DR.

SUMAN ROY
ADVANCED FOUNDATION ENGINEERING DEPT. OF CIVIL ENGINEERING
NIT ROURKELA
CIVL 4103 Email: [email protected]
MODULE 3 (LECTURE 1) : DESIGN OF PILE FOUNDATION
Pile Foundation

Piles are structural members made of steel, concrete, or timber. They are deep foundations where the depth
(or length) is significantly larger than the width.

Pile Foundation Recommendation

In weak ground conditions In weak ground conditions For carrying lateral loads
When the soil conditions near If bed rock is not present Tall buildings, transmission towers,
the surface are poor and if at reasonable depth, the and chimneys, can be subjected to
bedrock is present at pile is driven into a thick large lateral loading due to wind
reasonable depth, it is possible deposit of soil.
soil The load loads, earth pressures,
pressures or seismic
to drive the pile into bedrock. applied on the pile head is loads The piles can resist lateral
loads.
The load applied on the pile transferred to the soil loads very effectively.
head is transferred to the soil through the pile shaft.
through the pile tip.
Pile Foundation

Pile Foundation Recommendation

For resisting uplift For expansive soils or collapsible soils

In transmission towers, Shallow foundations placed in expansive soil
offshore platforms the can undergo repeated swelling and
foundations must be able to shrinkage due to seasonal variations, which
resist uplift. The bottoms of cause considerable damage to the
the piles are enlarged to superstructure. Piles can be driven well
provide anchorage against beyond the depths where the expansive
uplift Such piles are known
uplift. soil/collapsible soil are present, so this
as “underreamed” piles. problem can be avoided.
Pile Foundation – Types of Piles

Different types of piles are used in practice, depending on the type of load to be carried, soil
conditions, location of the water table, and the installation technique that is required.

Types of Pile Foundations Steel Piles

• Steel piles generally are either pipe piles or rolled

steel H-section piles that are installed by driving.
• Pipe piles can be driven into the ground with their
ends open or closed.
• H-section piles are usually preferred because their
web and flange thicknesses are equal.

H-section piles Pipe piles

Pile Foundation – Types of Piles

Concrete Piles Precast piles

• Concrete piles may be divided into two basic

categories: (a) precast piles and (b) cast-in--
situ piles.
• Precast piles can be prepared by using
ordinary reinforcement, and they can be
square or octagonal in cross section. The piles
are cast to desired lengths and cured before
being transported to the work sites.
• Cast-in-situ, or cast-in-place, piles are built Cast-in-situ piles
by making a hole in the ground and then filling
it with concrete. These piles may be divided
into two broad categories: (a) cased and (b)
uncased.
• Cased piles are made by driving a steel casing
into the ground with the help of a mandrel
placed inside the casing. After reaching proper
depth, the mandrel is withdrawn and the
casing is filled with concrete.
Pile Foundation – Types of Piles

Timber Piles Timber piles

• Timber piles are tree trunks that have had their

branches and bark carefully trimmed off.To To
qualify for use as a pile, the timber should be
straight, sound, and without any defects.
• Timber piles cannot withstand hard driving
stress; therefore, the pile capacity is generally
limited. Steel shoes may be used to avoid
damage at the pile tip (bottom). Composite Piles
• The tops of timber piles may also be damaged
during the driving operation. To avoid damage to • The upper and lower portions of
the top of the pile, a metal band or a cap may be composite piles are made of different
used. materials. For example, composite
piles may be made of steel and
• In marine environments, Timber piles are subject concrete or timber and concrete.
to attack by various organisms and can be
damaged extensively in a few months. The life of • This type of pile is used when the
the piles may be increased by treating them with length of the pile required for
preservatives. adequate bearing exceeds the
capacity of simple cast-in-place
place
concrete piles.
Pile Foundation – Installation of Piles

There are different ways of installing piles, depending on the type of pile and the ground
conditions Steel, timber, and precast concrete piles are generally driven into the ground using
conditions.
an impact hammer or a vibratory hammer.
A traditional impact pile driver allows a heavy hammer to slide up and down between guide rails,
hitting the pile head and making the tip penetrate the ground by a few millimeters for every
blow The weight is raised by power from compressed air, steam, hydraulics, diesel, or simply by
blow.
manual labor.

