LOAD-DEFLECTION PREDICTION FOR LATERALLY LOADED PILES.

Abstract

Series of solutions are presented in graphical form which enable the load-deflection behavior, to failure, of a laterally loaded pile to be calculated. An eccentrically loaded free-head floating pile is considered for two cases, a soil with constant Young's modulus and yield pressure, and a soil having a Young's modulus and yield pressure which increase linearly with depth. The effects of soil yield are found to be very significant for relatively flexible piles. Good agreement is found between the measured load-deflection curves for a set of tests on model piles in clay and those predicted from the theoretical curves, using a value of Young's modulus of about 400 c//u in the analysis. Reasonable agreement is also found for a reported series of field tests on larger-scale piles.