DyNAMIC VERTICAL RESPONSE OF PILES IN NONLINEAR SOIL By Y. C. Han,’ P-E. ‘AgsrrAct: An analytical solution to the plane-stain axisymmetric problem of a vertically vibrating pil slice js presented, and the dynamie vertical response of piles in nonlinear sll is examined inthis study. The impedance fof soil layers are formulated based on a model of a boundary zone with nonreflective interface, involved with both cases of weakened and strengthened zones around the pile. With the impedance of the soil medium derived, the stiffness and damping ofa pile are presented using the finite-element method. The validity of the approximate approach proposed in this paper is verified with dynamic experiments on a full-scale pile in the field, and the theoretical predictions match the nonlinear response of the pile subjected to different excitation intensities. INTRODUCTION Pile dynamics has been a subject of broad interest, but the difficulty is how to evaluate the soil-pile interaction in a non- linear situation. A number of approaches are available to ac- count for dynamic soil-pile interaction, but they are usually based on the assumptions that the soil behavior is governed by the law of linear elasticity or viscoelasticity and that the soil is perfectly bonded to a pile. In practice, however, the bonding between the soil and the pile is rarely perfect, and slippage or even separation often accurs in the contact area. Furthermore, the soil region immediately adjacent to the pile ‘can undergo a large degree of straining, which would cause the soiF-pie system to behave in a nonlinear manner. Both theoretical and experimental studies have shown that the dy- namic response of the piles is very sensitive to the properties of the soil in the vicinity of the pile shaft (Han and Novak 1988; Han 1989; Han and Novak 1992; El-Marsafawi et al 1992) ‘A rigorous approach to the nonlinearity of asoil-pile system is extremely difficult and therefore approximate theories have to be used. Novak and Sheta (1980) proposed including a cy- lindrical annulus of softer sol (an inner weakened zone or $o- called boundary zone) around the pile in their plane-strain analysis. One of the simplifications involved in the original ‘boundary-zone concept was that the mass of the inner zone was neglected to avoid the wave reflections from the interface between the inner boundary zone and the outer zone. To over- ‘come this problem Veleisos and Dotson (1988) proposed a scheme that can account for the mass of the boundary zone. ‘Some of the effects of the boundary-zone mass were invest gated by Novak and Han (1990), who found that a homoge- ‘neous boundary zone with a nonzero mass yields undulation impedances due to wave reflections from the fictitious inter- face between the two media, the near field, and the far field ‘The ideal boundary zone should have properties smoothly @p- poaching those of the outer zane to alleviate wave reflections from the interface. Consequently, such a model of a boundary zone with nonreflective interface was proposed by Han and Sabin (1995). Dynamic investigations of piles indicated that the boundary-zone model is available to both granular and cohesive soils (Novak 1991). Since the viscoelastic medium is assumed in the theory, the consolidation of sol is considered to be completed and the effect of pore pressure is not ac- ‘counted for ‘An analytical solution to the plane-strain axisymmetric problem of a vertically vibrating pile slice is presented, sur- "PRD, EBA Engr. Consullants Ld, Edmonton, Canada TSL 27, [Note Discussion open nil January 1, 1098. To extond the closing ue one month, a writen request must be fled with the ASCE Manage ‘of Journals. The manuscript for thik piper was submited for review and Poaible publieauan on May 16,1996. This paper Is part ofthe Journal (2f Geotechnical and Geoenvironmenal Ei WO 123, NO. 8, ‘August, 1997. CASCE, ISSN 1090.0241/9710008-0710-0716/5800 + S50 per page, Paper No. 13293, rounded by soil whose shear modulus G increases with radial distance r. Such a solution would serve as a key to obtaining (in an approximate simplified way) the dynamic vertical re- sponse of pile in nonlinear soil. While numerical solutions to this problem have been published by Dotson and Veletsos (2990), who used a variety of