Soils and Foundations 2013;53(6):789–803

The Japanese Geotechnical Society

Soils and Foundations

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Interaction between inclined pile groups subjected

to harmonic vibrations
Mahmoud Ghazavia,n, Pedram Ravanshenasb, M. Hesham El Naggarc
a
Civil Engineering Department, K. N. Toosi University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
b
K. N. Toosi University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
c
Geotechnical Research Centre, Faculty of Engineering Science, University of Western Ontario, London, Ont., Canada N6A 5B9
Received 31 December 2011; received in revised form 16 June 2013; accepted 24 July 2013
Available online 21 November 2013

Abstract

Vertical and inclined piles are used in seismic areas where they could be subjected to oblique harmonic vibration loads. The effect of closely
spaced battered piles on the pile–soil–pile interaction has not yet been fully recognized. A simple analytical method, based on the elasto-dynamic
theory by Novak and his associates, is used in the present study to characterize vertical and inclined isolated cylindrical piles subjected to inclined
harmonic vibrations. The free field movement of the ground in the vicinity of the piles is determined using an approximate approach based on the
interference of the cylindrical wave field originating along each pile shaft and spreading radially outward. In calculating the interaction factor
between two battered piles, an analysis has been carried out to demonstrate the effect of the presence of a neighboring pile (receiver) while the
first pile (source) is loaded. In this situation, it has been found that the movement of the source pile head is decreased when a receiver pile is
present. Also, the effects of the pile–pile distance, the group geometry, the length of the piles, and the inclined angle for each or all of the piles
have been studied and the corresponding results will be presented.
& 2013 The Japanese Geotechnical Society. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Inclined pile group; Pile–soil–pile interaction; Closed-form solution; Elasto-dynamic theory; Harmonic vibration

1. Introduction Applications of batter piles include offshore structures,

bridges, and towers. These types of structures are usually
Vertical piles are used in foundations to carry vertical and subjected to overturning moments due to wind, waves, and the
lateral loads. When the horizontal load per pile exceeds the impact of ships. It is thought that the use of batter and vertical
value suitable for vertical piles, batter piles are used along with piles in a pile–soil system increases its overall efficiency. For
vertical piles to enhance the lateral stiffness and the capacity of example, Gazetas and Mylonakis (1998) reported that in
the foundation. particular cases, the use of batter pile groups is advantageous
in supporting lateral loading.
n
Corresponding author. During the last few decades, attempts have been made to
E-mail addresses: [email protected] (M. Ghazavi), investigate the behavior of batter piles using both laboratory tests
[email protected] (P. Ravanshenas), and theoretical studies. Laboratory tests have been performed by
[email protected] (M.H. El Naggar).
Tschebotarioff (1953), Murthy (1964), Yoshimi (1964), Prakash
Peer review under responsibility of The Japanese Geotechnical Society.
and Subramanyam (1965), Kubo (1965), Awad and Petrasovits
(1968), Ranjan et al. (1980), Lu (1981), and Sastry et al. (1995).
Theoretical investigations have been performed by Alizadeh and
Davisson (1970), Poulos and Madhav (1971), and Meyerhof and

0038-0806 & 2013 The Japanese Geotechnical Society. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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790 M. Ghazavi et al. / Soils and Foundations 53 (2013) 789–803

