CHAPTER 6

THE LATERALLY LOAD

ED PILES
 6.1 pile lateral load response
 6.2 the p-y method for long pile
 6.3 the resistance of short piles
 6.4 load tests
6.1 PILE LATERAL LOAD RESPO
NSE
 For applied loads that are smaller than the ul
timate load, the pile head will deflect either
as a result of pile deformation(in the case of
long piles) or rigid body motion(in the case of
short piles).
 It is usually more important for us to be able
to estimate lateral displacements than to cal
culate ultimate loads, as serviceability limit
states are more commonly critical. This can
be done in one of two way:
 1. by treating the soil mass around the pile a
s a continuum(fig.13-34a)
 2. by substituting springs located at discrete
points along the pile for the soil (fig.13-34b)
 3. when nonlinear springs are used ,the seco
nd approach is generally known as the p-y m
ethod (fig.13-34c)
 The following Figure 13-35 shows, qualitatively,
the deflected shape, bending moments, and she
ar forces for moderately long piles with the foll
owing combinations of boundary conditions
some important points
 For all boundary conditions and a sufficiently
large load, the pile is deformed along practic
ally its entire length
 The bending moment changes sign(which hap
pened when the distorted pile shape has an i
nflection point)for the fixed head-fixed base
boundary conditions.
 All the curves shown do exhibit some pile def
ormation all the way down to the base or to
points near the pile base. We can contrast th
at with what we observe in fig.13-36 for long
pile.
figure 13-36
6.2 THE P-Y METHOD FOR LONG
PILE
P-Y METHOD
 p-y Method: Advantages
 • Simple
 • Used routinely
SOURCES OF THE SOIL LATERAL
RESISTANCE P
P-Y CURVES
6.3 LIMIT RESISTANCE OF SHOR
T PILES
 For short piles ， the limit lateral load appli
ed at the pile head can be calculated relativ
ely simply. Broms (1964a,1964b) defined shor
t piles as those satisfying the following criter
ion:
L
 for sandy soils
T
2  L
 (13.120)

R for clayey soils

 Where Lis the pile length,
1/5  (13.121)
EP I P 
T  
 k g 
 For sands,and
1/4
EP I P 
R 
k
 0   (13.122)
 For clays,where kg=dk0/dz is the depth gradien
t of the initial subgrade reaction modulus in
k0
sands(given in fig.13-17 as a function of the in
situ, initial relative density DR of the soil and t
he position of the water table; note that varia
tions of the initial modulus of subgrade reactio
n of sands with stress are much more pronounc
ed for higher than for lower relative densities)
 K0 in clays is assumed to be uniform with dept
h.
 An estimate of k0 can be made by relying on
information contained in API(1993), which su
ggests we may assume the lateral deflection
y50 corresponding to a soil resistance equal t
o 50% of the limit resistance to be roughly eq
ual to
y 50  2.5 50 B
 Where  50 is the axial strain observed in an un
drained triaxial compression test on a sample
of the clay at a shear stress equal to one half
the final shear strength su of the sample.the
value of p corresponding to y50 is 0.5pl.
 So the modulus of subgrade reaction k0 can b
e found by dividing 0.5pl by y50:
pL  (13.123)
k0 
5 50 B
 Where values of  5 0 vary from 0.005 for clays
with su≥100KPa to 0.015 for clays with small
shear strength.
 Let us consider b
oth the case of fr
ee-headed(13-38
a)and fixed-head
ed short piles in s
and13-38b)w
 We wish to deter
mine the values o
f Qhl that will ca
use unlimited mo
vement
 According to brom’s method, the limit lateral load of
a short pile in sand is given by
 1  N L3 for the free-headed pile
2 e L

QhL = B B
3
  NBL2 for the free-headed pile
2
 Where γis the material (wet) unit weight of soil abov
e the water table, and N is the flow number, given b
y
 (4.25)
1  sin 
N 
1  sin 
EXAMPLE
 Taking moment aroun
d point O and requirin
g that they add up to
zero and also that the
re is lateral equilibriu
m,we arrive at the fol
lowing expression for
Qhl:
EXAMPLE
6.4 LOAD TESTS
 Mechanism of Load Transfer
 • Consider two piles of equal diameter and e
qual length installed in the same soil profile
to the same depth
 • One is a displacement pile and the other i
s a non-displacement pile