radially increasing functions for G(o), a parabolic function is introduced inthis study that would seem to better fit experimental data. The vertical im- pedance of a composite soil layer with nonreflective interface 's formulated, involved with both weakened and strengthened boundary zones. With the impedance of sol layer derived, the stiffness and damping of a single pile is provided using the finite-element method. The validity of the approximate ap- proach is verified with dynamic experiments on a full-scale pile in the field, and the theoretical predictions match the non- linear dynamic response of the pile subjected to different ex- citation intensities. COMPOSITE LAYER WITH NONREFLECTIVE INTERFACE ‘The composite layer consists of a viscoclastic medium of unit depth and infinite extent with a citclar hole of radius r., as shown in Fig. 1(a). The impedances of the composite layer are derived based on the following assumptions: (1) the outer ‘zone medium is homogeneous, isotropic, and viscoelastic with frequency independent material damping; (2) within the ‘boundary zone, the complex shear modulus G(r) varies par- abolically, as expressed by the function f(r), shown in Fig. 1(b). The variation of G*(?) is continuous at the boundary, both the Function itself and its derivatives, so that no reflective wave can be produced at the interface (this is referred to as nonrefietion interface). ‘The properties of the soil medium for each region are de- fined by the complex-valued modulus ini@inas Be sae FIG. 1 (4) Composition of Zones: (b) Variation of Shear Modulus with Radial Distance ‘T10/ JOURNAL OF GEOTECHNICAL AND GEOENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING / AUGUST 1997Gp ren GN =jGtfy n 1, and the details of this case will be discussed later, Denoting bem, 6 then J) = 1 ~ mG ~ Rr, © Within the Boundary Zone ‘As the composite layer is excited vertically, the governing equations can be derived from the standard form, written in cylindrical coordinates (Sokolnikoft 1956) aw , [dor , Grn] aw aw a 7 lar Par o where w = vertical displacement; = time; and p = mass den- sity. The mass density for the inner zone is assumed to be ‘equal to that of the outer zone, ‘Under harmonic exci ® Eg. (7) can be weiten as + [44 £0) yy, [B-B)Z-m-0 ow where oe 0) where dimensionless frequency a, = wr, w = circular fre- ‘quency; and V, = sheat-wave velocity of sol Let x= mRire - © ay then f@=1- x (2) ‘Substituting (11) and (12) into (9) yields ay tae() x= mir.) de om) Denoting a = mfr, and b = (A/m)?, (13) can be rewritten as eee wa nfte (eZ ereae a9 a i alesse waa ‘Substituting (15) into (14), the coefficients in the power series can be determined as as, Anes Ane sed) pontiac ais Ape ((n = IFA, + afb + (n= 2m = DAS2 = + = 34 Desa ~ De ass where C; and C; = complex-valued constants that can be de- termined by considering the boundary conditions Finally the shear stress is om £2 tom an Outer Medium ‘The governing equation can also be derived from the stan- dard form, written in cylindrical coordinates, but G* is taken 15 a constant in the outer zone. The equation can be written Pe et se) 0 ce 8a AE WO = 0 8) “This isa Bessel equation for which it solution is WD = CKO + COD as) where I, and K, = modified Bessel functions of zero order of the first and second kind, respectively; and C; and C, = com- plex-valued constants of integration, which can be determined from the boundary conditions. ‘The boundary conditions are aE=L m=O ae== 00d) wie, ERs =, AER 200d) ‘To satisfy these boundary conditions, C, = 0 must hold. Eq, (19) can now be writen as mO= CKO en At the boundary ofthe hole, 1. Thus, (1) reduces * G my and likewise (15) becomes C+ Can Ad tt At @ areata (15) and (21) it follows that s(n) S c and the shear stresses are JOURNAL OF GEOTECHNICAL AND GEOENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING / AUGUST 1997 /711a6 (-Z)or @) weokn(.Sjer a where Ky = modified Bessel function of first order and the second kind. Using =, = 7, atthe interface it follows that From (23), (24), and (27), Ci, Ci, and Cy can be calculated. ‘The impedances of the composite layer are defined as k= Parton as) Then, k, can now be determined from &, ba a) ecm + any It is desirable to express k, inthe following form: k= nGiSy + iaS.a) G0) where. a= tt