Ranjan (1973). Veeresh (1996) conducted model tests on batter

piles subjected to cyclic lateral loading. The seismic response of
batter piles has been investigated by Lam and Martin (1986).
Centrifuge tests have been performed by Juran et al. (2001),
Tazoh et al. (2010), and Tamura et al. (2012). Moreover, Gazetas
and Mylonakis (1998) and Berrill et al. (2001) have examined
several case histories and have highlighted the potential help
provided by inclined piles. More recently, several researchers
have investigated the seismic response of batter piles by Sadek
and Shahrour (2004 and 2006), Okawa et al. (2005), Poulos
(2006), Deng et al. (2007), Ravazi et al. (2007), Gerolymos et al.
(2008), and Padron et al. (2009). The characteristics of dynami-
cally loaded vertical piles under vertical vibrations have been
investigated using various methods involving lumped masses (El Fig. 1. Source and receiver batter piles.
Naggar and Novak, 1994), the continuum approach (Nogami,
1980), the boundary element method (Kaynia and Kausel, 1982),
and finite element solutions (Chow, 1985).
Rational analyses of pile group displacements were pio- An external harmonic load, P ¼ Po exp(iωt), is applied at the
neered by Poulos (1968), who introduced the concept of source pile head at an angle θp with respect to the vertical
‘interaction factors’ and showed that the effects of pile groups direction. Here, Po denotes the load amplitude, ω represents
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
can be assessed by superimposing the effects of only two piles. the excitation frequency, t stands for time, and i ¼ 1.
The interaction between piles vibrating harmonically has also The loaded source pile induces the displacement of the
been investigated using various methods. Kaynia and Kausel surrounding soil, and the soil induces the displacement of the
(1982) used the elastic boundary element method to determine load-free pile (receiver pile). The presence of the receiver pile
the interaction factors. Naylor and Hooper (1975) and Ottaviani usually reduces the soil displacement. If the receiver pile does
(1975) used finite element formulations. Randolph and Wroth not follow exactly the displacement induced in the surrounding
(1979) used an analytical solution for the deformation of vertical soil, the reaction of the soil to the pile movement is
piles. The results of this simple method were verified by Nogami proportional to relative displacement US(s/d, z)  U21(s/d, z),
(1980, 1983), Kaynia and Kausel (1982), Sheta and Novak where US(s/d, z) is the soil displacement and U21(s/d, z) is the
(1982), El Sharnuby and Novak (1985), and Novak (1984). All receiver pile displacement produced by loading the source pile.
this research work has focused on vertical piles under lateral and An inclined load, P, can be broken down into two
vertical static and harmonic loading (Ghazavi and Ghadimi, 2006; components (Fig. 2): an axial component, Pv ¼ PV exp(iωt),
Ghazavi et al., 2009). The behavior of the pile–soil–pile interac- and a lateral component, Ph ¼ PH exp(iωt). The definition of
tion of batter piles under various types of loading, however, has load angle ζ is given by
scarcely been reported in literature.
ζ ¼ θp þ θ1 ð1Þ

2. Objectives and scope of work

The excitation amplitude of the two load components may be
divided by the corresponding terms for the complex values of
The main objective of this paper is to present a simple
the dynamic impedances (lateral stiffness Kh and axial stiffness
analytical solution to the problem of dynamic pile–soil–pile
Kv) and the response amplitude, in which u and w stand for
interaction for battered pile groups. It is assumed that pile
lateral and axial displacements, respectively, as depicted in
groups embedded in a half-space medium with no slippage
Fig. 2. Then we have
between them are subjected to inclined harmonic forces or to
seismic excitation. In addition, an investigation of the applic- ( (
Ph ¼ K h  u ¼ P sin ζ K h ¼ Ph =u ¼ k h þ iðch ωÞ
ability of Poulos' superposition scheme to evaluate the effect of )
dynamic pile groups is presented. The method presented here Pv ¼ K v  w ¼ P cos ζ K v ¼ Pv =w ¼ kv þ iðcv ωÞ
calculates the vertical and the horizontal dynamic pile–soil– ð2Þ
pile interaction of soil, considering the flexibility of the
receiver pile, and clarifies the shortcomings of the existing
where k and c are interpreted as equivalent ‘spring’ and
methods that ignore the presence of the receiver pile while the
‘dashpot’ coefficients at the head of the pile and are a function
source pile is loaded.
of the dimensionless frequency, ao ¼ ωd/Vs, where d and Vs are
the pile diameter and the soil shear wave velocity, respectively.
3. Displacement of source pile The load distribution along the batter pile length, under axial
load and lateral load, is assumed to be similar to that for the
Fig. 1 shows a pair of batter piles inclined at angles θ1 and vertical pile. This assumption is acceptable for practical
θ2 with respect to the vertical axis. inclination angles of less than 301 (Poulos and Davis, 1980).
 M. Ghazavi et al. / Soils and Foundations 53 (2013) 789–803 791

Fig. 2. Source batter pile subjected to harmonic force P ¼Poexp(iωt) under load angle ζ.

where SU1 and SU2 are real and imaginary parts of the layer
reaction in the horizontal direction and T is given by
4K 1 ðbn0 ÞK 1 ðan0 Þþ an0 K 1 ðbn0 ÞK 0 ðan0 Þþ bn0 K 0 ðbn0 ÞK 1 ðan0 Þ
T ¼
b0 K 0 ðbn0 ÞK 1 ðan0 Þþ an0 K 1 ðbn0 ÞK 0 ðan0 Þþ bn0 an0 K 0 ðbn0 ÞK 0 ðan0 Þ
n

