POULOS, H. G. and MATTES, N. S. (1969). Gdotechnique 19,No. 2,285-300.

THE BEHAVIOUR OF AXIALLY LOADED END-BEARING PILES

H. G. POULOS, B.E., Ph.D., M.I.E.Aust.* and N. S. MATTES, B.E.*

SYNOPSIS
The behaviour of a single axially loaded end-
bearing pile in an ideal elastic soil is analysed and
solutions are given for the load distribution within
the pile, and the top and tip movements of the pile
for a wide range of cases. It is shown that the
behaviour of the pile is largely influenced by the
length to diameter ratio, the stiffness of the pile
relative to the surrounding soil and the relative
stiffness of the bearing stratum. It is found that
very slender piles act effectively as floating or
‘friction’ piles. The influence of local yield between
the pile and soil is also examined and the resultant
increase in top displacement is found to be largely
dependent on the distribution of adhesion along the
pile.
Comparisons between the observed behaviour of
end-bearing piles, obtained from published measure-
ments in field tests, and the theoretical behaviour
show good agreement.
Le comportement d’un pilotis j charge axiale
unique et supportant les charges j l’extr8mit6 dans
un sol Clastique idCal est analys6 et l’on donne des
solutions relativement B la rgpartition des charges
dans le Dilotis et lcs d&lacements aux sommets et
aux ex&mitCs du pilot& se rapportant j une gamme
de cas Btendue. On fait apparaitre que le com-
portement d’un pilotis est influence en grande partie
par le rapport de la longueur au diambtre, de la
rigidit du pilotis par rapport au sol environnant et
de la rigiditd relative de la couche supportant les
charges. On s’est aperqu que des pilotis ICgers
peuvent opCrer efficacement en qualite! de pilotis de
‘frottement’ ou flottants. L’influence de la limite
Blastique locale entre le pilotis et le sol est aussi
examike et l’on trouve que l’accroissement de
mouvement au sommet en r&&ant dCpcnd large-
ment de la rgpartition de l’adhkion le long du pilotis.
Une bonne correspondence a &A obtenue en ce qui
concerne les comparaisons relatives au comporte-
ment observe des pilotis supportant des charges k
leurs extr&mit&, provenant des mesures publiks a
la suite d’essais sur place, et du comportement
thkoriquc.

INTRODUCTION
Tests carried out on end-bearing piles by Vey (1957), Mansur and Kaufman (1956) and
D’Appolonia and Romualdi (1963) have shown that a considerable amount of load may be
transferred from a pile to the surrounding soil, even if the pile is relatively short and stiff.
Consequently, theoretical methods have been developed to analyse the load transfer from an
end-bearing pile and to estimate the resulting increase in load capacity and decrease in top and
tip movements (D’Appolonia and Romualdi, 1963; Thurman and D’Appolonia, 1965). How-
ever, the solutions obtained to date have been confined to specific cases and little is known of
the quantitative influence of such factors as the length to diameter ratio, the relative com-
pressibility of the pile and the ‘elastic’ parameters of the soil and the bearing stratum.
In this Paper these factors are studied and theoretical solutions are presented for the load
transfer along the pile and the top and tip displacements of the pile for a wide range of cases.
The analysis is based on elastic theory and assumes the soil to be an homogeneous isotropic
elastic material whose properties are unaffected by the presence of the pile. The analysis is
thus similar in principle to analyses previously made for floating piles (Poulos and Davis, 1968;
Mattes and Poulos, 1968) and end-bearing piles subjected to ‘negative friction’ (Poulos and
Mattes, 1968).
While the main emphasis in this Paper is on the behaviour of the pile at working loads well
below the ultimate, some solutions are given for the load transfer and displacement of a pile
when local yield occurs between the pile and the soil. However, attention is confined to con-
sidering local yield along the pile shaft only, and no attempt is made to analyse the effect of
‘tip punching’ which, while being of prime importance in determining the ultimate load
capacity of the pile, is unlikely to affect seriously the behaviour of the pile at working loads.

* University of Sydney, New South Wales.

285
286 H. G. POULOS AXD N. S. MATTES

NOTATIOiX

AP cross-sectional area of pile PS load carried by pile shaft, i.e. load

Dtj influence factor for the displacement transferred to soil
of pile element i due to shear stress P,, ultimate shaft load
on element j P, load in pile at a depth z below the
D matrix of pile displacement influence surface
factors of type D,, R* area ratio of pile, Ap/(nda/4)
Eb modulus of elasticity of bearing stra- d diameter of pile
turn dr, diameter of pile base
E,, = E,(l--4/(1-4) h,, JLj distance between centre of elements
modulus of elasticity of pile i, j and base
J%
modulus of elasticity of soil layer i, j, j integers
ES
influence factor for soil displacement k multiplying factor in range 0 < k < 1
Itj
number of pile elements
at i due to shear stress on element j n
shear stress on element j
Iij influence factor for soil displacement
?b normal stress at base of pile
at i due to shear stress on imagin-
z depth below ground surface
ary element j
vb Poisson’s ratio of bearing stratum
I displacement factor for pile top
VS Poisson’s ratio of soil
Is matrix of soil displacement influence , Poisson’s ratio of soil skeleton
VS
factors of type I,, displacement of soil at element i due
SPfl
1: matrix of soil displacement influence to shear stress at element j
factors of type I’ij displacement of soil at i due to shear
SPi
I, displacement factor for pile tip stress along entire pile
K pile stiffness factor, R,(E,/E,) displacement of pile at i due to shear
PPil
L length of pile stress at element j
P load on pile displacement of pile tip
Pb
Pb load carried by pile base 7, limiting adhesion between pile and soil

