An analytical model for deflection of laterally loaded piles

Abstract

Load-deflection responses of laterally loaded piles are often obtained via in-situ lateral pile load tests. Problems of such tests are the difficulties occurring during data interpretation. In an effort to develop an efficient analytical method for analyzing deformation data of lateral loaded piles, an analytical model is proposed based on energy conservation of pile-soil system. The proposed analytical model not only provides a direct solution of the pile deflection function, but also has less need of complicated subsurface soil properties. In this paper, the authors present the theory and analytical model development of the proposed method. Two real cases are then used to verify the feasibility of the developed methodology as well as make comparison to other methods.