Cw is Peck's correction for the effect of a water table

on the understanding that reduced effective stresses

increase compressibility. However, as Skempton (1986)
has shown, N is directly related to the effective stress
existing in the ground so the effect of the water table
will be reflected in the measured N value and further
correction is unnecessary. However, if the water table
may rise after the site investigation the correction Cw
could be applied:
0.5Dw
Cw =0.5D +B- (8.30)
f+
where:
Dw is the depth of the raised water table below ground
level,
Dr is the depth of the foundation.
Many other factors have been found to affect the
SPT N value such as the diameter of the borehole, the
use of liners in the split spoon, grain size, crushability
of particles, overconsolidation, ageing of the deposit,
fluctuating load and time after construction. Judgement
must be exercised in the choice of an allowable
bearing pressure.
Correction factor CN
o,~ 0
z==
~
~
100
::l
02 04 06 08 10 12 14 16 18 20 -+--- /' !
/ i
''"" .Q..) 0- 200
== Q)
"2
::l -e 300 Q)
>
:
/ I
/ I
i
0
Q) .::: 400
u
tt: UJ 500
/ I
/ I
I I
Figure 8.20 Correction factor CNWorked Example 8.1 Vertical loading
A rectangular foundation 2.5 m wide and 3.5 m long is to be placed at a depth of
1.7 m below ground level in a
thick deposit of firm saturated clay. The water table is at 1.2 m below ground
level. Determine the gross and net
ultimate bearing capacities for
a) undrained and
b) drained conditions.
Investigate the contribution made by including depth factors.
The soil parameters are Cu = 65 kN/m2 I/>u = ()Q
c' = 3 kN/m2 rf>' = 27Q
a) Undrained condition
Without depth factors
Ysat = 21.5 kN/m3
for 1/>= ()Q Ne = 5.14 Nq = 1
Po = 21.5 x 1.7 = 36.6 kN/m2
From Equation 8.9, gross quit = Cu Ne Se + Po
= 65 x 5.14 x 1.14 + 36.6 = 417.5 kN/m2
net quit = 417.5 - 36.6 = 380.9 kN/m2
From Table 8.6, Se = I + 0.2 x 2.5/3.5 = 1.14
Assuming a factor of safety of 3 the net safe bearing capacity is t x 381 = 127
kN/m2
With depth factors
~, = ~ .. ~ = 0.68 « 1) From Table 8.7, de = 1 + 0.4 x 0.68 = 1.27
gross quit = 380.9 x 1.27 + 37 = 520.3 kN/m2
b) Drained condition
Without depth factors
net quit = 520.3 - 36.6 = 483.7 kN/m2
Assume the soil to be incompressible :. no reduction of strength parameters is
considered.
Using Equations 8.8 and 8.13:
From Table 8.5, for rf>' = 27QNe = 23.9 Nq = 13.2 Ny = 9.3
From Table 8.6,
Sc = 1 + ~:; x ~;:~ = 1.40 Sq = I + ~:;tan27°= 1.36 Sy = 1-0.4x ~:; = 0.71
Po' = 36.6 - 0.5 x 9.8 = 31.7 kN/m2
i = 21.5 - 9.8 = 11.7 kN/m3
gross quit = 3 x 23.9 x 1.40 + 31.7 x 12.2 x 1.36 + 0.5 x 11.7 x 2.5 x 9.3 x 0.71 +
36.6
= 100.4 + 526.0 +96.6 + 36.6 = 759.6 kN/m2
net quit = 759.6 - 36.6 = 723 kN/m2
If the foundation supports a net applied pressure of 127 kN/m2 the factor of safety
in the long-term would be
723
F = 127 = 5.7
With depth factors
D
B' = 0.68 « 1) From Table 8.7,
dq = 1 + 2 tan 27Q (1 - sin 27Q)2 x 0.68 = 1.21
dy = 1.00
1-1.21
de = 1. 21 - 23.9 tan 270 = 1. 23
gross quit = 100.4 x 1.23 + 526 x 1.21 + 96.6 x 1.00 + 36.6 = 893.2 kN/m2
net quit = 893.2 - 36.6 = 856.6 kN/m2Driven piles in clay
End bearing resistance qb
Because of the limiting diameter of conventional driven
piles of about 450-600 mm, and the small crosssectional
area, the base load obtainable tends to be a
small amount in relation to the shaft load. Nevertheless,
it could be calculated from:
(10.8)
where Nc can be taken as 9 and cub is the undisturbed
undrained shear strength at the base of the pile.
