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Pullout Capacity of Screw Piles in Sandy Soil

Article  in  Journal of Geotechnical Engineering · December 2017

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 Journal of Geotechnical Engineering
ISSN: 2394-1987 (Online)
Volume 4, Issue 1
www.stmjournals.com

Pullout Capacity of Screw Piles in Sandy Soil

Hassan Obaid Abbase*
Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Diyala, Iraq

Abstract
In this study, the behavior of square screw piles models 55 mm2 embedded in sandy soil was
investigated. The sandy soil layer 400 mm thickness was compacted into four sub-layers in a
steel container with diameter 400 mm in size. Sandy soil layer was compacted into three
relative densities 30%, 60% and 90%. Model tests are performed with screw pile length 100
mm, 200 mm and 300 mm and with helix diameter 15 mm and 20 mm. Also, one helix and
double helices were used for these piles. This study revealed that the pullout force of screw
piles increases with increasing depth of embedment in the sandy layer, relative density of
sandy soil, helix diameter and number of helices plates. The increase in pullout forces of
screw piles are 22–40% and 41–70% when relative density of sandy soil changes from loose
state to dense state respectively.

Keywords: Screw piles, sandy soil, pullout forces.

*Author for Correspondence E-mail: temimi71@yahoo.com

INTRODUCTION is depended on the angle of soil friction [3].

Screw piles called as screw anchors or helical Helical piles are primary designed and
piles, or are structural, deep foundation constructed to give the uplift resistance to the
elements used to give stability against tensile, foundation of a structure. Moreover, screw
compressive, and lateral loads. Screw piles anchors system can provide the compression
consist of one or more circular, helix plates support to the structure. Generally, screw
confirmed to a central shaft of smaller anchors can be classified into two types that
diameter. Screw piles are extended into the are single helix piles and multi helix piles [4].
soil by applying torque to the head of pile, Both of types of screw piles are shown in
produced the helix plates to penetrate the Figure 1.
ground in a screwing motion without spoil or
creating vibration. Driving of screw piles is
typically accomplished using a torque head
affixed to the jib of a backhoe or a trailer-
mounted hydraulic machine [1]. A distinction
should be made between shallow and deep
embedment for screw piles loaded in tension.
For shallow helical piles in uplift, the bearing
failure region above the uppermost helix may
extend to the ground surface, as guide by
surface heave and tensile cracking [2]. For
deep screw anchors in uplift, the bearing
failure region above the uppermost helix may
be contained beneath the surface. The Fig. 1: Photo for Single Helix Anchor and
distinction between the shallow and deep Multi Helices Anchor [5].
failure condition is called as the critical
embedment ratio, Hcrit, which is equal to the The screw pile system is not appropriate for
embedment length of the uppermost helix the foundation in stiff soil or soil containing
plates divided by its diameter. In sandy soils, gravel because the helix plates may be damage
the critical embedment ratio, Hcrit, beyond in driving process. Therefore, this type of pile
which the deep failure condition predominant, system usually used in the sand, silt and clay

JoGE (2017) 8-12 © STM Journals 2017. All Rights Reserved Page 8
Pullout Capacity of Screw Piles Abbase Hassan Obaid.