ð4aÞ
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
a0 i 2ð1υÞ n a0 i
bn0 ¼ pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi ; η ¼ ; a0 ¼ pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi ð4bÞ
η 1þ i2DS ð12υÞ 1 þ i2DS
where K0 and K1 denote the zero-order and the first-order
second kind of modified Bessel functions, respectively.
The differential equation governing the soil–pile system is
given by (Novak, 1974), namely,
Fig. 3. Illustration of influence of laterally loaded source pile on adjacent free-
d4 U 11 ðzÞ
loaded receiver pile (‘S’ and ‘R’ stand for Source pile and Receiver pile, EP I P þ ððk1 mp ω2 Þþ iðk 2 þ cωÞÞU 11 ðzÞ ¼ 0 ð5Þ
respectively). dz4
For horizontal harmonic vibrations, the horizontal displace-
ment assumes u11(z)¼ U11(z).exp(iωt), and the solution for
3.1. Evaluation of horizontal displacement of source pile Eq. (5) is given by
Rða þ biÞz Rða þ biÞz Rðc þ diÞz Rðc þ diÞz
U 11 ðzÞ ¼ AU
11 e þBU
11 e þ CU
11 e þ DU
11 e
The lateral response of a single source pile subjected to
ð6Þ
horizontal loading or to deformation due to the surrounding
soil may be calculated using a beam-on-Winkler-foundation Considering appropriate boundary conditions gives
formulation. For a two-pile group, with only one pile (source ( )
U 11 ¼ 0
pile) loaded laterally, a general approximation method is z1 ) 11 ¼ d 11 ¼ 0;
) AU U
θ11 ¼ dUdz11 ¼ 0
proposed that involves modeling the soil based on the Winkler
8 9 ð7aÞ
method (Fig. 3). < θ11 ¼ dUdz11 ¼ 0 =
The pile is considered to be linear elastic with a circular z¼0 ) ) ða ¼ d; b ¼ cÞ
: V 11 ¼ EP I P dz3 ¼ Ph ;
3
d U 11
cross-section of AP, a diameter of d, a second moment of area
IP, a Young's modulus of EP, a damping ratio of DP, a mass
density of ρP, a length of L, and a mass per unit length of the
11 ¼ ;
Ph
BU E P I P R3 ½ða þ biÞðc þ diÞ2 ða þ biÞ3 
pile mP ¼ ρPAP. The soil parameters are assumed to be Young's ð7bÞ
11 ¼
Ph
modulus ES, shear modulus GS, shear wave velocity VS, CU E P I P R3 ½ðc þ diÞ3 ðc þ diÞða þ biÞ2 
damping ratio DS, and Poisson's ratio ν. The soil reaction on
the pile motion is modeled using continuously distributed The final solution is obtained as
frequency-dependent springs k1 and dashpots k2. The complex u11 ðzÞ ¼ U 11 ðzÞeiωt ¼ fBU Rða þ biÞz
þ CU Rðc þ diÞz iωt
ge ð8Þ
11 e 11 e
horizontal stiffness per unit length of the pile is given by
(Novak, 1974) as where
(  1=8
ku ¼ k1 þ ik 2 ¼ πGa20 T ¼ G½SU1 ða0 ; υ; DS Þþ iSU2 ða0 ; υ; DS Þ ðk1 mp ω2 Þ2 þ ðk2 þ cωÞ2
R¼ ;
ð3Þ ð4EP I P Þ2
792 M. Ghazavi et al. / Soils and Foundations 53 (2013) 789–803

8 (
< θ ¼ arctan ðk 2 þ cωÞ C w1 ¼ 8:00 þ2:18a0 12:63a20 þ 20:73a30 16:47a40 þ4:458a50
ðk1 mp ω2 Þ ; 0o θ o π=2 ν ¼ 0:5 )
ð9Þ C w2 ¼ 7:414a0 2:986a20 þ4:324a30 1:782a40
: a ¼ cos θ θ θ θ
4  sin 4 ; b ¼ cos 4 þ sin 4
ð13Þ
8
> k1 ¼ G  SU1 The equilibrium of the pile–soil system at a certain depth can
>
>
>
> be expressed as (Novak, 1974)
< k2 ¼ G  SU2
>
Soil ) cms ω ¼ 2DS K S ; with : G  SU2 ða0 ; υ; DS ¼ 0Þ d2 w11 ðz; tÞ dw11 ðz; tÞ d2 w11 ðz; tÞ
> mp þcp E P AE þ k w w11 ðz; tÞ ¼ 0
>
> K S ¼ δE S dt 2 dt dz2
>
>
>
: δðFixed  head pilesÞ ¼ 3:1097  ðlog EP =ES Þ0:7413 ð14Þ

