Journal of The Institution Vol.3 6 , No.

2 1996

of Engineers, Singapore

ANALYSIS OF PILES SUBJECT TO LATERAL SOIL MOVEMENTS

Y. K. Chowr MIES and

K. Y. Yonf MrEs

ABSTRACT Embankment construction and deep ercavation for basement construction result in lateral soil movernents which induce additional bending moments, shear forces and deflections in adjacent pile foundations. A nlethod to ana.llse this problem is d.escribed in this paper. The accuracy of this apprcqch is uerified by comparison with reported case histories, A case study of a practical problem of local interest is reported to highlight some of the important considerations in d.esign.

series of beam elements and the soil represented by an elastic continuum using Mindlin's solution (1937). Mindlin's solution is strictly valid for a homogeneous soil medium. Thus, nonhomogenous soil is treated in an approximate manner. The problem is solved using the frnite difference rnethod. In this paper, the behaviour of piles subject to lateral soil movements is analysed using the finite element method in which the soil is idealised using the modulus of subgrade reaction. Using this idealisation, the formulation of the problem is considerably simpler than the method of Poulos, (1973) and nonhomogeneous soil can be easily treated. The accuracy of this approach is assessedby analysing some well-documented case histories, A case study of a problem of local interest is reported to illustrate the practical application of this method.

INTRODUCTION
There are many situations where pile foundations are subjected to loading arising from lateral soil movements. These situations include (a) pile foundations of bridge abutments where the approach embankrnent induces lateral movement ofthe subsoil, and (b) pile foundations of existing buildings located adjacent to deep excavation for the construction of basement. The latter is of particular releyance to the local situation where the incorporation of deep basements in buildings is a common feature to maximise the use of available land, Excessive lateral ground movements arising from deep excavations in heavily built-up areas may cause damage to the pile foundations of adjacent existing buildings. In such circumstances, the lateral soil movements arising from excavation have to be properly contained to minimise any detrimental effects they may have on the pile foundations of adjacents buildings. Hence, it is important that reliable methods of analysis are available to assess the additional bending moments, shear forces and pile deflections due to these lateral soil movements. A:Eilable methods of analysis can be broadly classifred into empirical methods and theoretical methods. Two commonly used empirical methods were proposed by Tschebotarioff, (1973), and De Beer and Wallays, (1972). These methods were, however, developed for estimating the bending moments of abutment piles arising from lateral soil movements caused by ernbankment loading and are not suitable for problem (b) discussed above. Poulos, (1973) developed a theoretical method of analysing this problem by idealising the pile as a

METHOD

OF ANALYSIS

The behaviour of a pile subjected to lateral soil movements can be analysed by assuming the soil to be modelled by the modulus of subgrade reaction. The soil pressure (p) acting on the pile is given by p - no(t - to) (1)

where kn = modulus of subgrade reaction of the soil, y = pile lateral deflection, and yn = lateral soil movement due to embankment or eicavation. The governing differential equation for the pile-soil system subjected to lateral soil movements is given by
- .qV.l E ot oa az

t hhd\y - yo)= o

( 2)

where Eo = Young's modulus of the pile material, Ip = second moment area of pile section, z = depth in sbil, and d = pile diameter. Alternatively, Eqn. (2) can be written as 1 3) clz where Kn = kld is the soil stiffness per unit length of the pile. A schematic representation of the problem is shown in Fis 1.
^. E eI p c Iy

- K h\y - yo) = 0

..

r Assoc. Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, National University of Singapore, 10 Kent Ridge Crescent, Singapore 119260. o Assoc.Professorand Head, Department ofCivil Engineering, National University ofSingapore, 1OKent Ridge Crescent, Singapore 119260.

Dqn. (10) can be rewritten

'

in the following forrn:

'L dz { [ I (e ] -lK "ll lt l= )o K a . lNlv s (z l

(13)

(a) Idealidationof pile and soil Fig I

(b) Lateral soil movemettsdue to embankmenrexcavation

The vector on the right hand side of Eqn. (13) represents the induced lateral forces acting on the pile resulting from lateral soil movements due to the ernbankment or excavation. The assembly of the element matrices of the pile elements and the soil is done in the usual manner to give the global stiffness matrix equations for the pile-soil systen. For a given set of lateral soil movements, the deformations ofthe pile foundation can be determined by solving the global stiffness matrix, and the bending moments and shear forces in the pile obtained from the resulting pile deforrnations. The soil pressurea acting on the pile, if required, can be determined using Eqn. (1). The nonlinear behaviour of the soil can be incorporated by limiting the soil pressure that can act on the pile using an iterative technique a described by Chow, (1988) for axially and laterally5,z loaded piles. The analysis of this problem requires a knowledge of the pile bending s6iffness (ErIr), the distributions of the lateral soil stiffnesses (K1) and limiting lateral soil pressures acting on the pile with depth, and the horizontal soil movernents. In the analysis, the pile element length is typically taken to be about I m for most problems, except in the case of short piles where shorter element length may be necessary.