Pile driving • Installation of piles generally causes lateral

displacement of the surrounding soil.
• The extent of displacement depends on the method
of installation and other factors.
• Driven piles generally cause high displacements: the
larger the diameter, the larger the displacements.
• Cast-in-place piles (or bored piles) literally cause no
displacement and are known as non displacement
piles.
• H-piles and open-ended pipe piles cause little
displacement and are known as low-displacement
piles.
Pile Foundation – Load Carrying Mechanism

Piles generally carry the applied column load through skin friction along the pile shaft and the
bearing capacity at the pile point (or tip).

When the pile carries the ultimate load Qu, the ultimate shaft resistance and ultimate point
resistance are denoted by Qs and Qp, respectively. From equilibrium considerations,
Qu = Qs + Qp

Point-Bearing Piles In situations where the Friction Piles If there is no stiff

soil near the ground stratum within
surface is weak and reasonable depth, point
there is bedrock or a stiff bearing piles can
stratum (e.g., stiff clay or become expensive.
dense sand) located at Here it is necessary to
relatively shallow rely on the shaft
depths, it is possible to resistance, which
drive the piles through comes from skin
the weak soil into the friction or adhesion.
stiff stratum and transfer The point resistance
the load to the underlying becomes insignificant.
stiff stratum. In friction piles,
In point bearing piles, Qu = Qs
Qu = Qp
Pile Foundation – Load Carrying Mechanism

The load transfer mechanism from a pile to the soil is complicated.

Shaft Resistance Nature of the variation of load carried by

the pile shaft
To understand it, consider a pile of length L. The load
on the pile is gradually increased from zero to Q(z=0) at
the ground surface.
Part of this load will be resisted by the side friction
developed along the shaft, Q1, and the rest by the soil
below the tip of the pile, Q2.
The nature of the variation of found frictional
resistance per unit area at any depth z may be
determined as

where p = perimeter of the cross section of the pile

If the load Q at the ground surface is gradually
increased, maximum frictional resistance along the
pile shaft will be fully mobilized when the relative
displacement between the soil and the pile is about 5
to 10 mm, irrespective of the pile size and length.
Pile Foundation – Load Carrying Mechanism

Point Resistance Nature of the failure zone at the pile tip

At ultimate load, the failure surface in the soil at the

pile tip (a bearing capacity failure caused by Qp) is
similar to local or punching shear failure.
Pile foundations are deep foundations and that the soil
fails mostly in a punching mode. That is, a triangular
zone, I, is developed at the pile tip, which is pushed
downward without producing any other visible slip
surface.
In dense sands and stiff clayey soil, a radial shear
zone, II, may partially develop.
Variation of load carried by the pile
The maximum point resistance will be mobilized when
the tip of the pile has moved about 10 to 25% of the pile
width.

Thus, the total variation of the load carried by the pile

which is a combination of shaft and point resistance is
shown in the figure.
Pile Foundation – Determination of Point Bearing Capacity

Pile foundations are deep and has a similar failure pattern to shallow foundation for the tip. Thus,
the ultimate tip resistance per unit area may be expressed by an equation similar in form. The
point bearing of piles is given as

Because the width D of a pile is relatively small, the term gDNg* may be dropped from the right
side of the preceding equation without introducing a serious error. Thus, point-bearing capapcity
of piles can be given as,
Pile Foundation – Determination of Point Bearing Capacity (Meyerhof)

Determination of Point Resistance in Cohesionless

soils (Meyerhof, 1976)

The point bearing capacity of

In a homogeneous soil,
a pile in cohesionless soil
Lb is equal to the actual
generally increases with the
embedment length of
depth of embedment in the
the pile, L. Where a pile
bearing stratum and reaches
has penetrated into a
a maximum value at an
bearing stratum, Lb<L.
embedment ratio of (Lb/D)cr.

