Modeling Laterally Loaded Single Piles Accounting for Nonlinear Soil-Pile Interactions

Abstract

The nonlinear behavior of a laterally loaded monopile foundation is studied using the finite element method (FEM) to account for soil-pile interactions. Three-dimensional (3D) finite element modeling is a convenient and reliable approach to account for the continuity of the soil mass and the nonlinearity of the soil-pile interactions. Existing simple methods for predicting the deflection of laterally loaded single piles in sand and clay (e.g., beam on elastic foundation,p-ymethod, and SALLOP) are assessed using linear and nonlinear finite element analyses. The results indicate that for the specific case considered here thep-ymethod provides a reasonable accuracy, in spite of its simplicity, in predicting the lateral deflection of single piles. A simplified linear finite element (FE) analysis of piles, often used in the literature, is also investigated and the influence of accounting for the pile diameter in the simplified linear FE model is evaluated. It is shown that modeling the pile as a line with beam-column elements results in a reduced contribution of the surrounding soil to the lateral stiffness of the pile and an increase of up to 200% in the predicted maximum lateral displacement of the pile head.

Force Performance Analysis of Pile Behavior of the Lateral Load

“…In the past, piles were unquestionably strengthened [4]. Nowadays, the designers are minimizing the length of reinforcing bars; therefore, they are scaling back the number of piles [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. This reduction needs excellent separation for the cases wherever the piles would entirely or partly require reinforcement, and in cases where the reinforcement has been eliminated.…”

Laterally Loaded Single Pile Response Considering the Influence of Suction and Non-Linear Behaviour of Reinforced Concrete Sections

“…Once these two solutions have been computed, the incremental ratio, ε, is computed according to Equation (6).…”

Wind turbines and seismic hazard: a state-of-the-art review

“…Particularly, the Mohr–Coulomb plasticity model was utilized to define the nonlinear behavior of soil media, and an elastic–plastic Coulomb model along with advanced modeling techniques (i.e., use of ‘contact pairs’ provided by ABAQUS) was adopted to describe the nonlinear response of the soil–pile contact. Such an advanced modeling of soil–foundation system was favored therein, because the conventional methods used to quantify the SSI effects, i.e., the Winkler elastic foundation models or the p‐y curves adopted by Reese & Wang to design pile foundations for wind turbines, were found to result in inaccurate dynamic response results . The latter was profound for the large pile sizes typical of the offshore wind turbines.…”

“…Such an advanced modeling of soilfoundation system was favored therein, because the conventional methods used to quantify the SSI effects, i.e., the Winkler 133 elastic foundation models or the p-y curves adopted by Reese & Wang 134 to design pile foundations for wind turbines, were found to result in inaccurate dynamic response results. 135 The latter was profound for the large pile sizes typical of the offshore wind turbines. The high computational sources required for the dynamic analysis of the entire FE model (i.e., consisting of the wind turbine along with the underneath soil-foundation system) did not inhibit other researches from applying this time-costly procedure to elaborate the SSI effects on wind turbines seismic performance (e. g., 41,69,100,136 ).…”