius of the centrifuge
is 4·5 m.
2.2 Properties of sand and its preparation
The used sand was the commercially available Fujian standard
sand. Its mean grain size d50 is 0·00017 m. The model pile
diameter D is 0·03 m; thus D/d50 > 40 and the effect of soil
particle size can be neglected (Craig, 1983; Ovesen, 1979). The
saturated sand was prepared as follows. First, the dry sand
sample was prepared by the raining method using a spot pour-
ing hopper to a relative density of 60%, a void ratio of 0·745
and a dry density of 1·509 g/cm3. To reduce the scaling dis-
parity between the different time scales for permeability and
strain rates, a fluid confected by sodium carboxymethyl cellu-
lose (CMC) and air-free water was used as the pore fluid in the
present model tests, and its viscosity is n (gravity scaling factor
of centrifuge model tests) times of water and its density of
0·9998 g/cm3 is similar to that of water at 30°C. The weight
ratio of CMC to water is 0·82% in the present model tests. The
soil was saturated with the fluid in a vacuum box. Finally, the
saturated density of the soil is 1·936 g/cm3 at 1g. The critical
state angle of friction of the soil is 35°.
2.3 Model pile
The model pile was made of 6061 aluminium alloy pipes with
an ultimate tensile strength of 124 MPa, an yield strength
of 55·2 MPa, an elongation of 25·0%, an elasticity modulus
of 68·9 GPa and a fatigue strength of 62·1 MPa. The buried
depth and the total length of the pile are 0·6 and 0·78 m,
respectively. The pile tip was sealed using a conical aluminium
alloy block.
There are 15 pairs of full-bridge strain gauges placed on
the pile shaft by CC-33A adhesive to measure the bending
moment of the pile, of which 14 pairs were below the ground
surface. Three pairs of strain gauges near the pile tip were
arranged with a same distance of 0·09 m, and the rest with a
same distance of 0·036 m, as shown in Figure 1. The wires
through the holes on the pile shaft were pulled from inside to
the top of the model pile. The strain gauges were coated for
protecting by a thin layer of epoxy. Finally, the model pile was
loaded as a cantilever beam at 1g to calibrate the bending
moment against the strain gauge circuit output, and the bend-
ing stiffness of the model pile was obtained as 1193 N m2.
 International Journal of Physical Modelling in Geotechnics Centrifuge model tests on laterally
loaded piles in sand
Zhu, Li, Xiong and Liu

The scaling ratio of bending stiffness between the model pile
and the prototype pile is 1/n 4. The model tests were conducted
at three different centrifugal accelerations, and the parameters
of the corresponding prototype piles are shown in Table 1.
The model pile was driven into soil by a motor piling jack at
1g in each test. The driving velocity is 2 mm/s. It is possible
that the stress of soil around the pile in centrifuge model tests
R4
180
for jacking at 1g and ng is different, while it has been observed
that the effect of this difference on the lateral responses of piles
is small (Remaud, 1999). For more details on the effect of
installation method one can refer to Dyson and Randolph
(2001).
2.4 Test loading and measurement
The soil container is 0·85 m in length, 0·7 m in width and
0·75 m in height. The test arrangement is shown in Figures 2
and 3. For the present model tests, the boundary effect is
mainly from the wall of the soil container. To decrease this
effect, in all model tests the distance between the wall and the
R3 model pile is larger than 7D and the distance between the pile
tip and the bottom of the sand layer is larger than 4D. The
model pile was loaded by a motor-controlled loading device

developed by the centrifuge laboratory of Zhejiang University.

It can be load controlled (maximum load of 2500 N) or dis-
36 36 36 36 36 36 36 36 36 36 36 36

placement controlled (maximum displacement of 0·05 m).

The frequency range of cyclic loading of the device is 0–5 Hz.
In all tests, the loading height from the ground surface is 2·7D.
R1 R2 Strain gauge The present monotonic loads were applied by displacement
controlled. The loading and unloading velocities are 0·0001
Seal coat
and 0·00017 m/min, respectively; while the present one-way
Strain gauges
cyclic loads were applied by load controlled with different
R1 amplitudes and frequencies as shown in Table 2. There is a
R2
load transducer on the loading device to measure the lateral
loads on the pile. There are two laser displacement transducers
to measure the horizontal displacements of pile shaft above the
ground surface, one of which is at the loaded position. In test
600