Schematic representation of problem of pile subject to lateral soil movements.

The solution to the above governing differential equation can be obtained using the frnite element approach in which the pile is represented by beam elements. The continuous variable, y, in Eqn. (3) is approxinated in terms of discrete nodal values as follows: y=Nf lt + Nz 0t + NsY 2 + N 4 e 2 (4)

where y, and 0, are the lateral deflection and rotation at node 1, y2 and 0, are the lateral deflection and rotation at node 2, and the shape functions are given by

f u,=(f -su'*z"s)f

(5) (6) (7) ,

.)1

x,=(r'"-z**J)fr'
ws=(e* -2"3)ff

u ,=("'-# )ff
v = {N}r {r}

(8)

SOIL PARAMETERS The main soil parameters required for this analysis are: Kn the lateral soil stiffness, and p, the liniting Lateral soil pressure. --'

where L = element length. Eqn. (4) can be written in matrix form as

(e)

where {N} = vector of shape functions, and {y} = vector of pile deformations. Applying the Galerkin's method to the governing differential equation in Eqn. (3) yields the following elment matrix equation

Soil Stiffiress

The lateral soil stiffness can be related to the Young's modulus of the soil (E.) as follows:

K^ = Es

tr-o

( ,nt"

(14)

[ x o l { r }* [ x "l { r } )" xo {N }vo Q)d z'{o }

1L

( 10)

where [\J = pile elernent matrix, [K"] = soil element matrix, {y} = vector of pile deformations, and yo(z) = lateral soil movements due to embankment/ excavation. The form of the element matrices for the pile and the soil is as follows:

For clays, the Young's modulus is usqglly correlated r"'%iTo*"t to the undrained sh-earstrength "" (15) E" = Atc"
where p, typically lies between 150 and 300 (Poulos and Davis, 1980). For sands, the Young's modulus can be correlated to the SPT blow count (N) as follows: Es = p2 N (MN /m2) (16)

l*.t= l"r-, lt4l',, ..l^lt4l dz') ' '' t9 ldz'l

{u}" l""l=l'",t"1 dz

( 11)

(72)

where p, typically lies in the range of 1 to 1.5.

Limiting Soil Pressure Foi piles in clays, the limiting soil pressure p is related to the undrained shear strength c, as follows: (17)
where the factor N- can be assurned to vary linearly fron 3 at the grouritl surface to a limiting value of 9 at a depth of about 3.5 diameters (Broms, 1964a). For piles in sands, the limiting soil pressure p" can be determined as follows (Broms, 1964b):

N.A.L.

Dnsity

1.90

2.70 4.20
clay 0.99 85

Silty Sand

1.80 l a5

15 50

9.60 1.50

Pr=3Krou

(18)
1t.80 ).2.20

where Ko = Rankine passive earth pressure coefficient, and o', = effective overburden pressure. PILES AD'IACENT TO EMBANKMENTS Fig 2

1.90

40

There are only a limited number of well-documented case histories of measured behaviour of piles subject to lateral soil movements due to embankment construction. Two such cases are considered in this paper. Heynan (1966)

Soil prohle oftest site at Amsterdam (Heyman, 1965).

Cone Resistance in kg/cm2

In the western city extension of Ansterdam, a sand embankment 1 km long and 4 m high had to be constructed along a group of houses built on pile foundations. Since the subsoil was weak, there were concern that the lateral pressure exerted on the pile due to the construction of the embankment may endanger the stability of the pile foundations of the adjacent buildings. As part of the precautions to prevent damage to the existing building foundations, a field test was carried out to evaluate the influence of the lateral subsoil movements on the pile foundations. The test pile was an instrumented steel box pile 300 mm by 300 mm with thickness of 6 mm and 12.5 rn long. The pile was instrumented with electrical strain gauges at distances between 2.2 m and 6.7 rn from the pile top. The boundary condition at the pile head was such that it cannot move laterally but allowed to rotate. The bending stiffness of the pile (EoIo) was 21,31? kN-m2. The soil profile at the test site is iho*tt in Fig 2. The reference level indicated in the frgure is the normal Amsterdam level (N.A.L.). The cone penel,ration test data is shown in Fig 3. Fg1the sand,

