Advances in Civil Engineering - 2020 - Xu - New Method for Calculating the Settlement of Single Pile and Pile Group in Soft
Advances in Civil Engineering - 2020 - Xu - New Method for Calculating the Settlement of Single Pile and Pile Group in Soft
Research Article
New Method for Calculating the Settlement of Single
Pile and Pile Group in Soft Soil Area
Received 25 May 2020; Revised 1 October 2020; Accepted 20 October 2020; Published 11 November 2020
Copyright © 2020 Jingjing Xu et al. +is is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License,
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
+is paper fits the τ-z curve of a single pile by mathematical methods. Based on the one-dimensional similarity of the τ-z curves,
the τ-z curves of single pile under different loads are derived. It studies the distribution of the axial force of a single pile by taking
the self-weight of the pile and the pile-end resistance ratio into account and establishes the calculated equation of settlement for
single pile. +e mutual reinforcing effect between the piles is fully considered, and the settlement of each foundation pile in the pile
group is deduced in use of shear displacement method. +e example analysis shows that the axial force distribution of single pile
considering the self-weight and the pile-end resistance ratio is in good agreement with the experimental data. +e settlement error
of a single pile calculated by the traditional method is 18.52% compared with measured value. When the self-weight and end
resistance ratio are not considered, the error reaches 2.26%. However, the error could reduce to 1.64% when they are taken into
consideration. It has a good applicability to calculate the settlement of pile group through the τ-z curves of single pile. Also, it can
better forecast the settlement behavior of the pile group under similar conditions.
+e foundation parameters are obtained through back skin friction, and the settlement of the pile top almost comes
analysis of the load test, and the interaction between the piles from the compression of the pile body, which is shown as
is described by the mutual interaction factor [8, 9]. Mao and purely frictional pile [15, 17]. +erefore, it is assumed that
Jiang [10] analyzed the load test of a single pile and obtained the piles studied in this paper behave as frictional piles.
the equivalent deformation modulus. +e Mindlin solution, A loading test on a single pile S3 in multilayered soils was
Boussinesq solution, and the superposition principle were obtained from Xin [18]. +e site has 23.36 meters silty clay,
used to compute the interaction between the piles in the pile and the thickness of the soft soil is 52.3 m. +e parameters of
group, and the C++ program was compiled to calculate the soils are as shown in Table 1. Figure 1 illustrates the
settlement of pile group. Pan et al. [11] established a load schematic diagram of the pile and soil strata. +e test pile, S3,
transfer model for a single pile which is similar to hyperbolic is 1.1 m in diameter with a length of 88.17 m. It is a typical
function. Based on the Runge-Kutta method, they consid- super-long pile in the soft soil area. +e bearing stratum is
ered the pile to pile interaction and proposed an improved moderately weathered bedrock and the pile top settlement is
load transfer method to calculate response of the pile group. 49.52 mm under bearing load.
+e key for calculating the settlement of pile group by a In the literature, the τ-z curves under different loads are
single pile is the analysis of the interactions among piles. similar. +e parameter φ � z/La is introduced where La is
Moreover, the consideration of the mutual reinforcing ef- the effective length of pile and z is the depth from the pile
fects plays a very important role in analyzing the interactions top. In this paper, La is taken as the value of pile length. τ(φ)
between piles. Liang et al. [12], Yan and Zhang [13], and Xin is the value of skin friction with change of φ. +e polynomial
[14] considered the effect of the foundation pile itself on the function is used to fit the relationship between skin friction
deformation of soil and studied the reinforcement effect of and effective depth under a certain load P0 . When the
the pile group. Sheil and McCabe [15] took the reinforce- polynomial is of order six in origin software, it is enough to
ment effect of unloaded pile into account and calculated the meet the fitting accuracy requirements. Taking P0 � 9600 kN
settlement of pile raft foundation by nonlinear iterative as an example, the fitting function is obtained as follows:
method. Not only is the settlement of the piles in the group
pile foundation related to the skin friction of the piles, but in
also is closely related to the mutual reinforcement effect of τ(φ) � gi φi � 0.43052 − 8.07 × 103 φ6 + 2.49 × 104 φ5
other surrounding piles [15, 16]. i�0
In addition to the load-settlement curve, the τ-z curves − 2.86 × 104 φ4 + 1.50 × 104 φ3 − 3.49 × 103 φ2
obtained from the static load test also contain rich infor-
mation of pile-soil interaction. Moreover, it can well reflect + 3.52 × 102 φ.
the feedback of the pile and soil under the axial load. In this (1)
work, the τ-z curves obtained from test under a certain load
are fitted, and thus the τ-z curves under different loads are In (1), gi is the polynomial coefficient [19]. +e fitting
derived from it. Considering the effect of the existence of curve and measured curve are shown in Figure 2. As shown
piles on surrounding soil and the mutual reinforcing effect in Figure 2, the skin friction first increases and then de-
between piles, the settlement of pile group is deduced by the creases with the increase of depth. +e friction resistance
τ-z curves of a single pile. By comparison with the numerical along pile is gradually developed, and the skin friction of
analysis method, the method proposed in this work greatly upper soil layer is prior to that of lower soil layer. It is an
saves the calculation time, and the calculated results are in asynchronous process. +e correlation coefficient of two
good agreement with test value. curves, R2 , equals 0.9319. +e closer the value of R2 is to 1,
the better the accuracy of fitting curve is.