RIETHOD OF ANALYSIS

The analysis used in this Paper is similar to that described by the Authors for analysing
the behaviour of an end-bearing pile subjected to negative friction (Poulos and Mattes, 1963).
However, account is taken in the present analysis of the finite compressibility of the bearing
stratum.
A circular pile of length L, outer shaft diameter d, base diameter d,, and cross-sectional
area A p is considered. The pile is divided into n equal cylindrical elements, any element j being
acted upon by a uniform vertical shear stress $3 on the periphery. The soil layer and the
bearing stratum are assumed to be ideal elastic materials with constant elastic parameters
E, and v,, and E, and v,, respectively. To obtain a solution for the unknown stresses on the
pile and the corresponding displacements while conditions within the soil remain purely
elastic, the displacement of the soil adjacent to the pile is equated to the displacement of the
pile itself at the centre of each element.
The displacement of the soil due to shear stress along the pile may be obtained by double
integration of the Mindlin equation of vertical displacement, as described by Poulos and
Davis (1963). To allow for the reduction in the soil displacement due to the presence of the
bearing stratum, a mirror image element j’ of an element j is introduced, as suggested by
D’Appolonia and Romualdi (1963) (see Fig. 1). Element j’ is acted upon by a shear stress
 BEHAVIOUR OF AXIALLY LOADED ESD-BEARISG PILES 287

1
41, 6+

L
1h Elom. j

0 i I

_ h Intarfoco batwoon
soil ond baaring
4li-l
stratum
i 1

4In’
Pb
Stresses Acting on Pile

L
hag. Elom. j’
_I I”?

Stresses on Soil Adjacent to Pile Fig. 1

kpj acting in the opposite direction to pi where 0 <k < 1. For a floating pile where the bearing
stratum is identical with the soil layer k = 0, while for the other extreme case of a rigid bearing
stratum k = 1.
Taking downward displacements as positive, the displacement of the soil at i due to the
real element j and the imaginary element j’ may be expressed as

SPV = a
EPA I tj- KI;,) . . . . . . . .

where I,, is the influence factor for the displacement at i due to shear stress on element j and
Iij is the influence factor for the displacement at i due to shear stress on the imaginary element
j’, calculated for a depth (L+hJ below the imaginary soil surface. Roth I,, and I;, are
obtained by double integration of the Mindlin equation for vertical displacement.
Making the simplifying assumption that the influence of the pile base on the displacement
of i is negligible, the soil displacement at i is therefore

spt= ; j~lP,(l,,-kG,) . . . . . . . (2)

The displacement of the pile itself may be considered to have three components : displace-
ment due to shear stresses along the pile, displacement due to the applied load P, and dis-
placement of the tip. Referring to Fig. 1 and assuming only pure axial compression of the
pile, it may be shown (Poulos and Mattes, 1968) that the displacement ppij of the pile at i due
to shear stresses along the pile is given by

PPil = - & j~lP,Q, - . . . . . .

288 H. G. POULOS AND N. S. MATTES

where E, Young’s modulus of the pile

R, area ratio of the pile, A,/(z-d2/4)
D,j = 4Lk,lnd for i,< j or 4LhJnd for i > j
lzj distance between centre of element j and the base
hi distance between centre of element i and the base
Due to the applied load P the displacement Ppiz at i is
Ph.
pPi2 =I . . . . . . . . - (4)
APEP

If now the simplifying assumption is made that the displacement of the pile tip pb is due
only to the pressure p, acting on the tip and is given by the Boussinesq equation for thedis-
placement of a rigid circular disc on a semi-infinite mass, then

Pb = Pbdb(l -y%7/4
. . . . . . . (5)
Eb
where E, and vb are elastic moduli of the bearing stratum.
Hence the total displacement of the pile at i is

pPt = p/+1 + p/%2 + Pb

1 w Pht,
= -- $bab(1-“i%-/4
E,RA j~lpjD’j+A,Ep+ -% ““.
(6)
If no local yield occurs along the pile, soil and pile displacements may be equated. By
making use of the equilibrium relationship

P= :pj$+p,T . . . .
j=l
it may be shown that for point i

+(Iij-kl;j)}-~{~~~(l-Yg)(~)
($)} = 0 (8)

where K is the pile stiffness f&Or, R, E,/E,.