Fig 3

Cone resistance prohle oftest site at Amsterdam (Heyman, 1965).

and were practically uniform in all the subsoil layers up to a depth of about 10 m. These movements were used in the theoretical analysis. The computed and measured bending moments in the pile are shown in Fig 4 which show reasonable agreement.
Bendins noment (kNm)

lavers. the eouivalent Sp'r ltoicoui-t-TNf-rrae<-_--.---r--ii---'

- and for the silty sand layers N = 4 q. tMeigh. 1987). The Young's *." e;tfi;ie MN/m"). The-odulrl" friction angle of the sand layer and silty sand layer was assumed to be 32' and 30", respectively. For the peat and clay layers, the undrained shear strength was assumed to be c,, = 15 kN/m" and the Young's modulus E" = 200 c,,. The soil stiffness (Kn) was taken to be equal to the Young's modulus. The limit soil pressures were determined following recommendations given in the earlier sectlon. It was stated that the measured lateral soil movements recorded with an inclinometer was 30 mm

Fig 4 Amsterdam test site: computed and measured bending moment profiles.

45

Soil horizontal displacement {mm) 0204060 d:lg

Fig 5

Soil prohle and measured soil movements at Belgium test site (De Beer and rvVallays,1972).

De Beer and Wallays (1972) De Beer and Wallays, (1972) reported a field test in Belgium on the influence of embankment on adjacent pile foundation. In the test, the sand embankment was retained on one side by a sheetpile wall. A reinforced concretepile 600 mrn in diameter and 23.2 m in length was installed at the toe of the sheetpile wall. The support at the head prevented the lateral movement of the pile head. The soil profile which was predorninantly sand is shown in Fig 5 together with the measured horizontal movement of the soil due to the construction of the enbankment. The bending stiffness (EoIo) of the pile was 127,240 kN-m". The equivalent SPT blowcount (N) was estimated frorn N = 2.5q" (Meigh, 1987) and the Young's modulus taken as E. = N (in MN/m'). The soil stiffness was taken as Kn = E". The limit soil pressure for sand was deternined assuming an average0 = 33o.The measuredand computedbending moment profiles for the pile are presentedin Fig 6(a) which show reasonably good agreement. The measuredand computedlateral deflectionsof the pile also agree very closely as shown in Fig 6(b).
Bending moment (kNm) Pite deflection (mm) 5 1 0 1 6 2 0 25

following notations for the boundary conditions at the pile head are adopted: (a) (b) (c) frxed-firxed:fixed against rotation and movement; fixed-free: fixed against rotation but free to mov laterally; v free-fixed: free to rctate but fixed against lateral movement (this was the condition of the field test); free-free: free to rotate and rnove laterally.

(d)

It can be seen in Fig 7 that the boundary conditions at the pile head have a significant effect on the bending moments in the pile. This is rnost signifrcant near the pile head but the influence is not felt beyond about 10 m depth for this problem. The fixed-fixed boundary conditions at the pile head gave the largest bending moment at the pile head. Similarly, the fixedfixed boundary conditions at the pile head aleo attracted the largest shear force at the pile head as shown in Fig 8. The influence of the pile head boundary conditions on the pile deflection profrles are shown in Fig 9. As expected, the free-free boundary conditions gaye the largest pile head deflection. Hence, it can be seen that the boundar conditions at the pile head have a signifrcant effec1v on the performance of the pile. For this problem, these effects were seen in the toD 10 to 11 m of the

Bndins moment (tNxo) -400 0 200 -200

400

rotstion

movement ftee fre !

Fig 6

(a) (b) Belgium test site: bending moment and pile deflection profrles.

i-

lixed tixed

The field test was based on one particular set of boundary conditions at the pile head. It would be of interest to investigate the influence of the pile head boundary conditions on the behaviour of the pile. The

Fig 7

Influence of pile head boundary conditions on bending moments.

Shear force (kN)

Late.al soil movement (mm) o204060

rotation

movement

---;;-t;a-

Fig 8

Influenbe of pile head boundary conditions on shear forces.