[2]. The present study aims is to investigate measure the applied tension force on the pile,
the behavior of pullout capacity of model and dial gauge was fixed above the pile cap
screw piles extended in sandy soil. The using magnetic holder to indicate the upward
parameters investigated are the length of screw displacement of the pile due to applied force.
pile, relative density of sandy soil, number of The required amount of the oven dried natural
helix plates and helix plate diameter. sandy soil passing sieve No. 40 was prepared
at three dry unit weights. The first dry unit
EXPERIMENTAL WORK weight is equal to 16 kN/m3 at which the sand
Sandy soil is poorly graded fine clean sand will be in a dense state. The second dry unit
obtained from a site at Al-Khalis city. weight is equal to 15 kN/m3 at which the sand
Laboratory tests were conducted on the sandy will be in a medium state and the third dry unit
soil to determine the physical, mechanical, and weight is equal to 14 kN/m3 at which the sand
chemical properties. The results of laboratory is in a loose state.
tests are shown in Table 1 [6–10]. Forty-five
models of steel screw piles with length ranging
from 100 mm to 300 mm and square solid
section with dimension 55 mm was
manufactured from high resisting steel. The
experimental program is carried out on single
screw piles with different lengths, helix
diameter and number of helices plates. All
these screw piles were embedded to sandy soil
with three different relative densities, which
represented loose state (Dr = 30%), medium
state (Dr = 60%) and the dense state (Dr =
90%). Steel container was made using a 4 mm
thickness plate with internal diameter of 40 cm
and height of 50 cm. Special pull-out loading
frame was manufactured for measuring pile
pull-out capacity as illustrated in Figure 2. A
load cell with its indicator was attached to Fig. 2: Model Pile Pullout Test System.

Table 1: Summary of Sandy Soil Properties.

Test Name Standard Property Value
D10 (mm) 0.08
D30 (mm) 0.14
Grain Size Analysis D60 (mm) 0.2
(ASTM D-422)
(Sieve Analysis) Coefficient of Uniformity (Cu) 2.5
Coefficient of Curvature (Cz) 1.23
Unified Soil Classification System (USCS) SP
Specific Gravity (ASTM D-854) Specific Gravity (Gs) 2.68
Maximum Unit Weight (ASTM D-253) Maximum Unit Weight, kN/m³ 16.7
Minimum Unit Weight (ASTM D-4254) Minimum Unit Weight, kN/m³ 13.5
Chosen Experimental Relative Densities (Dry) ,% 30, 60, 90
Calculated Experimental Unit Weight (Dry), kN/m³ 14, 15, 16
Cohesion (C), kPa 0
Direct shear (ASTM D-3084)
Angle of Shearing Resistance, (φ°) 31, 35, 38
Organic Matters Content, (%) 0.044
Gypsum Content, (%) 0.14
( BS 1377: 1990 Total Soluble Salts Content, (%) 0.41
Chemical Properties
Part 3) Sulphate Content (SO3), (%) 0.06
Chlorides, (%) 0.182
pH 8.37

JoGE (2017) 8-12 © STM Journals 2017. All Rights Reserved Page 9
Journal of Geotechnical Engineering
Volume 4, Issue 1
ISSN: 2394-1987 (Online)

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The pullout force test carried out on screw
piles embedded to sandy soil to measure the
ultimate pullout load capacity. Pullout force is
applied on piles models and the upward
movement is measured. The failure occurs
when observing a certain maximum value of
pullout force or a large upward movement
happened due to small increment of applied
load; this load is called failure pullout load.
The results of pullout force tests of 45 models
are shown in Figures 3 to 5. The Figures 3 to 5
show the variation of pullout force with L/H
ratios (0.25, 0.50, and 0.75) for three relative
densities of sandy soil 30%, 60% and 90%. It
is clear from the Figures 3 to 5 is that the
failure pullout force increased with the
increasing length of embedment of screw pile,
helix diameter, number of helices of screw
piles and relative density of sandy soil. This is
may be attributed to the effect of anchorage
action of screw piles and shear resistance
mobilized along the cylindrical screw pile soil
interface.
Also, when sandy soil is dense, the friction
force between screw pile and soil increased
which caused high resistance. The increase in
helix diameter from 15 mm to 20 mm
increases in pullout force 13–35%. In general,
the screw piles of single and double helices
plates have pullout forces of 1.32–5 more than
that of without helices. In addition, the screw
pile of double helices plates has pullout forces
1.10–1.50 more than that of single helix. The
increase in pullout forces of screw piles are
22–40% and 41–70% when relative density of
sandy soil change from loose state to dense
state respectively as shown in Figure 6. When
depth of screw piles embedded from 0.25 H to
0.75 H the increase in pullout forces became
300–600%. The results obtained were
coinciding with that obtained by Tsuha et al.
and Hamdy et al. [11, 12].