Hence, for all n elements of the pile the displacement compatibility equations may be
written in matrix form as

[ Is+- !n
(;) (2) +(I~ - kl:)][PI = -${GdPI +(1 - 4) (2)(;) } - (9)
For an initial chosen value of k, the n equations in equation (9) and the equilibrium
equation (7) may be solved to give the n unknown shear stresses p, and the base pressure 9,.
Having obtained the solution for the chosen value of k, a closer estimate of the correct value
of k for the problem in hand may be obtained by considering the compatibility between the
displacement of the soil and the bearing stratum at the pile tip. The soil displacement at the
pile tip is
spb = $ j$i pj(rbj-klkj) . . . . . . u . (10)

where Ibj is the displacement influence factor for the tip due to shear stress on element j, and
similarly for lkj.
However, Ib3 = I&, so that
d(l--K) n
spb = - ,zi pjlbj . . . . . . a . (11)
-k
 BEHAVIOUR OF AXIALLY LOADED END-BEARING PILES 289
Equating this displacement to the displacement of the bearing stratum at the pile tip (equation
(5)), the next approximation to the correct value of k is
k = l r Es& (1-43Pb
4Ebdn. . . . . . . .
(12)
,z,PJbi
Equations (9) and (7) may then be solved again using this new value of k, and the process re-
peated until the required agreement is obtained. The displacements along the pile may then
be calculated from either equation (2) or equation (6). It was generally found that a solution
of sufficient accuracy for practical purposes could be obtained after only two cycles.
The main source of error in the preceding analysis lies in the use of equation (5) to calculate
the displacement of the pile tip, i.e. assuming the bearing stratum to be a semi-infinite mass
and ignoring the effect of the overlying soil and the shear stresses along the pile. An estimate
of the possible error involved in making this assumption was obtained by comparing the solu-
tion for the limiting case of a bearing stratum continuous with the soil layer (E,/E, = 1) with
the correct solution obtained from the analysis of a floating pile by Mattes and Poulos (1963).
For a typical case the correct and approximate solutions for the load distribution in the pile,
the top displacement and the tip displacement are shown in Figs 4(a), 8 and 9 respectively.
It will be seen that the approximate solution leads to a slight overestimate of the load in the
pile, but a slight underestimate of the pile displacements. However, the error in the approxi-
mate analysis, which is a maximum for the case E,IE,= 1 considered, is not serious and the
accuracy of this analysis for larger values of E,/E, appears to be satisfactory for practical
purposes.
In obtaining the solutions described in this Paper, Poisson’s ratio v,, of the bearing stratum
has been taken equal to the value Y, of the soil. From equation (5) it will be seen that the
solutions obtained for v,,=v~ may be applied to any value of Ye, provided that an equivalent
value E, of E, is used, where

In all cases d, has been taken equal to d and the pile has been divided into ten elements, this
number having been found by Poulos and Davis (1963) to give solutions of satisfactory
accuracy.

Analysis taking into account local yield along the pile shaft
The elastic analysis may be modified to take account of local yield between the pile shaft
and the soil by an approximate method which has been outlined by D’Appolonia and Romualdi
(1963) and Poulos and Davis (1963). The limitations of this method are discussed by POU~OS
and Davis (1968). It is assumed that the limiting adhesion between the pile and the soil at
any point is 7,, and that yield will occur when the shear stress at a point reaches the value of
7%at that point. As suggested by Thurman and D’Appolonia (1965)) r& may conveniently be
estimated from the Coulomb expression. After yield has occurred at the most heavily stressed
element, displacement compatibility between the pile and the soil is considered at the remaining
elastic elements. The resulting compatibility equations are solved to give the distribution of
stress and displacement along the pile until yield of the next most heavily stressed element
occurs. The procedure is repeated until all elements along the pile have yielded. The load-
settlement relationship up to this point may thus be obtained (see e.g. Fig. 10). At this stage
the ultimate shaft resistance P,, is mobilized, the total applied load then being the sum of PSu
and the load P, carried by the pile base.
Any further increase in applied load beyond the value required to mobilize Psu is trans-
mitted directly to the base, so that the subsequent load-settlement relationship depends on
290 H. G. POULOS AND N. S. MATTES

the characteristics of the bearing stratum and of the pile itself. While an approximate
analysis of both the elastoplastic and ultimate behaviour of the tip may be made (e.g. as
suggested by Thurman and D’Appolonia, 1965), an accurate analysis of such behaviour cannot
readily be made. Consequently no attempt has been made in this Paper to esamine the
effects of ‘tip punching’ on the behaviour of a piIe.
In the solutions described later, two idealized distributions of the limiting adhesion 78. are
considered : uniform 7, with depth and a triangular distribution of 78. increasing with depth.
It is possible that in the latter case an increasing value of 7tl with depth should be associated
with an increasing Es, but because of the considerable computational difficulties which would
be involved in considering varying E, with depth, it appears justifiable to ignore this possible
inconsistency and to base the analysis upon the Mindlin equations for constant E,.
The triangular distribution of 7, is likely to be relevant to the case of piles in sand or in
relatively thick layers of soft clay, while the uniform 78. distribution will be relevant to over-
consolidated clays and to relatively thin layers of normally consolidated clay.

