Comparative Study of Pile-Soil Interaction Analysis Methods

Abstract

m-method is a widely used method for pile-soil interaction analysis. The main shortcoming of traditional m-method is ignoring the non-linear of soil. The actual relationship between the m and the displacement of pile (y) caused by loads is non-linear; however, it is unreasonable to used a linear curve and a fixed value of m during the calculation. Two methods for getting the m-y curve based on the p-y curve and the NL method are given. Linear spring is used and the m is dynamic modified based on the m-y curve by iteration. A test problem of a large-diameter monopile for offshore wind turbine is given and the dynamic modification of m of the full-range, the shallow and the deep-seated soil are carried out. It reveals that the dynamic modification of m by iteration made it possible to consider the non-linear of soil; the difference between the traditional m-method and the p-y curve method or NL method is caused by the way that using one and fixed m value and it is reasonable to use the non-linear m-y curve obtained by in-situ test; the lateral load-bearing capacity of the pile is influenced mainly by the soil between the mud-line and the depth of 3~5D (pile diameter), so that the dynamic modification of the m can be carried out for this part of soil to raise efficiency.