S2-4, there are three pore water pressure transducers at depths

of 1D, 3D and 5D and away from the pile wall of 0·03 m at
loading direction as shown in Figure 2.
R1 R4
2.5 Test programme
90

+ As shown in Table 2, there are totally nine tests carried out

– in this study and three containers of soil (S1, S2 and S3) were
used for these tests. The reference g level corresponds to a
90

R3 R2 height of two-third thickness of the soil ground. Referring to

LeBlanc et al. (2010), the cyclic loading parameters ξb and ξc
24

are defined as ξb = Pmax/PR and ξc = Pmin/Pmax, respectively, in

which Pmax and Pmin are the maximum and minimum loads in
Figure 1. Instrumented model pile and circuit of strain gauges the load cycle, and in this paper PR is the lateral static capacity
referring to the lateral load corresponding to a horizontal

Prototype pile Diameter: m Wall thickness: m Buried depth: m Bending stiffness: N m2 Acceleration

Prototype pile A 2·5 0·045 50 56·66
109 83g

Prototype pile B 1·5 0·028 30 7·46
109 50g
Prototype pile C 0·75 0·014 15 0·466
109 25g

Table 1. Corresponding prototypes of the model pile

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 International Journal of Physical Modelling in Geotechnics Centrifuge model tests on laterally
loaded piles in sand
Zhu, Li, Xiong and Liu

process. The bending moments of the pile shaft were measured

Reaction beam Laser displacement
by the strain gauges on the pile wall, as shown in Figure 5.
transducers

Loading device The soil reaction per unit length p and the horizontal displace-
ment of the pile shaft y can be derived by twice differentiating
Soil container Load cell and twice integrating the bending moment of the pile shaft,

60 30
respectively. In this paper, a series of seventh-order poly-
Ground surface
nomials about the axial coordinate of the pile shaft are used to
least-squares fitting the measured bending moment of the pile
60
Model pile
shaft as same as the approach of Zhu et al. (2012, 2013).
Pore water Then, the horizontal displacements of the pile shaft at different
pressure
load steps are obtained as shown in Figure 6. It is noted that
750

transducers
the values above the ground surface are calculated by using the
derived rotational angle of the pile shaft at the ground surface
and the elastic deflection of the pile shaft above the ground
Support column
surface. It is found that these derived curves are in good agree-
ment with the measured values of the two laser displacement
150

transducers above the ground surface. A set of curves (i.e. the

p–y curves) of the soil reaction against the horizontal displace-
30 ment of the pile shaft are also obtained for the present tests as
230
700 shown in Figure 7. It is known that the p–y curves can be
affected by the diameter, the bending stiffness and by the cross
section of the pile as well as by the constrained conditions of
Figure 2. Centrifuge model setup (unit: mm)
the pile head (Ashour and Norris, 2000; Kim et al., 2004; Yan
and Byrne, 1992). The p–y curves of API (2007) are also
shown in Figure 7. It is observed that the initial stiffness of the
API p–y curves is obviously larger than the derived ones,
Reaction beam which are also found in other available centrifuge model tests
Model pile
on piles (Alderlieste, 2011).

The derived p–y curves can be simply best fitted by following

the hyperbolic curves (Kim et al., 2004)

Load cell y
1: p¼
ð1=kini Þ þ ðy=pu Þ
Loading device Laser displacement
transducers
where kini is the initial horizontal subgrade modulus;
pu = K2pγ′zD is the ultimate soil–pile reaction with Kp being the
Figure 3. Schematic diagram of lateral loading
coefficient of Rankine’s passive earth pressure and γ′ is the
effective unit weight of soil. The relationship between kini and
displacement of 0·1D at the loaded position of the pile shaft. soil depth z is
The cyclic parameters ξc in these tests are close to each other
and their values are near zero (0·04–0·06), to give the one-way 2: kini ¼ nh zα
cyclic loads.

where the constant of horizontal subgrade reaction nh uses

3. Test results
3.1 Result of lateral monotonic loading tests
The following results are all presented in prototype dimensions.
The curves of load–displacement for all monotonic loading
tests are shown in Figure 4. It is found that the test results of
S1-1 and S2-1 are in good agreement with each other, which
verifies the repeatability of soil preparation and the testing
the recommended value of Terzaghi (1955) (nh = 6088 kN/m3
for the present tests), but not the one of API (2007)
(nh = 22 014 kN/m3 for the present tests); α = 0·7 as rec-
ommended by Xiong (2013). The calculated results of
Equation 1 are shown in Figure 7, and they are in much better
agreement with the derived results compared with the API p–y
curves.

