Research Projects

Precise analysis and design of pile foundations under lateral loads have been a topic of interest since the last few decades, however, the design guidelines rarely account for the involved behavioural complexities. One of the major underlying reasons being the lack of applicability of the soil reaction curves used to in the routinely practice design methodology particularly when it needs to consider a site-specific soli response within pile-soil interaction. As a result, it is imperative to conduct a comprehensive study that will account for the pertinent aspects related to a realistic pile response such as varying load combinations, complex soil response. An advanced soil constitutive model has been considered which can capture pertinent non-linearities in the soil response with varying strain amplitudes, soil stiffness reduction due to the stress reversals, the evolution of stress-induced anisotropy (a direct consequence of the depositional history), progressive degradation of the meta-stable structure of the soil skeleton, frequently observed in natural soil deposits. The constitutive relations will be implemented in the finite element (FE) analysis of pile foundations in form of a material subroutine. The analysis will provide relevant insights on the induced lateral displacement and bending moment profiles of pile, rotation at head, post cyclic pile capacities. The FE results are expected to provide not only the deterioration of pile capacity under cyclic loads, also accurately exhibit the permanent accumulated rotation at the head, leading towards a progressive collapse. A refined pile analysis and design model will be proposed based on these FE results. Subsequently, the design recommendations will be compared with the ones obtained from different specific-purpose program/software routinely practiced for analysing pile response under cyclic lateral loads. Outcomes from this research project are anticipated to provide a framework to comprehend the progressive deformation of pile under lateral loading, contributing significantly towards the sustainable design aspects of pile foundations under challenging conditions.