Numerical Analysis of Pile-Soil Interface Strength Properties Effects on the Lateral Stiffness of p-y Curves

Investigation of lateral bearing capacity of piles under lateral loading in the vicinity of soil slopes and level ground is one of the interesting issues in the engineering of the deep foundations in recent decades. In the meantime, the estimation of lateral stiffness of soil layers, coefficient of soil reaction, ks, is an old challenge on the basis of the creation of empirical (testing) and theoretical p-y curves. In this paper, we attempt to estimate lateral soil stiffness in the length of concrete piles in various depths in sloped ground and level ground and in the all type of soils, including cohesive soil, frictional (granular) soil and mixed soil, i.e. c-φ soil with the aid of numerical analysis in three dimensional finite difference software, Flac3D. For the purpose of estimating lateral soil stiffness, Ki, in different depths by means of this numerical method, the p-y curves have been derived in several depths in the length of concrete pile with circular section under static lateral loading up to the threshold of the yielding of soil materials. The empirical relationship established between soil lateral stiffness Ki and the effective dimensionless parameters on the Ki in general is calculated as a six order polynomial, and this six order polynomial reduces to a fourth order polynomial for the cohesion component of the soil. At the end of the paper, some well documented lateral loading tests by the present numerical method have been investigated for validation of the numerical method of derivation of the p-y curves and pile-head load deflection curves, H-y curves have been calculated and are compared with other results obtained by other researchers and methods. There are good agreements between test results and the results obtained from the numerical method presented in this paper.