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 International Journal of Physical Modelling in Geotechnics Centrifuge model tests on laterally
loaded piles in sand
Zhu, Li, Xiong and Liu

Test number Loading way ξb ξc Loading amplitude: N Loading frequency: Hz Number of cycles Acceleration

S1-1 Monotonic — — — — — 83g

S1-2 Cyclic 0·37 0·05 248 2·8 1375
S1-3 0·47 0·05 309 4·1 1410
S2-1 Monotonic — — — — —
S2-2 Cyclic 0·43 0·05 290 0·5 2121
S2-3 0·31 0·04 212 0·5 1894
S2-4 0·16 0·06 106 0·5 3057
S3-1 Monotonic — — — — — 50g
S3-2 Monotonic — — — — — 25g

Table 2. Test programme

200 accumulated horizontal displacement at the loaded position is

Test S1-1 (n = 83g)
180 Test S2-1 (n = 83g) approximately linear with the logarithm of number of cycles
Test S3-1 (n = 50g) after Li et al. (2010). Further, it seems that the residual accu-
160
Test S3-2 (n = 25g) mulated horizontal displacement develops faster for the larger
140
Lateral load/(γ 'D3)

cyclic loading amplitude and is independent of the cyclic

120 loading frequency. The accumulated horizontal displacement
100 at the loaded position on the pile shaft increases by 100–150%
80 after 1000 cycles.

60
40
20
0
0·0 0·1 0·2
Horizontal displacement /D
Figure 4. Load–displacement curves for monotonic loading tests
3.2 Result of lateral cyclic loading tests
3.2.1 Horizontal displacement at pile head
A comparison between load–displacement curves of the
monotonic loading test S2-1 and the cyclic loading test S2-3 is
shown in Figure 8. The loading stiffness of the cyclic curve in
the first cycle is slightly larger than the monotonic one due to
the rate effect, and it increases obviously after the first cycle.
The horizontal displacement at the pile head accumulates cycle
by cycle.
Controlling the horizontal displacement including cyclic
accumulated displacement of the pile shaft is important for
deflection-sensitive structures such as the jacket structures. The
relationship between the residual accumulated displacement at
the loaded position and the number of cycles in the present
cyclic tests is shown in Figure 9. It is also found that the
3.2.2 Maximum bending moment of pile shaft
The maximum bending moment of pile shaft is another im-
portant parameter in the pile design. The distribution of
bending moment along the pile shaft during lateral cyclic
0·3 0·4
loading can be measured by the 15 pairs of strain gauges
on the pile wall, as shown in Figure 10. It is found that the
position of the maximum bending moment is nearly the same
as the number of cycles increases. It is interesting to note that
the value of maximum bending moment increases in the first
~500 cycles and then decreases in the following cycles as
the number of cycles increases. The possible reason is that the
shallow sand around the pile mainly weakens in the first
~500 cycles and then densifies after a number of cycles.
Variation of the maximum bending moment of the single pile
during lateral cyclic loading is ~10% in the present cyclic
loading tests.
3.2.3 Unloading stiffness
The unloading stiffness can be approximately taken as the
dynamic stiffness of piles (Wang et al., 2011). The variation
of stiffness of the foundation would change the natural fre-
quencies of the whole structure, which may affect the normal
operation of offshore wind turbines. In Figure 11 is shown
the variation of unloading stiffness of the pile under differ-
ent lateral cyclic loading amplitudes as the number of cycles
increases. The unloading stiffness of the single pile increases
by 50–150% in the first 1000 cycles in the present cyclic

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 International Journal of Physical Modelling in Geotechnics Centrifuge model tests on laterally
loaded piles in sand
Zhu, Li, Xiong and Liu

0 Ground surface –5
0
Distance from loaded position: m

Distance from loaded position: m

10 5
10
15 Ground surface
20
692 kN 10
1378 kN
30 2069 kN 25
2760 kN 30
3447 kN 35
40 P = 2069, 3447, 4826,
4139 kN 40 5518 and 6893 kN
4826 kN
50 5518 kN
45 Measured values
6893 kN 50 Derived curves
55
60
0 20 40 60 80 100 60
0·0 0·1 0·2 0·3 0·4 0·5
Bending moment: MN m
Horizontal displacement: m
(a)
(a)

