LATERALLY LOADED PILES

A vertical pile resists a lateral load by mobilizing passive earth pressure in the soil
surrounding it.The degree of distribution of the soil’s reaction depends on (a) the stiffness
of the pile, (b) the stiff of the soil, and (c) the fixity of the ends. In general, laterally
loaded piles can be divided into major categories; (1) short or rigid piles and (2) long or
elastic piles. Fig 1a and 1b shows the nature of the variation of the pile deflection and the
distribution of the moment and shear force along the pile length when the pile is
subjected to lateral loading. We next summarize the current solution for laterally loaded
piles.

Fig 1. Nature of variation of pile deflection, moment, and shear force for (a) a rigid pile
and (b) an elastic pile.

A. Laterally loaded pile in non- cohesive soils

Elastic Solution
A general method for determining moments and displacements of a vertical pile
embedded in a granular soil and subjected to lateral load and moment at the ground
surface was given by Matlock and Reese (1960). Consider a pile of length, L, subjected
to a lateral force, Qg, and a moment, Mg, at the ground surface (z=0), as shown in
Figure2a shows the general defected shape of the pile and the soil resistance caused by
the applied load and the moment.
According to a simpler Winkler’s model, an elastic medium (soil in this case) can
be replaced by a series of infinitely close independent elastic springs. Based on this
assumption,

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Fig 2. (a) Laterally loaded pile, (b) soil resistance on pile caused by lateral load, (c) sign
convention for displacement, slope, moment, shear, and soil reaction.

p (kN / m)
k (1)
x(m)
Where k = modulus of subgrade reaction
p/ = pressure on soil
x = defection
The sub-grade modulus for granular soils at a depth z is defined as

k z  h .z
(2)
where,  h  constant of modulus of horizontal sub-grade reaction.
Referring to Fig 2b and using the theory of beams on an elastic foundation, we can write
dx4
E p .I p . 4  p  (3)
dz
Where, Ep = modulus of elasticity in the pile material
Ip = moment of inertia of the pile section
Based on Winkler’s model

p   k .x (4)

The sign in eq. 4 is negative because the soil reaction is in the direction opposite that of
the pile defection.

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Combining eqn.3 and 4 gives

dx4
E p .I p .  k .x  0 (5)
dz 4
The solution of eq. 5 results in the following expressions:

Pile Defection at any Depth x z z 

Q g .T 3 M g.T 2
x z z   A x . B x . (6)
E p .I p E p .I p

Slope of pile at any Depth  z z 

Q g .T 2 M g.T
 z z   A . B . (7)
E p .I p E p .I p
Moment of pile at any Depth M z z 
M z z   Am .Q g .T  B m .M g (8)
Shear Force on pile at any Depth V z.z 

Mg (9)
V z.z   A v .Q g  B v .
T

Soil Reaction at any Depth  p z z 
 

 Qg Mg
p z  z   A p . B p . 2 (10)
T T
Where Ax , Bx , A  , B  ,Am, Bm, Av, Bv, Ap, and Bp are coefficients.
T = characteristic length of the soil-pile system

E p .I p
=T  5 (11)
h
 h has been defined in eq.2 above.
When L  5T, the pile is considered to be a long pile. For L  2T, the pile is considered
to be a rigid pile. Table 1 given below, gives the values of the coefficients for long piles
( L  5 ) in equations 6 to 10 above. Note that, in the first column of the table, Z = z/T is
T
the non dimensional depth.

The positive sign conventions for xz(z),  z z  , Mz(z),Vz(z), and p z z  assumed in the
derivations in table-1 are shown in Fig 2c. Fig 3 shows the variation of A x, Bx ,Am, and

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Bm for various values of L/T = Zmax.It indicates that, when L/T is greater than about 5, the
coefficients do not change, which is true of long piles only.
Table-1. Coefficients for long piles, k x  h .z

Z Ax A Am Av  Bx B Bm Bv 
Ap Bp
0.0 2.435 -1.623 0.000 1.000 0.000 1.623 -1.750 1.000 0.000 0.000
0.1 2.273 -1.618 0.100 0.989 -0.227 1.453 -1.650 1.000 -0.007 -0.145
0.2 2.112 -1.603 0.198 0.956 -0.422 1.293 -1.550 0.999 -0.028 -0.259
0.3 1.952 -1.578 0.291 0.906 -0.586 1.143 -1.450 0.994 -0.058 -0.343
0.4 1.796 -1.545 0.379 0.840 -0.718 1.003 -1.351 0.987 -0.095 -0.401
0.5 1.644 -1.503 0.459 0.764 -0.822 0.873 -1.253 0.976 -0.137 -0.436
0.6 1.496 -1.454 0.532 0.677 -0.897 0.752 -1.156 0.960 -0.181 -0.451
0.7 1.353 -1.397 0.595 0.585 -0.947 0.642 -1.061 0.939 -0.226 -0.449
0.8 1.216 -1.335 0.649 0.489 -0.973 0.540 -0.968 0.914 -0.270 -0.432
0.9 1.086 -1.268 0.693 0.392 -0.977 0.448 -0.878 0.885 -0.312 -0.403
1.0 0.962 -1.197 0.727 0.295 -0.962 0.364 -0.792 0.852 -0.350 -0.364
1.2 0.738 -1.047 0.767 0.109 -0.885 0.223 -0.629 0.775 -0.414 -0.268
1.4 0.544 -0.893 0.772 -0.056 -0.761 0.112 -0.482 0.688 -0.456 -0.157
1.6 0.381 -0.741 0.746 -0.193 -0.609 0.0229 -0.354 0.594 -0.477 -0.047
1.8 0.247 -0.596 0.696 -0.298 -0.445 -0.030 -0.245 0.498 -0.476 0.054
2.0 0.142 -0.464 0.628 -0.371 0.283 -0.070 -0.155 0.404 -0.456 0.140
3.0 -0.075 -0.040 0.225 -0.349 0.226 -0.089 0.057 0.059 -0.213 0.268
4.0 -0.05 0.052 0.000 -0.106 0.201 -0.028 0.049 -0.042 0.017 0.112
5.0 -0.009 0.025 -0.033 0.015 0.046 0.000 -0.011 -0.026 0.029 -0.002

Calculating the characteristic length T for the pile requires assuming proper values of  h .
Following table 2 gives some representative values of  h .

Table 2. Representative values of  h

Soil  h (kN / m3 )
Dry or moist sand
Loose 1800-2200
Medium 5500-7000
Dense 15,000-18,000
Submerged sand
Loose 1000-1400
Medium 3500-4500
Dense 9000-12,000

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Fig3. Variation of Ax, Bx, Am,and Bm with Z (after Matlock and Reese,1960)

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