10

Pile deflection (nn) 20 30 40

i]>."
;
l5
rolain __fre -..fixed ftd free Menl lixed free fired free

Fig 10

Pile foundation adjacent to deep excavation.

ground level. It was assumed that this excavation will be supported by diaphragm wall with internal bracing. The influence of the lateral ground movements on the bored piles due to excavation may be considered by analysing the problem based on the ground movement profrles at critical stages ofthe excavation. For excavation near to adjacent buildings it is necessary to contain the lateral movements of the diaphragm wall to control the ground movements. In this study, the assumed lateral soil movement profile at the frnal stage of excavation at the location of the piles nearest to the excavation is shown in Fig 10. The shape of the assumed profile is based on experience ofexcavations of similar soils in Singapore and a maximum magnitude of 50 mn was assumed. For the granular fill, the friction angle was assumed to be 30". The undrained shear strength of the soft marine clay and firm marine clay were estimated to _ be 20 kN/m2 and 36 kN/m2, respectively, from the SPI blow count. The assumed angles of friction for the dense and very dense clayey sand were 38o and 40", respectively. The Young's modulus of the granular hll and sand was taken to be E" = lrf (11 MN/m") and the Young's modulus of clay E" = 200 cu. The soil stiffness Kr' = E". The Young's modulus of concrete was taken to be 26 x 106 kN/m2. The following three boundary conditions at the pile head were considered: (a) Pile head not allowed to rotate (due to restraint imposed by the pile cap) but lateral movement allowed. This correspond to the fixed-free case discussed earlier. (b) Pile head not allowed to rotate or move laterally. This corresponds to the fixed-fixed case. (c) Pile head not allowed to rotate (due to restraint imposed by the pile cap) but lateral movement partially restrained due to the stiffness of the

Fig I

Influence of pile head boundary conditions on pile deflections.

pile. Constraining the pile head against movement and rotation, large moment and shear were experienced at the pile head. These rnoment and shear reduced significantly when the pile head was allowed to move and rotate, but large deflection was experienced by the pile. Hence, it is very important that the pile is analysed using the appropriate boundary conditions and designed accordingly.

PILES

ADJACENT

TO DEEP

EXCAVATIONS

The authors are not aware of any freld measurements on piles located adjacent to deep excavations for basenent construction. Hence, a hypothetical case was analysed to illustrate the application of this approach to this class of problem and to highlight sorne of the salient points which are of interest to the design engineer. The pile foundations of a building adjacent to an excavation were assumed to be 0.8 m diameter concrete bored piles. The soil profrle at the site shown in Fig 10 consisted of a 5 m thick granular frll overllng soft to firm marine clay; below the marine clay is the Old Alluvium formation conprising dense to very dense clayey sand. This type of soil profile is quite typical of some parts of Singapore. The bored pile was assumed to be 35 rn deep with a cut-offlevel of 3 m below the existing ground level. The depth of the excavation analvsed was about 12 m below the

whole pile foundation system which was tied by ground beams. The boundary condition (a) in which the pile head was not allowed to rotate but was free to move will simulate the condition where the pile foundations are not tied together by ground beams. The bending moments, shear forces and pile deflections are shown in Figs 11, 12 and 13, respectively as the fixed-free case. For this case, the computed lateral deflection at the pile head is about 28 mm. Since the pile foundations are located at varying distances from the diaphragm wall, the lateral soil movement Drofiles at the other piles will be different, thus leading to differential lateral movement of the foundations. This will induce additional stresses on the structure which will need to be designed for. The second boundary condition (b) in which the pile head was not allowed to rotate or move laterallv is

Fig 13 Deep excavation problem: influence of pile head boundary conditions on pile deflections.

---

roiaton frxed lixed

hovement lixed 2-.tage

Bending rnoment (kNm)

1500 1000 -500

=--\
5 l0 l5

likely to correspond to the situation where the pile is part of a pile raft foundation for a larse strutture. Since the pile head was restrained, la"rge momen and shear are experienced at the pile head which arc:r' shown in Figs 11 and 12, respectively. In a small development where the pile foundation system is tied by ground beans, the likely pile head condition is that given by (c) in which the pile head is not allowed to rotate but is partially restrained against lateral movement. In the present problern, it was assumed that there is only another row of pile foundations behind the front row which is nearesi to the excavation and for the typical column spacing, the lateral soil movements were assumed to be half of that shown in Fig 10. Hence, the partial restraint is due to the back row of piles being tied to the front row by ground beams. The simulation of this boundary condition can be carried out in two stages as follows. Stage 1: Analyse the pile subjected to lateral soil movements half of those shown in Fie l0 with boundary conditions at the pile head iestrainer' against rotation but free to nove laterally, \7 Stage 2: Subject the pile to the remaining half of the lateral soil movements with boundarv conditions at the pile head restrained against rotation but with lateral movement restrained by the pile at the back. This restraint can be simulated by a spring, the stiffness of which is the lateral stiffness of the pile head. This stiffness can be estimated by applying a load at the pile head instead of the lateral soil movements. The estimated spring stiffness for this problem was 20,954 kN/m. Using the above procedure, the computed bending moments, shear forces and pile deflections from the cumulative effects of stages 1 and 2 in the simulation are shown in Figs 11, 12 and 13, respectively. As expected, these results fall in between the results for pile head boundary conditions (a) and (b). The partial restraint at, the pile head provides relief of the bending moment and shear force, resulting in a signifrcant reduction of the magnitude of the bending moment and shear force at the pile head.