( For vertical vibrations, the vertical displacement assumes

cmp ω ¼ 2DP K P w11(z)¼ W11(z)exp(iωt). By substituting the vertical displace-
Pile ) ð10Þ
K P ðFixed  head pilesÞ ¼ 12E P I P
L3
ment into Eq. (14) and solving this equation, the vertical
displacement amplitude is given by
Damping constant c represents the energy losses due to the
W 11 ðzÞ ¼ AW
11 expðΛzÞ þ B11 expðΛzÞ
W
ð15Þ
radiation of waves (cr) and the hysteretic dissipating of the soil
and the pile (cms, cmp), in which cm incorporates the internal where
energy dissipating in the soil, and thus, is related to the sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
damping ratio (DS). The value for cr is computed from ðkw mp ω2 þ icp ωÞ
Λ¼ ð16Þ
E P AP
c  cm þ cr
ð11Þ where AW W
cr ω ¼ GSU2 ¼ k2 11 and B11 are the integration constants determined
from the boundary conditions. They are
p11 ðzÞ ¼ E P AP dWdz11 ðzÞ ¼ E P AP ðΛÞðAW W
11 expðΛzÞB11 expðΛzÞÞ

3.2. Evaluation of vertical displacement of source pile p11 ðz ¼ LÞ ¼ k b w11 ðz ¼ LÞ

ð17Þ
For a two-pile group, with only one pile (source pile) loaded
vertically, a general approximation method is proposed, as
illustrated schematically in Fig. 4. 4. Pile–soil–pile interaction
The complex vertical stiffness per unit length of the pile is
(Novak and Aboul-Ella 1978) The pile–soil–pile interaction may be determined using the
following definition:
K 1 ðan0 Þ n ia0
kw ¼ 2πGð1 þ i2DS Þan0 ; a ¼ pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi ð12Þ Additional head displacement of second pile caused by first pile
K 0 ðan0 Þ 0 1 þ i2DS α¼
Head displacement of first pile considered individually
The complex base stiffness of the pile, kb, is defined as ð18Þ
(Bycroft 1956) In the proposed method, four steps are used to determine the
k b ¼ Gðd=2ÞðC w1 þ iC w2 Þ interaction factor between two batter piles, as shown in Fig. 5.
(
C w1 ¼ 5:33 þ0:364a0 1:41a20 These steps will be described subsequently.
ν ¼ 0:25 )
C w2 ¼ 5:06a0

Fig. 4. Illustration of influence of vertically loaded source pile on adjacent Fig. 5. Four steps for determination of interaction factor for two batter
free-loaded receiver pile. identical piles.
 M. Ghazavi et al. / Soils and Foundations 53 (2013) 789–803 793

Fig. 6. a) Illustration of a two-pile group with spacing s/d and departure angle β; b) geometry of batter pile groups with four piles and batter angle θ.