ay where V, = VGiJp = shear-wave velocity for the boundary zone; and S.. and S,. = dimensionless factors that depend on A, tern GIG Br Ad By. The factors S,, and Sy are referred to 'as the vertical stiffness and damping of soil, respectively. In the present paper, the impedances of the Soil layer were NS eoluton present goluton To solution luton © expressed in terms of the shear modulus of the inner region G, following the format used in Veletsos and Dotson (1988), The stiffness and damping factors, S and S,2, obtained from the present analysis are compared with those obtained for the Novak-Sheta (N-S) and Veletsos-Dotson (V-D) idealizations, as shown in Fig. 2. These solutions are for a soil layer with talty = 1.0, G/G, = 0.25, B, = 0.1, and B, = 0.05. The mass density forthe inner zone is taken to be the equal to that for the cuter region in the present solution and the V-D solution, and for the N-S solution the mass density for the inner zone is assumed to be zero, an unrealistic assumption. It can be ‘observed thatthe three sets of results are significantly differ- ent; the V-D solution results in pronounced oscillations (un- ulations) caused by wave reflections from the interface be> tween the two media, It should be explained that the convergence of the power series used to express the displace- ‘ment in this study is rapid however, the convergence for the derivative of the series is slow. To obtain a satisfactory solu: tion, the first 10-12 terms of the series are needed. The results from the present analysis are smooth curves over a wide range, the value of a, from 0.0 to 40, which indicates that the wave reflections from the interface are alleviated because it embod- ies a continuous variation in soil properties in the boundary zone with smooth (continuous derivatives) transition into the ‘outer zone. For comparison the results for a homogeneous layer are also included in Fig. 2. Obviously, expression (4) is 1not valid for the homogeneous case (G, = G.), and a solution ‘of homogeneous medium can be used. ‘To illustrate the influence of parameters involved, the stff- ness and damping factors S., and S,, are plotted in Fig. 3 as 8 function of a, for several different combinations of f/r, and tal tes 10 oa =4 Pregoeney FIG. 2. Comparison of impodance Functions with NS and V-D Solutions, tiz=1-0, G/G,=0.25, 8, =0.1, 8, =0.08; (a) Sttinees Factor Sai (6) Damping Factor S. Frequency 1 FIG. 2. impedances for Composite Layer with Material Damp- ing p/=0.1,,=0.05, and Ditfrent Pararmetara: (a) or fa. Whleriaire= 10 “712 JOURNAL OF GEOTECHNICAL AND GEOENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING / AUGUST 1997G,/G,_ with material damping f= 0.1 and B, = 00S. It should ’be noticed thatthe undulations caused by wave reflection van- ish as expected in all of the cases presented, owing to the nonreflective interface. The influence of the material properties in the boundary zone is sensitive to the stiffness and damping of the soil layer. The stiffness factor 5, increases with the level of G,/G, and is smallest for the homogeneous case (G./ G, = 1). The damping factor 5, at lower frequency levels Non-teflective interface oly R ' FIG. 4. Model ot Strengthened Boundary Zone with Nonreflec- tive intertece > G. Frequency 8 FIG. 5. impedances for Composite Layer with Strengthened Boundary Zone (G,= Gj, Material Damping B,~0.1, Bs = 0.05, and Different Parameters (a) fr f/f, = 0.28; (0) f0F f/f = 0.8 becomes larger as the magnitude of G,/G, increases; however, at higher frequencies this tendency is diminished In some cases, the soil in the boundary zone may be strengthened, G/G, > 1, as shown in Fig. 4. For the strength- ened boundary zone, the model of nonreflective interface de- scribed previously is also valid. To show this case clearly, (3) and (4) may be rewritten as, eng: = (alr Obviously, the expressions of (32) and (33) lead to the same results as before in the case of GG, < 1, To illustrate the influence of parameters involved in the ease of G/G, > 1, the stiffness and damping factors S,, and 5, are plotted in Fig. 5 {or several different combinations of rr, and G,/G,, with ma- terial damping p, = 0.1 and f, = 005. It should be noticed that 5.x and Sy shown in (30) were normalized in terms ofthe shear modulus of the