0 –5
Ground surface
Distance from loaded position: m

5 0
Distance from loaded position: m

10 5
250 kN Ground surface
15 500 kN 10
750 kN
20 1000 kN 15
1250 kN
25 1500 kN 20 P = 500, 1000, 1500,
1750 kN 2000 and 2500 kN
30 2000 kN 25
2250 kN Measured values
2500 kN 30 Derived curves
35
0 5 10 15 20 25
35
Bending moment: MN m 0·0 0·1 0·2 0·3 0·4 0·5
(b) Horizontal displacement: m
(b)
0 Ground surface
–3
Distance from loaded position: m

3
0
Distance from loaded position: m

6 63 kN 3
125 kN Ground surface
9 188 kN
6
250 kN
321 kN
12 375 kN
9
437 kN
500 kN 12
15 P = 125, 250, 375, 500 and 625 kN
562 kN
Measured values
625 kN 15
18 Derived curves
0·0 0·5 1·0 1·5 2·0 2·5 3·0 3·5 18
Bending moment: MN m 0·00 0·05 0·10 0·15 0·20 0·25 0·30
(c) Horizontal displacement: m
(c)

Figure 5. Measured bending moment of pile shaft: (a) test S1-1

(D = 2·5 m); (b) test S3-1 (D = 1·5 m); and (c) test S3-2 Figure 6. Derived horizontal displacement of pile shaft: (a) test S1-1
(D = 0·75 m) (D = 2·5 m); (b) test S3-1 (D = 1·5 m); and (c) test S3-2 (D = 0·75 m)

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 International Journal of Physical Modelling in Geotechnics Centrifuge model tests on laterally
loaded piles in sand
Zhu, Li, Xiong and Liu

4·5 z = 0·5D, 1D, 2D, 3D and 4D 2·5

Derived p–y curves
Soil reaction per unit length p: MN/m

Cyclic loading test S2-3

API p–y curves
3·6 Calculated p–y curves by Equation 1 2·0 Monotonic loading test S2-1

Lateral load: MN
2·7 1·5

1·8 1·0

0·9 0·5

0·0
0·0
0·0 0·1 0·2 0·3 0·4
0·00 0·02 0·04 0·06 0·08 0·10
Horizontal displacement y: m
Horizontal displacement of loaded position: m
(a)

1·8 Figure 8. Load–displacement curves of monotonic and cyclic

z = 0·5D, 1D, 2D, 3D and 4D
loading tests
Soil reaction per unit length p: MN/m

Derived p–y curves

1·5
API p–y curves
Calculated p–y curves by Equation 1
1·2 n = 83
Residual displacement of loaded position: m

0·12
Test S1-2, ξb = 0·37, 2·8 HZ
Test S1-3, ξb = 0·47, 4·1 HZ
0·9 0·10
Test S2-2, ξb = 0·43, 0·5 HZ
Test S2-3, ξb = 0·31, 0·5 HZ
0·6 0·08 Test S2-4, ξb = 0·16, 0·5 HZ

0·3 0·06

0·0 0·04
0·00 0·05 0·10 0·15 0·20 0·25 0·30
Horizontal displacement y: m 0·02
(b)
0·00
0·4 z = 0·5D, 1D, 2D, 3D and 4D 1 10 100 1000
Derived p–y curves Number of cycles N
Soil reaction per unit length p: MN/m

API p–y curves

Calculated p–y curves by Equation 1
0·3
Figure 9. Residual accumulated horizontal displacement at
loaded position

0·2

loading tests with high loading frequencies, while it is basically

0·1 unchanged for the three tests with the same cyclic loading fre-
quency of 0·5 Hz. The reason might be that the sand around
the pile tends to be denser under a high cyclic loading
0·0 frequency.
0·00 0·04 0·08 0·12 0·16
Horizontal displacement y: m 3.2.4 Pore water pressure in soil around the pile
(c) The lateral cyclic pile–soil interaction may result in accumu-
lation of pore water pressure in the soil around the pile, which
Figure 7. p–y curves in present model tests: (a) test S1-1 would increase the lateral deflection and decrease the lateral
(D = 2·5 m); (b) test S3-1 (D = 1·5 m); and (c) test S3-2 (D = 0·75 m) bearing capacity of the pile. There are three pore water pressure
transducers at different depths in test S2-4 (Figure 2).