250

200
Pullout Force (N)

Without helice
150
Single helice(dh=15mm)
Single helice(dh=20mm)
100
Double helices(dh=15mm)
Double helices(dh=20mm)
50

0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
L/H Ratio
Fig. 3: Pullout Force versus L/H Ratios of Different Screw Piles for Relative Density 30%.

350
300
Pullout Force (N)

250
200 Without helice
Single helice(dh=15mm)
150 Single helice(dh=20mm)
100 Double helices(dh=15mm)
Double helices(dh=20mm)
50
0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
L/H Ratio
Fig. 4: Pullout Force versus L/H Ratios of Different Screw Piles for Relative Density 60%.

JoGE (2017) 8-12 © STM Journals 2017. All Rights Reserved Page 10
Pullout Capacity of Screw Piles Abbase Hassan Obaid.

450
400
350
300
Pullout Force (N)

250 Without helice

200 Single helice(dh=15mm)
Single helice(dh=20mm)
150
Double helices(dh=15mm)
100 Double helices(dh=20mm)
50
0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
L/H Ratio
Fig. 5: Pullout Force versus L/H Ratios of Different Screw Piles for Relative Density 90%.

450

400
Without helice(L/D=25)
350 Without helice(L/D=33)
Without helice(L/D=50)
Pullout Force (N)

300 Single helice (dh=15mm, L/D=25)

Single helice (dh=15mm, L/D=33)
250 Single helice (dh=15mm, L/D=50)
200 Single helice (dh=20mm, L/D=25)
Single helice (dh=20mm, L/D=33)
150 Single helice (dh=20mm, L/D=50)
Double helices (dh=15mm, L/D=25)
100 Double helices (dh=15mm, L/D=33)
Double helices (dh=15mm, L/D=50)
50 Double helices (dh=20mm, L/D=25)
Double helices (dh=20mm, L/D=33)
0 Double helices (dh=20mm, L/D=50)
20 40 60 80 100
Relative Density %
Fig. 6: Pullout Force versus Relative Density of Different Screw Piles.

CONCLUSIONS
The screw piles foundation system is an
effective in transporting the pullout forces of
structures to the soil.
1. The pullout capacity of screw piles
increase with the increasing helices
diameter plates and number of helices.
2. The pullout capacity of screw piles
increase with the increasing the relative
density of sandy soil and the depth of
embedment in sandy soil.
3. Helices plates take part 26–79% from total
pullout capacity of screw piles especially
when increasing number of helices plates
and depth of embedment in sandy soil.
REFERENCES
1. Kristen MT, David CS. Predicting the
Axial Capacity of Screw Piles Installed in
Canadian Soils. Ottawa Geo 2007.
2. Narasimha Rao S, Prasad YVSN, Veeresh
C. Behaviour of Embedded Model Screw
Anchors in Soft Clays. Geotechnique.
1993;43:605–614.
3. Meyerhof GG, Adams JI. The Ultimate
Uplift Capacity of Foundations" Canadian
Geotechnical Journal. 1968;5(4):224–244.
4. Hamed N, Khairul AK, Amin G, Ramli N,
Chuan HS. Performance of Helical
Anchors in Sand. EJGE. 2012;17.

JoGE (2017) 8-12 © STM Journals 2017. All Rights Reserved Page 11
 Journal of Geotechnical Engineering
Volume 4, Issue 1
ISSN: 2394-1987 (Online)

5. Das BM. Principles of Foundation 11. Tsuha CHC, Rault G. Influence of

Engineering. 7th Edn. Cengage Learning;
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12. Hamdy HA, Walla ED. 'The Compression
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Cite this Article
Hassan Obaid Abbase. Pullout Capacity
of Screw Piles in Sandy Soil. Journal of
Geotechnical Engineering. 2017; 4(1):
8–12p.

JoGE (2017) 8-12 © STM Journals 2017. All Rights Reserved Page 12

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