LOAD TRANSFER ALONG THE PILE

Typical solutions for the transfer of load from the pile to the adjacent soil are shown in
Fig. 2 for a pile resting on a rigid base. The ratio P,/P of the load in the pile to the applied
load is plotted against dimensionless depth z/L for the case L/d =25. It will be seen that load
transfer is markedly affected by the value of the pile stiffness factor K, less load being trans-
ferred to the soil as K increases. In the limiting case K = cu the pile is incompressible and
acts as a simple column, all the load being transferred to the rigid base. Theoretical curves
similar to those shown in Fig. 2 have been obtained by D’Appolonia and Romualdi (1963) for
a particular steel H-pile.
For relatively compressible piles having low values of K, load transfer is also affected by
Poisson’s ratio v, of the soil, more load being transferred to the soil as v, decreases.
In a saturated clay the value of vs decreases from the undrained value of 0.5 to the value
vl of the soil skeleton as the excess pore pressures in the soil due to loading of the pile dissipate.
Furthermore the soil in the region of the pile becomes stiffer due to the resultant consolidation,
thus reducing the value of K. From Fig. 2 it may therefore be inferred that, providing the
effects of ‘negative friction’ are absent, the decrease in both vg and K with time will lead to an
increase in the proportion of load being transferred to the soil with time.

0 02 04 06 08 10 0 25 50 75 loo 125 150

LOad1” PllOiP

Fig. 2. Load transfer along pile--rigid Fig. 3. Load transferred to base-rigid bearing
bearing stratum stratum
 BEHAVIOUR OF AXIALLY LOADED END-BEARINGPILES 291

(17

0 -2-

0 4-

z
L

0 6-

0 .8-

1.
OO 10 0 02 04 06 08 10
Load in Pile/P Load in p~loi?

Fig.4(a). Load transfer along pile,L/d=25 Fig. 4(b). Load transfer along pile,L/d=100

In Fig. 3 the influence of the L/d ratio on the load transmitted to the base is shown, again
for the case of a rigid base. As L/d increases the base load decreases, this decrease being more
pronounced for smaller values of K. For relatively compressible slender piles, virtually no
load is transmitted to the base so that such piles act predominantly as floating or ‘friction’
piles rather than end-bearing piles.
The influence of the ratio of the modulus of the bearing stratum to the soil modulus, E,IE,,
on load transfer is shown in Figs 4(a) and 4(b). In Fig. 4(a) the load distribution in the pile is
plotted for various values of E,IE, for the case Lld=25. For values of E,/E, between co (a
rigid base) and 100, the load transfer is almost identical. However, for small values of
E,,/E,, the load transferred to the soil increases markedly until, for the limiting case of a float-
ing pile (E,/E,= l), only about 5% of the applied load is transmitted to the base.
In Fig. 4(b) the distribution of load in the pile with depth is shown for a slender pile
(L/d= 100). In this case the load transfer is much less dependent on E,/E, and, in fact, there
is very little difference between the load distributions for the extreme cases of a rigid base
(-%I-%= co ) an d an h omogeneous soil mass (E,/E, = 1). Hence, as previously shown in Fig. 3,
the behaviour of a slender pile which is nominally end-bearing is almost identical with that of
the same pile acting as a floating pile. This similarity in behaviour of slender piles has also
been noted by Thurman and D’Appolonia (1965).
The influence of local yield between the pile and soil on the load transfer along the pile is
shown in Fig. 5 for a pile resting on a rigid base. Curves of P,/P against z/L are plotted for
both a uniform and a triangular distribution of adhesion ~~ with depth. The amount of local
yield is expressed in each case in terms of the ratio of the load carried by the shaft P, to the
ultimate shaft load P,, where
L
P,, = rd T,dz . . . . . . . . . (13)
s0
As would be expected P,/P at any point in the pile increases as Ps/Psu increases, until the
ultimate shaft load is reached.l Any further increase in applied load beyond that required
to mobilize full adhesion along the shaft is transmitted directly to the bearing stratum.

1 For a pile resting on a rigid base, yield along the whole length of the pile can theoretically never occur
since there will always be an elastic region at the pile base. However, since a finite number of elements is
used in the analysis, full slip is considered to occur when yield has progressed to the centre of the lowermost
element.
292 H. G. POULOS AND N. S. MATTES

Fig. 5 (above left). Load transfer-

influence of local yield

Fig. 6 (above). Top displacement-rigid

bearing stratum

Fig. 7 (left). Top displacement-rigid

10 20 30 40 59 bearing stratum
c cc2 0 01 0
d d
r

There is a considerable difference between the load transfer for the two cases of adhesion
distribution considered. Owing to the earlier occurrence of local yield with the triangular
distribution, the load transfer is much less than for the case of uniform adhesion. It is note-
worthy that in the latter case the load transfer for Ps/Psu=O-5 is only slightly different from
that under purely elastic conditions. For slender piles having large values of L/d local yield
has an even greater effect than that shown in Fig. 5 for the case L/d=25. Conversely, for
smaller values of L/d where less load transfer occurs the influence of local yield is less than
shown in Fig. 5.