2. Fitting and Derivation of Single Pile It is not difficult to find from Xin et al. [18] that τ-z
curves under different loads have some common features
Under the different axial load of pile top, although the along the depth. +e magnitude and direction of tangent
magnitude of pile side friction along depth is different, its slope of τ-z curves are approximately the same, though the
curves are close to each other along the tangent direction of values of skin friction are different at the same depth. +ere
the corresponding side friction when the depth changes. In are similar situations found in other literatures, such as Zhu
other words, the development of pile side friction along the et al. [20], McCabe [21], and Chen [15]. It can also be said
depth under different load levels has a certain proportion that there is one-dimensional similarity between τ-z curves
relationship. +ey are similar in one-dimensional direction. under different loads. Let τ 0 (φ) be the fitting curve of skin
One-dimensional similarity was introduced to describe this friction; τ ∗ (φ) is the derived curve of skin friction at the
phenomenon. In this work, based on an example, the same depth and Δ(φ) is any small differentiable function.
functional expressions between the skin friction and the +e following is the derivation of the above-mentioned
depth of a single pile are obtained by fitting. According to the terms:
one-dimensional similarity of τ-z curves, the disparate
functional expressions under different loads are derived. τ ∗ (φ) � τ 0 (φ) + Δ(φ). (2)
For the super-long pile in soft soil area, the bearing Let
capacity provided by pile end is very small under working
load. Almost all the bearing capacity is provided by the pile Δ(φ) � h · τ 0 (φ), (3)
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Advances in Civil Engineering 3
1 τ (kPa)
3–1 0 10 20 30 40
3–2
0.2
3–3
4–1
4–2 0.4
5–1
5–2 φ
0.6
6–1
6–2
0.8
7–1
8
1.0
9–1
Measured value
9–2
Fitting curve
Figure 2: +e fitting curve of skin friction when load is 9600 kN.
9–3
functional expressions between the skin friction and the
Figure 1: +e schematic diagram of the pile and soil strata. effective depth under any load by
in i
P∗ n
τ(z) � (1 + h) · gi φi � g φi . (7)
i�0
P0 i�0 i
where h is the infinitesimal parameter. +en, (2) changes to
When the pile top load P∗ � 12000 kN, substitute P∗ , P0 ,
τ ∗ (φ) � (1 + h) · τ 0 (φ). (4)
and (1) into (7). So, the functional expressions between pile
And skin friction and the depth can be written as
z τ(φ) � 0.53815 − 1.009 × 104 φ6 + 3.111 × 104 φ5
P0 � π D τ 0 (φ)dz, (5)
0
− 3.579 × 104 φ4 + 1.871 × 104 φ3 − 4.357 × 103 φ2
z z
P∗ � π D τ ∗ (φ)dz � (1 + h)π D τ 0 (φ)dz, (6) + 4.407 × 102 φ.
0 0
(8)
where P0 , P∗ is the corresponding load of τ 0 (φ), τ ∗ (φ), +e calculated skin friction by derived equation is
respectively. It is easy to get the value of h by (6). +erefore, compared with the measured data, as shown in Figure 3. +e
according to the one-dimensional similarity between the τ-z correlation coefficient R2 is 0.9336, which verifies the cor-
curves under different loads in the same test, we can get the rectness of the derived equation.
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4 Advances in Civil Engineering
τ (kPa)
0 10 20 30 40 50
0.0
0.2
0.4
φ
0.6
0.8
1.0
Measured value
Calculated curve
Figure 3: +e comparison of measured and derived curves when load is 12000 kN.
τ (kPa) where N is the axial force of the pile; Pi is the acting load at
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 the top of the pile; Qw is the self-weight of the pile body; T is
the total frictional resistance in the range of 0 to z.
As can be seen from Figure 5, the axial force of pile
0.2 decreases gradually with the increase of depth. +e decrease
of axial force in the upper part of pile body is very slow, and
0.4 it increases gradually as the depth continues to increase.