inner zone G, Thus, itis easy to under- stand thatthe stiffness factor S,, increases with the level of G,/G, and is maximum for the homogeneous case (G,/G,= 1). ‘The damping factor S,; is also maximum in the homogeneous oy ‘STIFFNESS AND DAMPING OF PILE. A pile is divided into beam elements along with the soil fers, and the soil below the pile is an elastic half-space. The properties of each element are fully described by its stiffness ‘matrix, which is complex due to energy dissipation in the soil and includes the properties of both the pile and the soil. The finite-element method is used to find the stiffness and damping of pile. With the impedances of the composite layer formulated in (20), the differential equation of motion in the vertical di- rection is, nme, od we Cae 0 ~ by + k=O G4) Fue Ae where i = mass of the pile per unit length; C = coefficient of internal damping ofthe pile; E, and A = Young's modulus and the cross-sectional area ofthe pile; k, = complex stiffness (im- pedance) of soil; w(2, #) = vertical amplitude of the pile; and ‘2 depth of the pile For harmonic motion w(&, tude (2) ean be determined as ()e", the complex ampli- B, cos A= + Bs sin RE @s) we z z ‘where B, and B; = integration constants; h = height of the clement of the pile; and the complex frequency parameter ice) 06) “The dynamic stffinesses are defined by the boundaries (0) = 1, (A) = 0, and w(0) = 0, w(h) = 1; from these conditions By and B, can be determined. Then, the element stiffness ma. tix can be derived weal tt oo] cect cot on ‘The reactions of soil acting on the tip can be described JOURNAL OF GEOTECHNICAL AND GEOENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING / AUGUST 1997/ 719,approximately by the viscoelastic half-space solutions. They ean be written in the following form k= Grd Calan ¥ D) + iCalan DY) (38) where r, = pile radius atthe tip; G, = shear modulus of the soil below the tip: a, = raa/V, where V, = shear-wave velocity Of soil below the tip; v = Poisson's ratio: and D = damping ratio, Dimensionless parameters Cy and C,; can be taken from available solutions by Veletsos ‘and Verbic (1973), Luco (1974), and others. ‘With the element stitfness matrix and the stiffness of pile tip, the complex vertical stiffness atthe pile head can be ob- tained as K+ acy oe) The complex stfiness obtained can be adjusted to meet the tore rigorous solution, at lower frequencies such as ay = 03, ts recommended hy Novak and Aboul-Elia (1978), introduc: ing the dimensionless stffess and damping parametes Fas Fas the reat tifness of one pile BA, Ke Rek! ) and the constant of equivalent viscous damping a APPLICATIONS ON DYNAMIC ANALYSIS OF PILES. ‘The harmonic vibration tests of a full-scale pile were con- ducted on the campus of the University of Western Ontario. ‘The soil consisted of a layered noncohesive stratum of silty fine sand with a gravel seam, resting on the dense silty tll at a depth of 2.9 m from the ground surface. Measurement of shear-wave velocity at the site was conducted using the eross- hole technique and the steady-state vibration technique. The shear-wave Velocity in the top 0.5-m soil layer was lower due to the loss of confining pressure toward the surface, and an average value of 65 mis was taken in the analysis. A linear distibution of the shear-wave velocity was observed for ‘depths below 0.5 m, 80 and 180 m/s corresponding to depths ‘of 0.5 and 2.9 m. The bulk densities of the noncohesive soil and the underlying till were 1,780 and 1,860 kg/m’, respec tively, Details of the experiment were reported by El-Marsa- fawi et al. (1992), but the nonlinear effects of the soil-pile system were not accounted for. In the present study, the non- linear effects were observed and investigated to verify the va- lidity of the boundary-zone model with nonreflective interface. ‘The pile is a steel pipe having a length of 2.9 m, an outside diameter of 101.6 mm, and wall thickness of 6.35 mm. Pois- son's ratio for the pile is assumed to be 0.25 and the damping ratio is 0.005. The length-to-diameter ratio of the pile Lid 28.5 and E/E, = 1,370, where E, isthe soil elastic modulus. ‘The pile was provided with conical plugs and driven hydrau- Tically to a depth of 2.75 m below the ground surface. The total mass of the pile cap and exciter