DISPLACE1lENTS OF THE PILE

Influence factors for the displacement of the top of a pile resting on a rigid stratum are
given in Fig. 6. The influence factor I is the ratio of the actual displacement of the pile top
to the displacement of the pile top if the pile acted as a simple column. Thus the displace-
ment of the pile top is given by
PL
p= I-, . . . . . . . . (14)

For relatively incompressible piles having high values of K the influence factor I is close to 1
since little load transfer occurs. However, for lower values of K more load is transferred to
 BEHAVIOUR OF AXIBLLY LOADED END-BEARING PILES 293
the surrounding soil and consequently the value of I is much less than 1. The decrease in I
with increasing L/d is also clearly shown in Fig. 6.
Influence factors for values of vS of both 0 and 05 are shown in Fig. 6. The values of 1 for
v, = 0 are generally slightly smaller than those for V, = 0.5 although the difference becomes less
as L/d decreases and is negligible for L/d = 5.
For a pile in an ideal soil an examination of Fig. 6 shows that, even for the extreme case
of v; = 0, almost all the displacement of the pile top occurs immediately on application of the
load. Only for slender piles having low values of K (for which the load transfer to the soil is
considerable) does the time-dependent movement exceed 10% of the total final movement.
It may therefore be concluded that, at least while elastic conditions prevail in the soil, the
displacement of an end-bearing pile resting on a rigid base is virtually independent of time.
Another interesting feature of pile behaviour becomes apparent if the curves in Fig. 6 are
replotted in terms of the diameter d of the pile : the displacement is now given by

Pd
p=+-& . . . . . . . * (15)

The influence factors I’ are plotted in Fig. 7. Whereas for high values of K the displacement
of a pile of given diameter increases with increasing length, for K < 200 the displacement does
not increase once the length exceeds about 30 diameters. In fact the displacement of pile
having K = 100 is less for a length of 1OOd than for a length 2% due to the increased amount
of load transfer for the longer pile.
The influence of the ratio E,IE, on the displacement of the pile top is shown in Fig. 8,
where the influence factor I is plotted against K for L/d=25 and ~,=0+5. For relatively
incompressible piles E,/E, has a marked influence on the displacement for values of E,/E, less
than about 500. In the limiting case the value of I for an incompressible floating pile (E,/E, = 1,
K= co) is more than 20 times that of the same pile bearing on a rigid stratum. On the other
hand, for relatively compressible piles the influence of E,/E, is small, the settlement of a
floating pile with K= 100 being only about 20% greater than that of a pile bearing on a rigid
stratum.

p=I f!_ 100 ICCW l-

w. K

Fig. 9. Pile tip displacements

lcco loo00
5

Fig. 8. Top displacements-com-

pressible bearing stratum
294 H. G. POULOS AND N. S. MATTES

Fig. IO(a) and (b). Load-settlement

curve-local yield along shaft

0 05 10 15 20 25 30

For values of L/d other than 25, Fig. 8 may be used as a guide for interpolating for inter-
mediate values of E,/E, between the values of I for a rigid base in Fig. 6 and those for a
floating pile given by Mattes and Poulos (1968).
For the case considered in Fig. 8 the corresponding displacements of the tip of the pile are
shown in Fig. 9, where the displacement factor I,, for the tip is plotted against K for various
values of E,/E,. As would be expected the tip displacement increases markedly as EJE,
decreases and as K increases. For low values of E,/Es and high values of K a comparison
between Figs 8 and 9 shows that the settlements of the top and tip of the pile are virtually
identical, i.e. the pile acts effectively as an incompressible floating pile.
The influence of local yield on the load-settlement behaviour of a pile resting on a rigid
base is shown in Fig. 10(a) for two relatively low values of K (10 and 100) and in Fig. 10(b) for
a relatively high value of K (1000). Both triangular and uniform distributions of T, with
depth are considered. The load is expressed in dimensionless form as PIPS,, and the top
settlement in terms of the influence factor I as defined in equation (14). In each case the load
at which yield occurs along the whole length of the pile, and hence Psu is mobilized, is marked.
The behaviour of the pile beyond this point is of course dependent on the characteristics of the
pile and the bearing stratum.
From Fig. IO the folIowing observations are made :
(a) For the triangular 78. distribution the load-settlement curve departs from the purely
elastic curve at lower loads than for the uniform 7, distribution.
(b) The non-linearity of the load-settlement curve becomes more pronounced as Ii
decreases.
(c) The load at which the ultimate shaft load Psu is fully mobilized is greater when the
distribution of 7, is triangular. This occurs because the load transmitted to the pile
tip is greater in this case (see Fig. 5).
(d) The lower the value of K, the lower the load at which Psu is fully mobilized.
For piles having a value of K greater than 100 (i.e. for most piles in practice) Fig. 10 shows
that the influence of local yield on the load-settlement relationship is not serious. The larger
the value of K, the higher is the value of PIPsu at which deviations from the elastic solution
 BEHAVIOUR OF AXIALLY LOADED ESD-BEARING PILES 295