When the pile top load is 120,00 kN, the errors of axial force
φ
at the depths of 37.2 m and 66.2 m without considering the
0.6 self-weight of pile are 3.4% and 24.56%, respectively. After
considering the weight of pile, the errors are reduced to
0.8 0.75% and 11%, respectively. It is closer to the experimental
data of axial force distribution when considering the self-
weight of super-long pile. +erefore, it is quite necessary to
1.0
consider the self-weight of the pile in the analysis of the
Measured value (9600kN) settlement of the super-long pile and the force distribution
Fitting curve (9600kN) along the pile.
Measured value (8400kN)
Since load of pile top Pi and weight of pile Qw are
Derived curve (8400kN)
constant values, the key to calculate the axial force N is the
Figure 4: +e comparison of different curves. calculation of total frictional resistance T according to (11).
+e value of T is obtained based on fitting polynomial. From
Figure 4, it can be found that the simulation effect of the side
N (kN) friction τ is slightly worse than the lower part of the pile
0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 when φ is on the range of 0 to 0.4. +is also leads to the error
of total frictional resistance T while φ is between 0 and 0.4.
10 Hence, the error of the axial force N is slightly larger when
considering Qw around the depth of 0–28 m in Figure 5.
20 However, this does not affect the overall consistency of the
calculated axial force with the experimental data when Qw is
30 considered.
z (m)
1.05 m
2.45 m
1 2
2.8 m
9
3 4
5.6m
2.8 m
5 6
2.8m
10
2.45m
1.05m
7 8
+en, the effect of the existence of the pile and mutual τ (kPa)
reinforcing effect among the piles on the skin friction is fully 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
taken into consideration. +e skin friction of the foundation
pile i in the pile group can be expressed by the following
equation: 0.2
τ i0 r20 τ j0 r0 τ j0 r30
τ i0′ � τ i0 − + − . (18) 0.4
S2ij Sij S3ij
φ
Assuming τ i0 � τ j0 and generalizing (18) to the pile 0.6
group, then,
N 2 3 0.8
⎛1 − r0 + r0 − r0 ⎞
e
τ i0′ � τ i0 ⎝ 2 3 ,
⎠ (19)
j�1,i≠j Sij
Sij Sij
1.0
where Ne represents the number of piles within the affected
area. Measured value (920kN) Fitting curve (1380 kN)
Substituting (19) into (12), the total skin friction of the Derived curve (920kN) Measured value (1840 kN)
foundation pile in the pile group, T, can be obtained: Measured value (1380kN) Derived curve (1840kN)
Z Figure 8: +e comparisons of single pile skin friction.
T � π D τ i0′ dz. (20)
0
1, 2, 7, and 8 are defined as corner piles, the piles 3, 4, 5, and 6 test data is 18.52%. +e error will reach 2.26% without
are defined as edge piles, and the remaining piles 9 and 10 are considering the end resistance ratio. When the end resis-
defined as center piles. Because the pile foundation in this tance ratio is considered, the error of settlement will reduce
case is a symmetrical structure, the forces and settlement of to 1.64%. +e accuracy of calculation method proposed in
the pile at the same location are the same as well. this work is further certificated.
Firstly, the functional relationship between the skin Fully considering the effect of piles existing on the
friction and the parameter φ of single pile is obtained by surrounding soil and the mutual reinforcing effect between
fitting when the top load is 1380 kN. +e correlation coef- the piles in the pile group, the calculation model of the
ficient R2 between the fitting value and the measured value is foundation piles is derived. +e error between the measured
0.90. Deriving the relationship between the skin friction and value and calculated value is only 6%. It is not hard to find
the parameter φ under different loads and compared with that the method in this paper has a good consistency by
the measured value, the results are shown in Figure 8. When comparing the calculated results of this paper with those
the top load of a single pile is 920 kN and 1,840 kN, the measured by Mao and Jiang. Also, it can better predict the
correlation coefficients between the derived value and the deformation behavior of pile group under similar
measured value are 0.9682 and 0.9874, respectively. It is not conditions.
hard to draw a conclusion that the method in this paper can
better predict the relationship between the skin friction and Data Availability
depth under different loads.
+e vertical load of the pile foundation is 15,984 kN in +e underlying data used to support the results of this study
total. +e effect of the bottom soil of the cap is neglected in are included within the article.
the calculation. +e elastic modulus of the pile is adopted as
30 GPa. Substituting the relevant parameters into the for- Conflicts of Interest
mula mentioned above, the calculated results are shown in
Table 5. All authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest in
It can be found out from Table 5 that the load distri- this paper.
bution trend of the corner pile, edge pile, and center pile
calculated in this paper is consistent with Mao and Jiang Acknowledgments
[10]. In this paper, the calculated settlement of pile foun-
dation is 2.91 mm, and the error with the measured set- +is work was gratefully supported by the National Natural
tlement value is only 6%. +e calculation results have good Science Foundation of China (no.11932010) and the General
accuracy. Program (no.11572186).
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