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 International Journal of Physical Modelling in Geotechnics Centrifuge model tests on laterally
loaded piles in sand
Zhu, Li, Xiong and Liu

0 140

120
Distance from loaded position: m

10
Ground surface Depth of 12·5 m

Pore water pressure: kPa

100
20
80

30 N = 1894 60 Depth of 7·5 m

N = 995
N = 500 40
40
N = 100
N=1 20
50 Depth of 2·5 m
0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18
Bending moment: MN m Time: s
(a)
34
Figure 10. Bending moment during cyclic loading (test S2-3)
32
Pore water pressure: kPa

30
140 S1-2, ξb = 0·37, 2·8 HZ
S1-3, ξb = 0·47, 4·1 HZ 28
120 S2-2, ξb = 0·43, 0·5 HZ
Unloading stiffness KN: MN/m

S2-3, ξb = 0·31, 0·5 HZ 26

100 S2-4, ξb = 0·16, 0·5 HZ
24
80 Theoretical value of initial pore water pressure
22
60
20
40 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Time: s
20
(b)
0
1 10 100 1000
Figure 12. Measured pore water pressure in soil: (a) measured
Number of cycles N
time histories of pore water pressure at different depths and (b)
measured time history of pore water pressure in soil
Figure 11. Unloading stiffness of pile during cyclic loading

Figure 13. It can be found that (a) the hysteresis loops of

In Figures 12(a) and 12(b) are shown the measured time his-
tories of the three transducers and the time history of the trans-
ducer at a depth of 1D in the first ten cycles. It is found that
there is only oscillating change on the pore water pressure but
not accumulation for the present tests. Due to the evaporation of
water during spinning of the centrifuge, the measured data
of the three transducers slightly decrease in the loading process.
p–y curves at shallower depths are larger than the ones at
deeper depths and (b) the pile shaft has continuous accumu-
lation of residual horizontal displacement and it cannot be
back to its initial position, which could be resulted from the
fact that there are sand particles filling in the gap between the
pile and the soil at the side opposite to the one-way loading
direction.

This paper tries to make a relationship between the cyclic

4. Cyclic p–y curves
degradation factor t with the cyclic soil reaction ratio and
4.1 Cyclic degradation factor soil depth as follows. At first, the secant modulus ratios of
The time histories of p–y curves derived from the measured p–y curves between the Nth cycle and the first cycle are
bending moments during cyclic loading are shown in defined as EN/E1 = y1/yN, where yN and y1 are the horizontal

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 International Journal of Physical Modelling in Geotechnics Centrifuge model tests on laterally
loaded piles in sand
Zhu, Li, Xiong and Liu

0·20 0·20
z = 2D Test S1-2
Test S1-3

Cyclic degradation parameter t

0·15 z = 1D Test S2-2
0·15
Test S2-3
Test S2-4
0·10 z = 0·5D
p: MN/m

0·10
0·05

0·05
0·00

–0·05 0·00
0·000 0·005 0·010 0·015 0·020 0 1 2 3 4 5
y: m z/D

Figure 13. Cyclic p–y curves at different depths (test S2-4) Figure 15. Relationship between cyclic degradation factor and
soil depth

0·05
z = 0·5D, 1D, 2D, 3D and 4D
0·00 z = 4D Experimental curves
z = 3D Linear fitting lines 0·20 Test for dry sand (ξb = 0·346, 0·06 HZ) (Zhu et al., 2013)
–0·05
Fitting curve for saturated sand
z = 0·5D Test S1-2
–0·10 z = 1D
Cyclic degradation factor t
Log (EN /E1)

z = 2D Test S1-3
–0·15 0·15
Test S2-2
Test S2-3
–0·20
Test S2-4
–0·25 0·10
–0·30
–0·35
0·05
–0·40
0·0 0·5 1·0 1·5 2·0 2·5 3·0
Log (N)
0·00
0·0 0·1 0·2 0·3 0·4
Figure 14. Ratio of the secant stiffness (test S2-4) pc /pu