is 1,035 kg, and the bottom face of the cap is 0.15 m above the ground surface. ‘The soil below the ple tip is considered as an elastic haf space, having a shear-wave velocity of 190 mis and a unit ‘weight of 1,900 kg/m’. ‘The oscillator produced a vertical harmonic excitation force fn the pile cap in accordance with Fe) Where me = excitation intensity of the oscillator. In the tests ens £08 wt @ performed, three values of me were used: 2.45, 4,92, and 9.84 kgm. ‘The response curves of the pile are normalized, and the normalized amplitude is defined as ve(4)o « me ‘where M = mass; v= real vertical translation; and V = dimen- sionless amplitude (normalized amplitude. ‘The measured results under different excitation intensities are shown in Fig. 6. The maximum vertical displacement am- plitude was measured to be 0.07 mm, and the maximum ac- Celeration was 0.57g. This isa smaller amplitude vibration but has strong acceleration. From Fig. 6 it ean be seen that the resonant frequency is 50 Hz under an excitation intensity of ‘mee = 245 kg-mm, 47 Hz under an excitation of 4.92 kg mm, and 45 Hz under an excitation of 9.84 kg-mm. Due to the repeated and strong excitation, even very small amplitude, the pilesol system was sofiened $0 thatthe resonant frequen- cies reduced with the increase of excitation intensities. Obvi- ‘ously, the nonlinear behavior occurred in the dynamic response of the pile-soil system, say moderate nonlinear effects, al- though itis not a very strong nonlinear response "The boundary-zone model with nonteflective interface is used to simulate dynamic response of the pile in nonlinear sil ‘Comparisons of the theoretical predictions with the measured Excitation | £°245kgmm © 4.92kgmm X 9.84kgmm % a5 aS BDSCSSSCO Froquoncy (Hz) FIG. 6. Measured Dynamic Response of a Pile Subjected to Different Excitation Intention, 8 — Boundary Zone Model = ~~ No Boundary Zone + Measured Data Dimensionless Amplitude = Frequency (H2) FIG. 7. Comparison of Theoretical Predictions with Measured Dynamic, Reeponse of Pl for Excitation Intensity of 2.48 kg) ‘7141 JOURNAL OF GEOTECHNICAL AND GEOENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING / AUGUST 12978 35r = — soundry Zone Model ness Exarage Fr 7) NeBoudary Zone g of 77> BERENS ES fol © Mennee Data : — a Ssh ect 248005) is a : i Z 5, Pe 5? i. i : o! ro) 20 40 60 80 100 a a a oy Frequency (H2) FIG. 8. Comparison of Theoretical Predictions with Measured Dynamic Response of Pa for Excitation Intenelty of 4.02 kg: P af — eoundary Zone Mode g’| -<= NeBandany zone Sol x Measured Dee &s ae 5, Be é 1 5 em Frequency (Hz) i2on of Theoratical Predictions with Measured Dynamic Response of Pile for Excitation Intensity of 9.08 Kg TABLE 1._ Parameters of Boundary Zone Excitation intenety | Thickness | Modut | Damping | Separation e rato | ratio. | ratio | depth tkg:mm | tain | sa, Br m o @ @ @ 8 2as 03 0s ‘008 ‘00 432 08 02 003 03 384 10 on 020 o5 data in different excitations are shown in Figs. 7-9, respec- tively. The wial-and-error method is used to determine the pa- rameters of the boundary zone. The properties of soil in the ‘boundary zone under different excitation intensities are shown in Table 1 ‘The damping ratio in outer zone B, = 0.02, and the Pois- son's ratio ¥ = 0.3. Prom Table I it can be seen that the thick- ness ratio f4/r, increased, the moduli ratio G,/G, reduced, the damping ratio in boundary zone B, increased, and the separa: tion depth between the pile and the soil increased with an increase in the excitation intensity. The damping ratios B, and B, are material damping of the soil medium in the boundary Zone and the outer zone. The radiation damping is included in the imaginary part of the complex impedance function as shown in (30), and it becomes the dominate component in a FIG. 10. Stiffness and Damping Parameters of Pile under Dit- ferent Exchation intensities higher frequency domain. With an increase in the excitation intensity, the material damping in boundary zone B, tends to increase. In this case, B, did not change when excitation in- tensity increased from 2.45 to 4.92 kg-mm (the excitation in- tensity may be not strong enough), but it increased markedly ‘when the excitation intensity increased 10 9.84 kg: mm, From the comparisons in Figs. 7-9, it can be