Point resistance for cohesionless soils

Beyond the critical
embedment ratio, the value

effective soil friction of cohesionless

Chart for determination of Nq* as per
of point resistance remains
constant.

The equation of point resistance is

soils (Meyerhof, 1976)

where ql is the limiting point resistance given as
Pile Foundation – Determination of Point Bearing Capacity (Meyerhof and Vesic)

Determination of Point Resistance in cohesive soils (Meyerhof, 1976)

For piles in saturated clays under undrained conditions, the net ultimate load can be given as
MODULE 3 (LECTURE 2) : DESIGN OF PILE FOUNDATION
Pile Foundation – Determination of Point Bearing Capacity (Vesic)

Determination of Point Resistance in Cohesionless Soils (Vesic, 1977)

Vesic (1977) proposed a method for estimating the pile point bearing capacity based on the
theory of expansion of cavities. According to this theory, on the basis of effective stress
parameters, we may write

The value of Ns* is dependent on the reduced rigidity index (Irr) of the soil

Chart for determination of Ns* as

per Theory of Expansion of
Cavities (Vesic, 1977)
Pile Foundation – Determination of Point Bearing Capacity (Vesic)

Determination of Point Resistance in Cohesionless Soils (Vesic, 1977)

Determination of the reduced rigidity index of the soil

In order to estimate Irr the following approximations given by Chen and Kulhawy (1994) can be
used

where

which can be determined from which can be determined from

which can be determined from

Pile Foundation – Determination of Point Bearing Capacity (Vesic)

Determination of Point Resistance in Cohesive Soils (Vesic, 1977)

For piles in saturated clays under undrained conditions, the net ultimate load can be given as

where
Pile Foundation – Determination of Shaft Resistance in Sand

As discussed during the load transfer mechanism, the frictional resistance of a pile can be
given as

In making an estimation of f, there are several important factors

For driven piles in sand, the vibration caused during pile driving
helps densify the soil around the pile. The zone of sand
densification may be as much as 2.5 times the pile diameter.

It has been observed that the nature of variation of unit skin

friction increases with depth more or less linearly to a critical
depth L’ and remains constant. The magnitude of the critical
depth may be 15 to 20 times pile diameters. (This is already
observed during load transfer mechanism)

At similar depths, the unit skin friction in loose sand is higher

for a high displacement pile compared with a low-displacement
pile.

At similar depths, bored piles will have a lower unit skin friction
compared with driven piles.
Pile Foundation – Determination of Shaft Resistance in Sand

Taking into account the preceding factors, we can give the following approximate relationship
for f,

Based on presently available results, the following average values of K are generally
recommended

The values of d can be taken from 0.5f’ to 0.8f’.

Pile Foundation – Determination of Shaft Resistance in Clay

Estimating the frictional (or skin) resistance of piles in clay is as difficult a task as estimating
that in sand due to the presence of several variables that cannot easily be quantified. Several
methods for obtaining the unit frictional resistance of piles are described in the literature.

l method (Vijayvergiya and Focht,1972)

This method is based on the assumption that the displacement of soil caused by pile driving
results in a passive lateral pressure at any depth and that the average unit skin resistance is

Variation of l with Embedment

Thus, the total frictional resistance is

length of pile
How will you apply this method for a layered soil?
Pile Foundation – Determination of Shaft Resistance in Clay

a method

This is a total stress method where the unit skin resistance is expressed as

where a is an empirical adhesion factor that lies in the range of 0–1, decreasing with the
undrained shear strength cu

There are various co-relations of a

Sladen (1992) API (2007) NGI-99

The ultimate side resistance can thus be given as

Pile Foundation – Determination of Shaft Resistance in Clay

b method

This method determines the unit frictional resistance for the pile can be determined on the basis
of the effective stress parameters of the clay in a remolded state.

The magnitude of K is the earth pressure coefficient at rest

Thus, the total frictional resistance is