)
rot.tion _-_ fixed fixed movement fixed 2 dtage

Fig rr

Deep excavation problem: influence of pile head boundary conditions on bending moments.

Shear force (kN)

---

rotation movment fixed fixed fixed 2-8tage

Fig 12

Deep excavation problem: influence of pile head boundary conditionson shear forces.

It can be seen from the above analyses that the boundary conditions at the pile head have a signifrcant influence on the behaviour of the piles which was also demonstrated in the earlier example. Hence. it is imponant that the appropriate boundary conditions be identified in the problem under consideration and where necessary a higher factor of safety applied to account for the uncertaintv of the restraint at the pile head. It is noted that above analyses considered only the single pile. The single pile analysis can be extended to pile groups in the manner described by Chow (1987a,b; 1988) for laterally loaded pile groups. However, the single pile analysis will likely to be conservative since the presence of group piles will reduce the lateral soil movements.

Chow. Y.K. ( 1gfr). Axial and lateral response of pile groups erdbedded in nonhomog"n"o.," International Journal for Numerical "oil". and Analytical Methods in Geomechanics. Vol. 11. 621-638. De Beer, E.E. and Walleys, M. G9Z2). Forces induced in piles by unsymmetrical surcharges on the soil around the piles. Proc. bth European Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, Madrid, Vol. 7, 325-382. Heyman, L. (1965). Measurement of the influence of lateral earth pressure on pile foundation. proc 6th International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, Montreal, Vol. 2, 257-260. Mei gh, A .C . { 1987). C one penetrati on test ing. Construction Industry Research and Information Association. Mindlin, R.D. (1936). Force at a point in the interior of a semi-infrnite solid. physics. yol 7, l9E-2O2. P oul os, H .C . (19?3,. A nal ysi s of pi l es i n soil undergoing lateral movement. Journal of Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, ASCE, Vol 99, No SM5, 391-406. Poulos, H.G. and Davis, E.H. (1989). pile foundation analysis and design. John Wiley & Sons, New York. Tschebotarioff, G P (19?3). Foundation, retaining and earth structures. 2nd Edition.

CONCLUSIONS Lateral soil movements arising from the construction of embankments or excavation for deep basements induce additional pile deflections, bending moments and shear forces in a pile. This problem was analysed using the frnite element approach described in this p-aper in which the pile was represented by beam elements and the soil modelled using the modulus of subgrade reaction. Comparisons with available well-documented case histories on piles located adjacent to embankments suggest that the method is capable of predicting the general behaviour of the pile foundation sub;e"ct to lateral soil movements. Additional case studies show that the boundary conditions at the pile head have a significant influence on the bending moments and shear forces in the pile. A case study on piles adjacent to a deep excavation highlighted lo-" of th" important design considerations. The approach can be used to evaluate the effect of lateral soil movements on pile foundations by instituting an instrumentation programme whereby inclinometers can be used to measuie the lateral soii movements. This will at least provide sorne means of assessing the impact of such construction activities on the pile foundations of nearby existing structures.

REFERENCES Broms, B.B. (1964a). Lateral resistance of Diles in cohesive soils. Journal of Soil Mech and Found Eng Div, ASCE, Vol 90, No SM2, 2Z-63. Broms, B.B. (1964b). Lateral resistance of piles in cohesionless soils. Journal ofSoil Mech and Found Eng Div, ASCE, Vol 90, No SM3, 128-1b6. Chow, Y.K. (1987a). Iterative analysis of pile-soilpile interaction. Geotechnique, Vol AZ, N; B, 821Chow, Y.K. (1987b). Three dimensional analvsis of pile groups. Journal of Geotechnical Engineering, ASCE, Vol 113, No 6. 63?-651.