seen that the theoretical predictions with the boundary zone agree with the measured data quite well. It is indicated that the boundary- zone model with nonzeflective interface can simulate the dy- ‘namic response of piles in a nonlinear soil. The solution of a homogeneous medium (no boundary zone) overestimated the stiffness and damping ofthe pile-soil system so that the resonant frequencies and smaller resonant amplitudes. were produced (dashed lines in the figures) ‘The stiffness parameter Fy, and damping parameter F,; as- sociated with the pile vibration are shown in Fig. 10. The values of F,, and Fy: in Fig. 10 are corresponding to the ver- tical response of the pile subjected to different excitation i tenstis. Itcan be seen that both curves of F, and F,, reduced withthe increase of excitation intensities; in tur, the resonant frequency reduced and the resonant amplitude increased as shown in Figs. 7-9. Relating the variation of boundary zone, Stiffness, and damping to the dynamic response of the pil ‘one can gain an insight into the soilpile interaction in non CONCLUSIONS ‘The model of a boundary zone with nonreflective interface can be used to simulate the dynamic response of piles in non- Tinear soil. The proposed concept provides for a continuous variation of soil properties with smooth transition into the ‘outer zone (ar field; this properties alleviate the wave reflec- tion from the interface between the two media "The soil-pile system exhibits nonlinear features under re- peated and sirong excitation, even a very small displacement Amplitude, With the increase of excitation intensities, both sifness and damping of the pile reduced; in tur, the resonant frequency reduced and the displacement amplitude increased ‘The solution of a homogeneous medium (no boundary zone) ‘overestimated the stiffness and damping ofthe pile-soil system in general. Comparison of the theoretical predictions with the ‘experimental data indicates that inclusion of the boundary zone represents the real contact situation between the soil and the pile. Based on the pile analysis performed, it can be stated that the proposed model of the boundary zone improves the agreement between the theoretical predictions and field-mea- sured data, JOURNAL OF GEOTECHNICAL AND GEOENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING / AUGUST 1997 /718.APPENDIX. REFERENCES Dotson, K. Ws and Veletsos, A. S, (1990), "Vertical and trsionl im: edances of adalyinomogeneous vcoeasc sil layers" Sol Dyn. ‘and Earthquake Engr, 93), 110-119, [EL Marafaw H Han, YC, and Novak, M. (192), “Dynamic exper iments on two pile groups." J. Geotech, Engrg ASCE, 18(8), 376 32, an, Y-C. (1989), “Coupled vibration of embedded foundation J. Geo tech. Engrg, ASCE, 118(), 1227-1238 Hap, ¥. Cx and Novai, M. (1988). “Dynamic Bebavior of single ples Under strong harmonic excitation." Can Georech J, awa, Canad 25(Aug), 323-834 Han, ¥. . and Novak, M. (1992). "Dynamic behavior of pile group." ‘China Cn: Engrg. J, 2505), 4-33, Han, ¥.C. and Satin, G. C. W. (1998), “impedances for radially ino ‘mogenecur viscoelastic sil mein,” J. Engrg. Mech, ASCE, 1216), 539-947, Lico, J.B (1974). “Impedance functions for a said foundation on & Taveted media” Nuclear Engr. and Des, 31, 208~21 Novak, M. (1991). “Piles under dynamic Jods: sate of the ar. ‘Proc. 2nd Int Con om Recent Ads tn Geotech, Earthquake Erers- ‘and Soil Dy, Vol 3, 2833-2456, Novak, M, and Aboul-Bla,F(1978), “Impedance functions of ples in Tayered media" Engrs Mech, Div, ASCE, 1043), 643-661, Novak. Ma and Han, YC. (1990). “Inipedances of sol layer wih ds- Turbed boundary zone." J Getech Eng, ASCE, 116), 1008-1014, Novak, Mand Shea, M, (1980). “Approximate approach to conact ‘effects of ples.” Proc, Dyn. Response of Ple Found Analyeal As Deets, ASCE, New York, NY. 53-79. Setatnikof, 1 8. (1986) Mathematical theory of elsticiy. MeGraw-Hil Tne, New Yor, NY. \Velesos, AS. and Dotson, K. W. (1988). "Vercal and torsional vibra- ‘ion of foundations in inhomogeneous media.” J. Geotech Engre, ASCE, 1149), 1002-1021 ‘Velesos, A. Sand Veric,B. (1973). "Vibration of viscoelastic foun- “dations” Earthquake Engr. and Struct. Dyn, 20). 87-102, 716 / JOURNAL OF GEOTECHNICAL AND GEOENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING / AUGUST 1997