occur. This is to be expected as less load transfer to the soil occurs for larger K values.
For example, for the rigid bearing stratum considered in Fig. 10, the load-settlement relation-
ship for constant 7% deviates from the linear elastic solution at an applied load P of about
0.5 Ps, for K= 100 but at P/Psu of almost 15 for K= 1000, i.e. in the latter case the load-
settlement relationship is substantially linear almost to the point of full shaft yield. As the
value of E,IE, decreases and more load transfer to the soil occurs, the influence of local yield
on the settlements will increase. For the limiting case of a floating pile (E,/E,= 1) the influ-
ence of local yield is described by Poulos and Davis (1968) and Mattes and Poulos (1968).
The deviation of the load-settlement curve from the linear elastic relationship is greater
when the distribution of 78. is triangular. For example, for the case K= 100 the actual
settlement when the full shaft adhesion is mobilized is about twice the elastic value when r, is
uniform and about 2.5 times the elastic value when 78 is triangular.
For very compressible piles (i.e. K values of 10 or less) marked deviations from the elastic
solutions occur at low loads, especially for a triangular ‘a distribution. Thus an accurate
estimate of the displacement of such piles, even at relatively low working loads, requires that
local yield be taken into account. This conclusion has also been reached in relation to very
compressible floating piles by Mattes and Poulos (1968).

APPLICATION OF THEORY TO FIELD PROBLEMS

The theoretical solutions presented in Figs 2-10 enable the displacement of the top and the
tip of a pile, and the distribution of load in the pile, to be calculated. In carrying out such
calculations it is necessary to determine appropriate values of the ratio E,/E, and the pile
stiffness factor K. The value of E,IE, is probably given to sufficient accuracy by the ratio of
the driving resistance, cone resistance or standard penetration number of the bearing stratum
to the corresponding average value of the soil layer.
In order to provide a guide to the order of K values in practical problems, typical values of
K for various types of soil are suggested in Table 1 for steel, concrete and timber piles. It
must be emphasized that these values are only approximate and that several factors may
influence the choice of the value of K in a particular problem, for example the method of
installation of the pile. The most reliable means of determining an accurate value of K
appears to be to carry out a full-scale pile loading test and to fit the settlement at the working
load to the corresponding theoretical solution. Such complicating factors as the method of
pile installation are then largely taken into account.
It will be seen from Table 1 that low values of K for solid piles only occur with concrete or
timber piles in stiff clays and dense sands. However, low values of K may also occur for
hollow pipe piles, which typically have an area ratio of O-1 to 0.2, and for compacted sand
piles, for which values of K as low as 10 may be relevant. As previously discussed in relation
to Fig. 10, in cases where the value of K may be less than 100 the occurrence of local yield may
significantly influence the load distribution and the pile settlement. In such cases, an esti-
mate of the additional settlement may be made with reference to Fig. 10 while the modification
in the load distribution is indicated in Fig. 5. However, for the majority of practical cases K
is likely to be considerably greater than 100, so that the influence of local yield is unlikely to
cause serious deviations from elastic behaviour at normal working loads.
As an example of the use of the theoretical solutions for a practical problem, the calculation
of the top displacement of pile 1 of the tests carried out by D’Appolonia and Romualdi (1963)
is outlined. Comparisons between theoretical and observed pile behaviour for this test and
several other tests are discussed in detail in the next section. The details of the pile are given
in Table 2. Assuming the soil profile to be characterized as a medium-dense sand, a value
of K = 3000 for a solid steel pile appears reasonable from Table 1. The area of the pile sec-
tion is approximately 28 sq. in. while the total area enclosed by the outer perimeter of the
 Table 1. Average values of K for solid piles*

Soil type I Pile material

Steel Concrete Timber

Soft clay 60 000 6 000 3 000

Medium clay 20 000 2 000 1 000
Stiff clay 3 000 300 150
Loose sand 15 000 1 500 750
Dense sand 1 500 500 75
--..
* For piles which are not solid, Ii values should
be multiplied by the area ratio I?,.

Table 2. Summary of data on test piles

- - T
:
Test Pile type Pile Soil type Bearing stratum Assumed parameters for m
length, comparisons *
ft -
_.__ ---.. L/d
-/-
_- -_
Mansur and Kaufman
v)
(1g56) Pile 1 14 in. H-beam Alternating strata of silts, All except pile 5 are founded 70 1080 l-10 .
Pile 2 21 in. pipe sandy silts and silty sands into dense fine sand. Pile 5 37 600 l-10 z
Pile 3 14 in. H-beam with interspersed clay is a floating pile 1080 *
l-10
Pile 4 17 in. pipe strata :: 800 l-10 ::
Pile 5 17 in. pipe 32 800 m
19 in. pipe ll
Pile 6 41 700 l-:0
-- _- _- -_
Mohan, Jain and
Kumar (1963) 14 in. dia. 37 Fill material overlying Dense fine sand 33 500 l-10
cast in situ medium sand overIying
R.C. silt
.- __
D’Appolonia and
Romualdi (1963)
,
Pile 1 14 BP 89 44 Layers of fill, sandy silt, sand Shale 33 430 a,
H-beam and gravel, fine to medium
Pile 2 14 BP 117 45 sand, sand and gravel and 34 560 co
H-beam sandy silt
I -
 BEHAVIOUR OF AXIALLY LOADED END-BEARING PILES 297
Table 3. Comparison between calculated and observed top settlements