Adhesion ca (Figures 10.3 - 10.6)
Driving a pile into clay requires considerable displacement
and causes major changes in the clay. The effects
of installation are different for soft clays and stiff clays.
Driving a pile into soft clay increases the total
stresses, which are transferred to a large rise in pore
water pressure in the annulus of soil around the pile.
This increase in pore pressure is larger for piles with a
greater volumetric displacement such as solid piles
compared to H-section piles and for soils with a tendency
for their mineral grain structures to collapse
such as sensitive clays.
Pile Foundations 223
The time taken for this pore pressure to dissipate
will depend on the initial excess pore pressure, the
permeability of the soil, the permeability of the pile
material and the number of piles and the spacing
between them.
As the consolidation process occurs the effective
stresses around the pile increase and the pile load
capacity increases. Thus, the initial load carrying capacity
of a pile may be quite small but will increase
with time. However, from measurements which have
been carried out, several weeks or months may elapse
before the full load capacity is achieved.
Driving piles into stiff, overconsolidated clays can
produce three significant effects:
• expansion of the soil surrounding the pile with
associated radial cracking and opening of macrofabric
features such as fissures. Any positive pore
pressures set up during driving will rapidly dissipate
into this open structure and expansion of the
soil is more likely to produce negative pore pressures
at least in the upper levels. Relatively short
piles, therefore, may provide an initially high load
carrying capacity but this could diminish with time.
Longer piles are more likely to produce positive
pore pressures in their lower regions.
..< ... ~ ... ~ ... ~ ..< ... ~ . soft clay
no overburden
L
d 1 stiff clay d 1 stiff clay d 1 stiff clay
1.00 -- \ I
~ sands or sandy gravels I L ~ IOd I ~ ... 0.75 0 u ,.;:;
c 0.50 0
"V;
<1l .c
"0 -< 0.25
'-.. i'( overburden
.....
...............
~ ~ +-
o 0 50 100 150 200
Undrained shear strength of clay (kN/nh
Figure 10.3 Adhesion factors for piles driven into stiff clay - short penetration L
:; 10d
(From Tomlinson, 1987)
250ground heave comprising upward and outward displacement
of the soil around a pile being driven.
This effect can occur up to ten pile diameters away
from a pile (Cole, 1972), so driving piles in groups
can magnify the effect and cause damage to existing
buried structures and previously driven piles, due to
separation or fracture. Heave is particularly detrimental
when the piles are intended to provide most
of their load in end bearing.
• 'whippiness' or lateral vibrations set up in the pile
once it has been partly driven into the clay. This
produces a gap like a 'post-hole' effect between the
clay and the pile, so no adhesion can exist over this
length. Tomlinson (1970, 1971) also observed that
any soil above the stiff clay was dragged down into
this gap so soft clay overburden would produce a
lower apparent adhesion but sand would produce a
higher adhesion. The penetration of the pile into the
stiff clay and the type of overburden, is, therefore,
very important. This is illustrated in Figure 10.3
which gives values of adhesion factor a for short
penetration piles taken from Tomlinson (1987). For
longer piles, (L > 20 or 40 diameters) the effect of
the gap diminishes, as illustrated on Figure 10.4. It
should be noted that the scatter of data points used
to obtain these curves was considerable.