In Fig. 5, u and w are lateral and axial displacements of the pile is evaluated in order to calculate the displacement of the
source batter pile along its own axis, and ut and wt are its receiver pile. This displacement field can be evaluated
displacements along the global horizontal and vertical axes. considering the attenuation of the ground displacement from
The attenuated horizontal and vertical ground displacements the location of the source pile to the location of the receiver
adjacent to the receiver pile are u′t and w′t , respectively, and pile located at distance s from the source pile, as shown in
finally, u′ and w′ are the lateral and axial displacements of the Fig. 5(c).
receiver batter pile along its own axis. The calculation of these
displacements is given in detail in the following section. 4.2.1. Lateral movement [(ut) to (u′t)]
The displacement field around the loaded source pile is
4.1. Transfer of response of source batter pile to ground approximately evaluated considering an attenuation function.
response [(u,w) to (ut,wt)] This approximation yields a variation in lateral soil displace-
ment US with distance s from the lateral source loaded pile.
The first step involves the calculation of lateral and axial When a pile located along a line perpendicular to the
displacements of the source batter pile along its own axis. In direction of loading (β¼ 901) is affected essentially only by
the second step, these values are projected along the global S-waves with phase velocity Vs, the S-waves propagate from
axis of the free field in order to determine the displacement of the active pile. However, when β ¼ 01, the pile is affected by
the ground adjacent to the pile (Fig. 5(b)). The horizontal compression-extension waves coming from the active pile. For
displacement, ut, and the vertical displacement, wt, are β¼ 01, such waves propagate with an apparent phase velocity
obtained from and they are approximately equal to VLa (Gazetas and Dobrv,
" #  " # 1984). In this approach, the displacement of a segment of the
þ cos θ1  sin θ1 u ut
¼ ð19Þ receiver pile at depth z can be estimated from the displacement
þ sin θ1 þ cos θ1 w wt
of the source pile using an interaction factor, ψH. This
The resultant displacement of the ground adjacent to the source interaction factor depends on the spacing to diameter ratio
pile, δ, is given by between the two piles, s/d, the damping ratio of the soil, DS,
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi and the angle β between the line connecting the two piles and
δ ¼ u2t þ w2t ð20Þ the direction of the horizontal applied force (Fig. 6), i.e.,

As illustrated in Fig. 5(b), this resultant displacement is us ðs=d; β; z; tÞ ¼ ψ H ðs=d; βÞU 11 ðzÞexpðiωtÞ ð23Þ
inclined at angle γ with the normal axis (deflection angle), It may be sufficient to compute ψ (s/d,β) for any departure
H

which is given by angle of β between piles by using ψH(s/d, β ¼ 01) and ψH(s/d,
ut β¼ 901). These are given by Gazetas and Dobrv (1984) and
tan γ ¼ ð21Þ
wt expressed as
π
Considering the loading direction of the source pile (θp), the αh ¼ ψ H ðs=d; βÞ  ψ H ðs=d; 0Þ cos 2 β þ ψ H ðs=d; Þ sin 2 β ð24aÞ
direction of the soil stiffness (ϕ), and the inclination of the 2
source pile (θ1), the deflection angle (γ) is given by  s 0:5 D a  s  ia  s 
S 0 0
ψ H ðs=d; 0Þ ¼ 2 exp 0:5 exp 0:5
tan ðθp þ θ1 Þ= tan ϕ tan θ1 d ρ d ρ d
tan γ ¼ ð22Þ
1 þ tan ðθp þ θ1 Þ= tan ϕ  tan θ1 ð24bÞ
where tanϕ¼ Kh/Kv.  π   s 0:5  s   s 
ψ H s=d; ¼ 2 exp DS a0 0:5 exp ia0 0:5
2 d d d
4.2. Attenuation of ground displacement away from source ð24cÞ
pile [(ut,wt) to (u′t,w′t)]
where
The displacement of the ground affects the response of the ωd V La 3:4
a0 ¼ ; ρ¼ ¼ ð24dÞ
receiver pile. Thus, the displacement field around the source VS VS πð1υÞ
794 M. Ghazavi et al. / Soils and Foundations 53 (2013) 789–803

4.2.2. Axial movement [(wt) to (w′t)]

In order to calculate the interaction factor between two piles,
the dynamic displacement around a vibrating pile is described
by the following expression, initially introduced by Morse and
Ingard (1968), as reported by Dobry and Gazetas (1988):
αv ¼ ψ V ðs=dÞ ¼ ð2ðs=dÞÞ0:5 expðDS a0 ðs=dÞÞexpðia0 ðs=dÞÞ
ð25Þ

4.2.3. Resultant ground movement

The horizontal and vertical ground displacements at a
distance s from the source pile are given by
u′t ¼ αh ut w′t ¼ αv wt ð26Þ
The resultant displacement at distance s from the source pile
and departure angle β is δ′ that is inclined at an angle γ′, with
respect to the global vertical axis, as illustrated in Fig. 5.
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
δ′ ¼ u′2t þ w′2t ð27Þ