Test Load, Observed Calculated / Calculated/observed

tons settlement, settlement, settlement

I- _’
!
in.
i in.
-I-
Mansur and Kaufman (1957)
Pile 1 125 / 0.13 0.166 1.28
Pile 2 125 0.13 / 0.157 1.21
Pile 3 75 1.01
Pile 4 125 j ;::; i ;::g 1.13
Pile 5 75 / 0.10 I 0.127 1.27
Pile 6 125 / 0.13 / 0.171 ~ 1.31

Mohan, Jain and Kumar

(1963) Sot readily available
I
D’f\ppolonia and Romualdi
(1963)
Pile 1 55 0.07 0.061 0.87
Pile 2 100 0.11 0.088 0.80

Average 1.11

pile section is about 196 sq. in. Hence, the area ratio R, is 0.143. The value of K for the
H pile is therefore 0.143 x 3000=430. The equivalent diameter of the H pile as a circular
pile is obtained by finding the diameter of a circular pile whose cross-sectional area is
196 sq. in., i.e. d=1*33 ft. Hence L/d=44/1*33=33.
Considering the shale-bearing stratum as effectively rigid (i.e. E,/E,= co) the influence
factor for the top displacement may be obtained from Fig. 6. For L/d=33 and K =430 and
for a value of Ye of about 0.3, the value of I is found to be O-60. For a load of 75 tons applied
to the pile the displacement is thus calculated to be 0.061 in. This compares with the value
of 0.07 in. reported by D’Appolonia and Romualdi (1963). Thus the ratio of the calculated
to observed top settlement is 0.87, as shown in Table 3.
The theoretical distribution of load shown in Fig. 11(g) may be obtained from the curves
shown in Fig. 2 by interpolating between the curves for K = 100 and 500. Since the actual
value of L/d = 33 is larger than the value of 25 for which Fig. 2 is drawn, some allowance
should also be made for the consequent increase in load transfer to the soil. Fig. 3 may be
used as a guide for making this allowance.

COMPARISONS BETWEEN THEORETICAL AND OBSERVED BEHAVIOUR

Comparisons have been made between the theoretical behaviour of end-bearing piles and
the observed behaviour of piles in full-scale tests reported by Mansur and Kaufman (1956),
D’Appolonia and Romualdi (1963) and Mohan, Jain and Kumar (1963). A summary of the
information pertaining to these tests is given in Table 2. Although no accurate data are given
for the elastic parameters of the pile, soil and bearing stratum, the information provided is
sufficient to enable estimates of values of K and E,/E, to be made for each case.
From the descriptions of the soil profiles in these tests the following values of K for a solid
pile have been estimated from Table 1 :

Mansur and Kaufman’s tests: K = 6000

D’Appolonia and Romualdi’s tests: K = 3000
Mohan, Jain and Kumar’s tests: K = 500

The actual value of K for any pile is the above value of K multiplied by the area ratio R, of
the pile. In the cases where the pile is not circular, e.g. for H pile sections, an estimate has
298 H. G. POULOS AND N. S. MATTES

(b) Cd)

.s P-
P P
02 04 06 o-8 10 oo 02 0.4 o.6 0.3 10

D’A$wlonia and

(h)

02 04 06 08 10 ED
- Theoretical Solution
q-1
______ Theoretical Solution 2 =I0

0 Moosumd Voluos

Fig. 11. Comparison between theoretical and measured load

distributions

been made of the equivalent diameter and area ratio of the pile as described in the previous
section. The assumed values of L/d, K and E,/E, are given in Table 2. For all tests except
those reported by D’Appolonia and Romualdi and the test on pile 5 by Mansur and Kaufman,
a range of values of E,/Es of 1 to 10 has been considered since it is not possible to assign a
single accurate value to E,/E, for these cases. For convenience Y, has been taken as 0.5 in all
cases.
Comparisons between the measured load transfer from the above pile tests and the theor-
etical load transfer are shown in Figs 11 (a)-(i). In these comparisons the measured distribu-
tions of load have been taken for applied loads well below the ultimate and typically the ratio
of applied load to ultimate load is about 1-g in all cases considered. The theoretical curves
shown are those for purely elastic conditions.
It will be seen from Fig. 11 that there is generally good agreement between the observed
and theoretical load distributions in the piles. For Mansur and Kaufman’s tests and the test
by Mohan, Jain and Kumar, the theoretical curve for EJE,= 1 is generally in better agree-
ment with the measured values than is the curve for E,/E,= 10. Since in these cases the piles
are founded through sand into dense sand, E,IE, may well be closer to 1 than to 10.
Further comparisons between theoretical and observed behaviour are shown in Figs 12(a)
and (b) where, for the tests carried out by D’Appolonia and Romualdi, the proportion of load
transmitted to the base is plotted against the ratio Ps/Psu of shaft load to ultimate shaft load.
The theoretical curves are derived by the method previously described and for each pile curves
are shown for both a uniform and a triangular distribution of TV. It will be seen that for both
 BEHAVIOUR OF AXIALLY LOADED END-BEARING PILES 299