Figure 16. Relationship between cyclic degradation factor and

displacements of the pile shaft in the Nth cycle and the first
cycle, respectively, and that they correspond to the same pN
(the peak soil reaction per unit length in the Nth cycle). The
secant modulus ratios of the p–y curves (Figure 13) at different
depths for the model test S2-3 are shown in Figure 14, with
respect to the number of cycles in logarithmic coordinates.
It is easy to obtain the cyclic degradation factor t by linear
fitting different groups of data in Figure 14. Figure 15 is the
relationship between t and the soil depth, and Figure 16 is
the relationship between t and the cyclic soil reaction ratio
p̃c ¼ pc =pu , where pc is the peak soil reaction per unit length in
the first cycle. It is clearly found that the cyclic degradation
factor t decreases with the increase of soil depth and the
decrease of the cyclic soil reaction ratio.
cyclic soil reaction ratio
From Figure 16, it can be seen that the cyclic degradation
factor t of the saturated sand around the pile is almost inde-
pendent of the loading frequency for the soil without an
accumulation of pore water pressure. Besides, for test S1-3 and
test S2-2 with different loading frequencies but almost same ξb,
their measured horizontal peak displacements are close to
each other as shown in Figure 17. Thus, it can be concluded
that the effect of loading frequency on the cyclic behaviours of
the pile in saturated soil with an accumulation of pore water
pressure is limited.

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 International Journal of Physical Modelling in Geotechnics Centrifuge model tests on laterally
loaded piles in sand
Zhu, Li, Xiong and Liu

where Fρ = 0·05–0·3 is the rate coefficient, which can be

Horizontal displacement of loaded position: m

0·20 Measured values Computed values

Test S1-2 Test S1-2 suggested as 0·1 for most cases; λr is the reference loading rate
Test S1-3 Test S1-3 (e.g. the load rate of the static loading test); and λ is the real
0·16 Test S2-2 Test S2-2
Test S2-3
loading rate.
Test S2-3
Test S2-4 Test S2-4
0·12
4.2 Engineering analysis approach
It is easy to apply the present cyclic analysis approach to
0·08
engineering as follows.

0·04 & Calculate the ultimate soil reaction pu and obtain the
rate-corrected p–y curves by Equations 1 and 5.
0·00 & Import the rate-corrected p–y curves into the p–y curve
1 10 100 1000 10 000 analysis program or a commercial structural analysis
Number of cycles N software, to analyse the pile and obtain the horizontal
displacement of the pile shaft yc and the soil reaction per
Figure 17. Horizontal peak displacement of loaded position unit length pc under a given lateral load with the same
amplitude as the cyclic loading.
& Calculate the cyclic degradation factor t at different soil
depths by pc/pu, and then obtain the cyclic p–y curves by
Compared with the test results in dry sand with a similar Equation 4.
& Import the cyclic p–y curves for a given number of
relative density as given by Zhu et al. (2013), from Figure 16
it is found that the cyclic degradation factor t in the saturated cycles into a p–y curve analysis program or a commercial
sand is significantly larger than that of the dry sand for structural analysis software to compute responses of the
the same pc/pu. This has mainly resulted from the oscil- pile shaft.
lating pore pressure caused by the lateral cyclic loads. The
data for saturated sand in Figure 16 can be best fitted as A cyclic reduction coefficient r = N −t is introduced here.
follows The cyclic reduction coefficient rAPI of API cyclic p–y curves
can be calculated as the ratio of cyclic and monotonic ultimate
soil reaction. The coefficients of both approaches are com-
p̃c
3: t¼ pared for the following example: the present prototype pile
41p̃c þ 12
of test S2-4 is subjected to a set of cyclic loading for a total
of 1000 cycles. For the present approach the values of r at
depths of 0·5D, 1D, 2D, 3D, 4D, 5D and 6D are 0·46, 0·54,
Then the cyclic p–y curves can be obtained as 0·66, 0·78, 0·89, 0·97 and 1; while the corresponding values of
rAPI are 0·346, 0·409, 0·643, 1·0, 1·0, 1·0 and 1·0, respectively.
It is noted that the API approach was proposed based on the
4: pN ¼ p1 N t
field cyclic loading tests with the number of cycles being <200
and the approach is independent of the number of cycles.
Figure 18 shows the computed results of the present approach
using different cyclic degradation factors for both saturated
5: p1 ¼ DR ps sand and dry sand, the API approach, the approach of Long
and Vanneste (1994) and the approach of Rosquoet et al.
(2007). For the present approach the rate factor DR = 1·227,
where pN is the soil reaction per unit length in the Nth cycle; and it is assumed that the responses of the pile shaft in the
p1 is the rate-corrected soil reaction per unit length in the first first cycle computed by the approaches of Long and Vanneste
cycle; ps is the static soil reaction per unit length that can be (1994) and the approach of Rosquoet et al. (2007) are the
calculated by Equation 1 and DR is a rate factor which is same with those of the present approach. As shown in Figure
expressed by (Poulos, 1982) 18, the present approach for saturated sand gives good pre-
dicted results compared with the test results. It is noted that
λr those analysis approaches for dry sand are difficult to be used
6: DR ¼ 1  Fρ log
λ for the analysis of piles in saturated sand. Further, the com-
puted horizontal peak displacements at the loaded position for