u′t
tan γ′ ¼ ð28Þ
w′t
The relationship between the directions of movement δ and
movement δ′ is explained with tanγ and tanγ′, respectively
(Fig. 5), as expressed by Fig. 7. Batter angle (θ2) of receiver batter pile.
u′t αh ut αh ut
tan γ′ ¼ ¼ ¼  ð29Þ
w′t αv wt αv wt and along the resultant direction is defined as
or qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
u′t þ w′t
2 2 αh 2  ðut Þ2 þ αv 2  ðwt Þ2
γ ¼ γ′ þ α ð30Þ αt ¼ δ′=δ ¼4 αt ¼ pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi ¼ qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
u2t þ w2t ðut Þ2 þ ðwt Þ2
where α can be obtained from
ð34Þ
tan γ  ð1 tan ðαh =αv ÞÞ
tan α ¼ ð31Þ
1 þ tan ðαh =αv Þ tan 2 γ By combining Eqs. (19) and (26), the lateral and axial
Ιt is noted that αv and αh are not equal; thus, based on Eq. (31), movements of the receiver batter pile are given by
it is concluded that γ′ a γ. " #  " #
þ αh cos θ1 αh sin θ1 u u′t
¼ ð35Þ
þ αv sin θ1 þ αv cos θ1 w w′t
4.3. Ground displacement along local axis of receiver batter
pile [(u′t,w′t) to (u′,w′)] By combining Eqs. (32) and (35), the following equation can
be obtained:
Following the calculation of the ground displacements " #" # 
adjacent to the receiver pile, these values must be projected þ cos θ2  sin θ2 þ αh cos θ1 αh sin θ1 u
to the local axis of the receiver batter pile, as shown in Fig. 7. þ sin θ2 þ cos θ2 þ αv sin θ1 þ αv cos θ1 w
Lateral displacement u′ and axial displacement w′ at the      
receiver pile head are obtained from u′ u u′
" #" #   ¼ or ½I½II ¼
w′ w w′
þ cos θ2  sin θ2 u′t u′
¼ ð32Þ ð36Þ
þ sin θ2 þ cos θ2 w′t w′
In Eq. (36), matrix [I] represents the influence of the batter
The interaction factor for two batter piles along their own
angle of the receiver batter pile and matrix [II] shows both the
horizontal and vertical axes
influence of the batter angle of the source pile and the presence
ααh ¼ u′=u and ααv ¼ w′=w ð33Þ of the receiver pile. For the two batter piles with an equal
 M. Ghazavi et al. / Soils and Foundations 53 (2013) 789–803 795