P- P-
6” P,”
Fig. 12. Comparison between theoretical
(0) (b) and measured base load

piles the agreement between theory and observation is generally close. As the soils in which
the piles are situated are granular, it would be expected that the more appropriate theoretical
curve would be that for a triangular r, distribution. While the observed values are generally
bounded by both theoretical curves, they do in fact tend to be slightly closer to the curve for
triangular 7, distribution than to the curve for uniform 7,.
The comparisons between the calculated and measured top settlements are summarized in
Table 3. The measured settlements used in the comparisons are those at about one third of
the ultimate load, the load-settlement curve being substantially linear up to this point.
The calculated values are obtained from a purely elastic analysis ignoring the effects of local
yield. It will be seen that the calculated settlements are greater than the measured values
for the tests of Mansur and Kaufman, but less than the measured values for the tests of
D’Appolonia and Romualdi. The overall average ratio of calculated to observed settlement is
1.11. In view of the approximations involved in choosing appropriate values of K, the
measure of agreement between theory and measurement is most encouraging, especially since
in all cases the soil profile is layered and granular soils are present.
These comparisons suggest that the theoretical approach employing elastic theory pro-
vides a basis for predicting load transfer and displacement for piles in real soils. However, full
confirmation of the theory must await the results of carefully controlled model and field tests
in which more accurate values can be assigned to the parameters E,IE, and K. Such a series
of tests on model piles is at present being undertaken by the Authors.

CONCLUSIONS
Numerical solutions for the load transfer, the top displacement and the tip displacement
of an end-bearing pile have been obtained. It has been found that the behaviour of an end-
bearing pile is influenced primarily by the length to diameter ratio L/d of the pile, the ratio
E,IE, of the elastic modulus of the bearing stratum to that of the soil, and the stiffness of the
pile relative to the soil, as expressed by the pile stiffness factor K.
The more slender a pile, the greater is the load transfer to the soil and the greater the
decrease in top movement as compared with the movement of the pile acting as a simple
column.
As the ratio E,IE, increases the amount of load transfer decreases. The top and tip dis-
placements also decrease and the tip displacement in particular decreases rapidly. However,
the more compressible a pile is in relation to the surrounding soil, the less influence the bearing
stratum has on the behaviour of the pile.
The occurrence of local yield between the soil and the pile shaft also affects the behaviour
of the pile and leads to a decrease in the relative amount of load transferred to the soil and an
increase in the displacement of the pile.
The departure from the elastic analysis depends primarily on the distribution of maximum
adhesion with depth and on the compressibility of the pile. Significant increases in top
300 H. G. POULOS AND N. S. NATTES

displacement over that predicted by the elastic analysis may occur if the pile is very compres-
sible, but for most piles local yield should not seriously influence the behaviour at working
loads.
Comparison between published measurements of pile behaviour and those predicted from
the theoretical approach show an encouraging measure of agreement.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The work described in this Paper forms part of a general programme of research into the
settlement of all types of foundations, being carried out at the University of Sydney under the
general direction of Professor E. H. Davis, Professor of Civil Engineering (Soil Mechanics).
The work is supported by a grant from the Australian Research Grants Committee and the
award of a Commonwealth Research Scholarship to Mr Mattes. The computational work
was carried out on the KDF9 computer within the Basser Computing Department of the
School of Physics, University of Sydney. The comments of Mr P. T. Brown and Dr I. K. Lee,
Senior Lecturers in Civil Engineering at the University of Sydney, are gratefully acknowledged.

REFERENCES
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Fdns Div. Am. Sm. cio. Engrs 89, No. SM2, l-25.
M~NSUR, C. I. & KAUFDIAN,R. I. (1956). Pile tests, low-sill structure Old River La. J. Soil Mech. Fdm
Div. Am. Sot. civ. Engrs 82, No. SM4, Paper 1079.
MATTES, N. S. & POULOS, H. G. (1968). Analysis of the settlement of a single compressible pile. Civil
Engng Res. Rep. No. R94, University of Sydney. To be published in J. Soil Mech. Fdns Div. Am. Sot.
cizl. Engrs.
MOHAN, D., JAIN, G. S. & KUMAR, V. (1963). Load bearing capacity of piles. Gdotechnigue 13, No. 1,76-86.
POULOS, H. G. & DAVIS, E. H. (1968). The settlement behaviour of single axially-loaded incompressible
piles and piers. Gdotechnique 18, No. 3, 351371.
Pouros, H. G. & MATTES, N. S. (1968). The analysis of downdrag in end-bearing piles due to negative
friction. Civil Engng Res. Rep. No. RSl, University of Sydney.
THURMAN, A. G. & D’APPOLONIA, E. (1965). Computed movement of friction and end-bearing piles
embedded in uniform and stratified soils. Proc. 6th Int. Conf. Soil Mech. 2, 323-327.
VEY, E. (1957). Frictional resistance of steel H-piling in clay. J. Soil Mech. Fdns Div. Am. Sot. civ.
Engrs 83, No. SMI, Paper 1160.