10

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 International Journal of Physical Modelling in Geotechnics Centrifuge model tests on laterally
loaded piles in sand
Zhu, Li, Xiong and Liu

–10 The maximum number of cycles is 3057 in the present tests,

which is considered as the number of cycles of a typical storm
Distance from loaded position: m

0 surge. It should be noted that behaviours of the pile may be

different under long-term cyclic loading with over thousands of
10
cycles, since the sand around the pile would be densified and
(N = 1) may not be degraded after a number of cycles. As shown in
20
Measured values
Present approach for saturated sand Figure 17, the horizontal displacement at the loaded position
30 (N = 1000) does not develop any more or even decrease as the number
Measured values of cycles increases after 1000 cycles in most tests. In view of
40 API approach
Present approach for saturated sand this, the present approach would give conservatively predicted
50 Present approach for dry sand results for the pile subjected to long-term lateral cyclic loading.
Long and Venneste (1994)
Rosquoet et al. (2007)
60
0·00 0·02 0·04 0·06 6. Conclusions and recommendations
Horizontal displacement of pile shaft: m This paper investigates the behaviours of slender piles in satu-
(a) rated sand subjected to lateral monotonic and cyclic loading
0 based on centrifuge model tests. An engineering analysis
approach for lateral cyclic responses of piles is presented by
introducing a cyclic degradation factor with respect to the
Distance from loaded position: m

10
cyclic soil reaction ratio. Some conclusions and recommen-
dations can be drawn as follows.
20

& The p–y curves derived from the measured bending

30
40
50
60
0 2 4 6
Bending moment of pile shaft: MN m
Figure 18. Cyclic responses of pile shaft (test S2-4):
(a) horizontal displacement of pile shaft and (b) bending
moment of pile shaft
all cyclic loading tests by the present approach are plotted in
Figure 17. It seems that they are in good agreement with the
test results.
5. Discussion
For the present cyclic loading tests, there were only oscillating
changes on the pore water pressure but not accumulation. It
should be careful to use the recommended expression of cyclic
degradation factor and the corresponding analysis approach for
the pile with larger diameter such as the monopile of offshore
wind turbines, since the soil around the pile under the con-
sidered loading frequency may be partly drained and the pore
water pressure would accumulate during lateral cyclic loading.
(N = 1)
Measured values moments of the pile shaft are in good agreement with these
Present approach for saturated sand
(N = 1000)
results calculated by the hyperbolic p–y curve method with
Measured values the modified coefficient of initial modulus of subgrade
API approach
Present approach for saturated sand reaction.
Present approach for dry sand & In the first 1000 cycles in the present cyclic loading
Long and Venneste (1994)
Rosquoet et al. (2007) tests, both the accumulated horizontal displacement
8 10 12
and the unloading stiffness at the loaded position
could approximately increase by 100–150 and 50–150%
(b)
with respect to the number of cycles, and the variation
of the maximum bending moment of the pile shaft
can be 10% for different cyclic loading amplitudes
and frequencies. In the present model tests, the
accumulated horizontal displacement at the loaded
position is approximately linear with the logarithm of
number of cycles.
& The effect of loading frequency on cyclic behaviours of
piles in saturated soil without an accumulation of pore
water pressure is limited.
& The degradation of the saturated sand around the pile is
significantly larger than that of the dry sand under the
same cyclic soil reaction ratio. One of the main reasons is
that the oscillating pore pressure caused by lateral cyclic
loads decreases the average effective stress in the soil
around the pile.
& The cyclic degradation factor increases with the
decrease of the soil depth and the increase of the
cyclic soil reaction ratio. A group of cyclic p–y curves
related to the number of cycles and the cyclic
soil reaction ratio are proposed for engineering
applications.

11

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 International Journal of Physical Modelling in Geotechnics
Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge the financial support from the
National Natural Science Foundation of China (research
grant: 51179169) and from Guangdong Electric Power Design
Institute (research grant: 2011-CGSQ-264).
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