inclination angle (i.e., θ1 ¼ θ2 ¼ θ), we have ððk1 Þþ iðk 2 þ cp ωÞ=E P I P Þ U

"
#    21 ¼
CU C 11 ð40Þ
þ αh cos 2 θαv sin 2 θ  αh þ2 αv sin 2θ 4R3 ðcþ diÞ3
u u′
αh þ αv
¼ Considering Eq. (40), B′U U
þ 2 sin 2θ þ αv cos 2 θαh sin 2 θ w w′ 21 and C′21 are determined from
" #" U #
" #    Rðaþ biÞ Rðcþ diÞ B′21
αu′u αu′w u u′ R ðaþ biÞ R ðcþ diÞ
3 3 3 3
C′U
or ¼ ð37Þ 21
αw′u αw′w w w′ " #" U #
1 1 B21
Parameters αh and αv, defined in Eqs. (24) and (25), are used ¼ ð41Þ
3R ðaþ biÞ 3R ðc þ diÞ
2 2 2 2
CU21
in the absence of the receiver batter pile to determine the
interaction between the two piles. It is useful to express the pile-to-pile interaction in terms of the
dynamic interaction factor. From Eq. (41) and for z ¼ 0, it is
obvious that
4.4. Interaction for receiver pile
U 21
α′h ¼ ð42Þ
Consider now, for lateral loading, the second (receiver) pile U 11
located at distance r¼ s from the first (source) pile. Soil The horizontal dynamic interaction factor, defined by Eq.
displacement field US(z,t), due to the load on the first pile, (42), is valid when the receiver pile is assumed to be
excites the second pile, and the horizontal displacement of the present, whereas Eq. (24a)–(24d) is applied when the
receiver pile is equal to U21(z,t). Considering the dynamic receiver pile is assumed to be absent. For verification and
equilibrium for the second pile under lateral loading and using to explain the difference between the interaction factors for
US(z) from Eq. (23), the horizontal amplitude of the receiver the presence and the absence of the receiver pile conditions,
pile displacement, U21(z), is given by a group of two vertical piles with s/d=5 are considered.
d 4 U 21 ðzÞ Other results showed similar behavior. The dynamic
EP I P þ ððk1 mp ω2 Þþ iðk2 þ cp ωÞÞU 21 ðzÞ response results for the fixed-head piles, subjected to
dz4
horizontal oscillation, are presented in Fig. 8, where these
¼ ððk1 Þþ iðk2 þ cp ωÞÞψ H ðs=d; βÞU 11 ðzÞ ð38Þ interaction factors are obtained assuming the presence or the
The particular solution, UP(z), and the homogeneous solu- absence of the receiver pile. The results for these two cases
tion, UG(z), are obtained in a similar manner to that used for are compared with the rigorous solutions presented by
computing U11(z). The horizontal amplitude of the receiver Kaynia and Kausel (1982). As seen, with the presence of
pile displacement, U21(z), is obtained from the receiver pile, the real and the imaginary parts of the
horizontal interaction factor decrease.
U 21 ðzÞ ¼ ψ H ðs=d; βÞðU P ðzÞþ U G ðzÞÞ
( Ghazavi and Ravanshenas, 2008a, 2008b found that for a
Rða þ biÞz Rðc þ diÞz
U P ðzÞ ¼ zðBU21 e þ CU
21 e Þ two-pile group subjected to horizontal loading, considering
) U Rða þ biÞz U Rðc þ diÞz ð39Þ the presence of the receiver pile, the interaction factor is
U G ðzÞ ¼ ðB′21 e þ C′21 e Þ
sometimes reduced to 25% compared with the conventional
where B′U U
21 and C′21 are new integration constants determined
analysis in which the presence of the receiver pile is
from the boundary conditions of the receiver pile (i.e., zero ignored.
force and rotation at the pile head). These are Consider now, for vertical loading, a second (receiver) pile
located at a distance r=s from the first pile. The first pile,
ððk 1 Þþ iðk2 þ cp ωÞ=EP I P Þ U
21 ¼ 
BU B11 ; w21(z,s,t), induces displacements in the soil; in turn, the
4R3 ða þ biÞ3 soil induces displacements in the second pile (w21(z,t)).

Fig. 8. Interaction factors for horizontal displacement of pile 2 due to horizontal force on pile 1 for θ ¼01, s/d ¼5, L/d¼ 15, EP/ES ¼1000, ρS/ρP ¼ 0.7.
796 M. Ghazavi et al. / Soils and Foundations 53 (2013) 789–803

The dynamic equilibrium for the second pile under vertical 5. Parametric results and comparisons
loading is
The various components of the interaction factor in matrix
d2 w11 ðz; tÞ d 2 w11 ðz; tÞ form, represented by Eq. (37) (for example, αu′u is the portion
mp 2
E P AP þ k v ðw21 ðz; tÞw21 ðz; s; tÞÞ ¼ 0
dt dz2 displacement u′ of displacement u), varying with the departure
ð43Þ angle (β), the distance ratio (s/d), the dimensionless frequency
(a0), the pile diameter (d), and the batter angles of the source
Using w21(z,t)=w21(z)exp(iωt), the particular and general and the receiver pile (θ1, θ2), are shown in Figs. 10 and 11
solutions for W21(z) are obtained from where either the presence or the absence of the receiver batter
pile is considered.
Λψ V zðζ′Þ In Eq. (37), if parameters αh and αv, defined in Eqs. (24) and
W 21 ðzÞ ¼ W P ðzÞþ W G ðzÞ ¼ ðAW
11 expðΛzÞ
2 (25), are used, the various components of the interaction factor
þ BW between a two-pile group in matrix form are for the absence of
11 expðΛzÞÞ þ ðA′21 expðΛzÞ þ B′21 expðΛzÞÞ
W W
the receiver batter pile. If parameters αh and αv, defined in Eqs.
ð44Þ (42) and (47), are used, (instead of αh and αv), these
where components are for the presence of the receiver batter pile to
ðkv þ icv ωÞ determine the interaction between a two-pile group. Other
ðζ′Þ ¼ ð45Þ results showed a similar trend.
ðkv mP ω2 þ icv ωÞ
From Figs. 10 and 11, it is observed that the absence or
A′W W presence of the assumption of the receiver pile leads to
21 and B′21 are new integration constants determined from
the boundary conditions of the receiver pile which are different interaction factors. If the presence of the receiver
pile is ignored, greater vibration amplitudes are computed.
ð1Þ p21 ðz ¼ 0Þ ¼ p0 ¼ 0 This gives greater displacements, and thus, lower pile group
ð46Þ stiffness. As a result, the design of pile groups may be
ð2Þ K b  w21 ðz ¼ LÞ ¼ p21 ðz ¼ LÞ
uneconomical. In practice, when the pile group is loaded, all
piles are usually present and installed close to each other.
The pile-to-pile interaction for z=0 is expressed as
Thus, in the computation of the pile–soil–pile interaction, the
w21 presence of the receiver pile must be taken into consideration.
α′v ¼ ð47Þ
w11 Therefore, the findings of this paper could be used for design
purposes.
The vertical dynamic interaction factor, defined by Eq. (47), Fig. 12 shows the influence of the inclined angle of the
is applied to consider the presence of the receiver pile, receiver pile on the interaction factor, while the presence of the
whereas Eq. (25) is used for the case when the receiver pile receiver pile is considered. Fig. 13 shows the variation in the
is absent. For verification, a two-pile group with s/d ¼ 5 is inclined angle of either the source pile or the receiver pile,
considered and the dynamic response results for the fixed- while the presence of the receiver pile is considered. Changes
head vertical piles subjected to vertical oscillation are in the interaction factors are more pronounced with an
computed, as shown in Fig. 9. Other results showed similar increasing batter angle of the receiver batter pile, while the
behavior. As seen in Fig. 9, the interaction factors are source pile is vertical. In addition, changes in the interaction
determined assuming the presence or the absence of the factors are more remarkable with increasing batter angles of
receiver pile and compared with the rigorous solutions given both source and receiver piles in a two-pile group, as expressed
by Kaynia and Kausel (1982). by Eq. (37).

