AXIAL TENSILE CAPACITY OF HELICAL PILES FROM FIELD TESTS AND NUMERICAL STUDY

Abstract

Helical piles are used to support structures subjected to axial and lateral loads. The main object of the paper is to study the behavior of helical piles in cohesive and cohesionless soils using a full scale field testing. Then, the field test results are numerically verified using the finite element analysis software ADINA [1]. The tested piles are having two circular pitched bearing plates welded at a spacing of two and half the helix diameter welded to a solid-circular shaft. Field and numerical results showed that the most effective parameters on the helical pile uplift capacity are the embedment depth, soil strength, and number of helix, along with other parameters.