The Response of Driven Single Piles Subjected to Combined Loads (original) (raw)

The behaviour of piles subjected to lateral load has generally been investigated experimentally using free-headed piles with a lateral load applied close to the pile head. In practice, however, there is some degree of restraint at the head of many piles and these are often subjected to a combination of lateral and vertical loads. The case history described in this paper involved full-scale field experiments comprising instrumented precast concrete piles subjected to a range of loading conditions including combined lateral and axial loading with partial rotational restraint at the pile head. The pile instrumentation, which included electrolevels and electrical resistance strain gauges, allowed accurate determination of the lateral soil reaction-lateral displacement (p-y) response adjacent to the test piles. This paper concentrates on the analysis and interpretation of the test data for the pile subjected to combined loading. These results are presented in conjunction with test data from an adjacent pile subjected to the same lateral load to allow the difference in behaviour to be evaluated.