Fig. 9. Interaction factors for vertical displacement of pile 2 due to horizontal force on pile 1, θ¼01, s/d¼5, L/d¼ 15, EP/ES ¼1000, ρS/ρP ¼ 0.7.
 M. Ghazavi et al. / Soils and Foundations 53 (2013) 789–803 797

Fig. 10. Comparison between various components of interaction factor (I.F) in matrix form represented by Eq. (37) with presence and absence of receiver batter pile
and for β¼451, θ1 ¼θ2 ¼ θ¼ 151, and S/d¼8.
798 M. Ghazavi et al. / Soils and Foundations 53 (2013) 789–803

Fig. 11. Comparison between various components of interaction factor (I.F) in matrix form represented by Eq. (37) with presence and absence of receiver batter pile
and for β ¼451, θ1 ¼ 01, θ2 ¼ 151, and S/d¼ 8.
 M. Ghazavi et al. / Soils and Foundations 53 (2013) 789–803 799

Fig. 12. Comparison between various components of interaction factor (I.F) in matrix form represented by Eq. (37) with presence of receiver batter pile and for
β¼ 451, θ1 ¼ 01, θ2 ¼ θ¼01, 10 and 201, and S/d¼ 5.
800 M. Ghazavi et al. / Soils and Foundations 53 (2013) 789–803

Fig. 13. Comparison between various components of interaction factor (I.F) in matrix form represented by Eq. (37) with presence of receiver batter pile and for
β¼ 451, θ1 ¼θ2 ¼ θ¼ 01, 101 and 201, and S/d ¼5.
 M. Ghazavi et al. / Soils and Foundations 53 (2013) 789–803 801

6. Conclusions  For a given batter angle, with an increasing pile spacing and
departure angle, the interaction between two batter piles decreases.
In this paper, the behavior of a two-batter pile group  The interaction decreases with an increasing batter angle
subjected to an inclined external force has been investigated with respect to the vertical direction.
using an analytical solution. Parametric studies have been  Assuming the presence of the receiver pile in a two-pile group,
performed to determine the interaction factor with various pile the interaction factor between the two piles decreases, resulting
properties, pile geometries, pile distances, soil properties, in lower vibration amplitudes, greater stiffness, and a more
dimensionless frequencies, and batter angles for the source economical design. This reduction with a variation in dimen-
and receiver piles. The effect of the absence or presence of the sionless frequency, for both real and imaginary components of
receiver pile in a two-pile group has also been investigated. interaction factors for the battered pile group, is non-uniform.
The general findings in this research may be outlined as The changes in interaction factors are more pronounced
follows: with increasing batter angles in a two-pile group.

Appendix
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