The average adhesion on the shaft of a pile is then
calculated from Equation 10.7 using the adhesion
factors from Figures 10.3 and 10.4.
For very long piles driven into stiff clays it has also
been found that the shaft capacity depends on the
length of the pile but for probably different reasons.
Coefficient ?c
01 02 0.1- 04 05
10
V---- /
V
20
~
.(.l.)
!d c: 30
g
/
I I
e
OJ 40
~
0..
~ p:
50
60
70
Figure 10.5 Coefficient A (From Vijayvergiya and
Focht, 1972)
Vijayvergiya and Focht (1972) suggested a quasieffective
stress approach for the determination of average
adhesion along long steel-pipe piles in the form:
Ca = A(am '+2cm) (10.9)
(10.10where Cd is the average adhesion along the pile, (j , is m
the mean effective vertical stress between ground level
and the base of the pile, cm is the mean undrained shear
strength along the pile, and A. is an empirical factor,
plotted in Figure 10.5.
Randolph and Wroth (1982) have shown that the
average adhesion for long piles depends on the K
value which tends to decrease with depth for a~
overconsolidated clay, see Chapter 4. They expressed
this effect in terms of the c/av' ratio which is related to
overconsolidation ratio OCR.
Semple and Rigden (1986) proposed the relationships
on Figure 10.6 giving the shaft load as
(10.11)
where Cu is the average undrained shear strength over
the length of the pile and 'Bv is the average vertical
effective stress.
1.6
~c.
... 1.0)
0
Uoj 0.8
'-
:::
0
';;;j
.Qc) 0.5)
-0 ro 0.4 ~ ro (Nute: lu[?arithmic scales) Q) a..
0.2
0.2 0.8 1.6 3.2
Soil strength ratio Cu I Ov
... o
~ 1.0)
.c 0.8
bJ) ......... -------to.7l
:::
Q)
-l (Nute: lo[?arithmic scales)
0.4 .~ __ --!-:: _ ---:,L-__ --L.,....-_----.J
20 320
Length/diameter ratio Lid
Figure 10.6 Peak adhesion factor a p and length
factor F (From Semple et al. 1986)
Pile Foundations 225
Note that ap is the peak adhesion factor for a rigid pile.
The value F is a length factor to account for flexibility
and compressibility of the pile since:
• Lateral flexibility produces the whippiness or flutter
effect as the pile is driven.
• The axial compressibility of the pile will permit
greater displacements in the upper part of the pile
than in the lower part taking the skin friction beyond
any peak value and towards a lower residual value.
Effective stress approach for adhesion
On the basis that pile capacity increases with time
after driving, due to dissipation of pore pressures
during consolidation and, hence, increases in effective
stress, it is generally accepted that adhesion is governed
by the effective stress in the soil. Since the shear
stress mobilised on the shaft surface is frictional it is
referred to as skin friction, and is given by a general
expression:
(10.12)
Po' is the vertical effective stress at any depth z and Ks
is a coefficient of horizontal earth pressure so K p ,
represents the normal stress (horizontal stress) acting
on the surface of the pile. Ks has a similar function to the
value of Ko' the coefficient of earth pressure at rest.
For normally consolidated clay it is given by K = K =
1 - sinlj> , and can be expected to remain fairly c~nst~nt
with depth. Burland (1973) suggested the simple form:
(10.13)
where Po' is the average effective vertical stress down
the length of the pile and
{3 = Kstanlj>'
= (1 - sinl/>') tanl/>' (10.14)
For a typical range of I/>' values (15° to 30°) (3 varies
between 0.2 and 0.29 and for bored piles in soft
normally consolidated clay a value of about 0.3 is
suggested. Meyerhof (1976) found that {3varied from
about 0.2 - 0.4 for short piles driven into soft clays
(less than about 15 m long) to about 0.1 - 0.25 for very
long piles which may be due to some overconsolidation
in the upper horizons and pile compressibility