Chapter 2

Literature Review

2.1 General
In recent years, the increasing demand on the foundation engineers to predict reliably the
behavior of pile has simulated more sophisticated theoretical research into the interaction
between piles and embedding soil. So a large volume of empirical knowledge is now
balance by a comparable theoretical understanding. Present investigation is aimed to
study the response of vertical pile and pile groups under lateral load. In this chapter an
attempt is made to review the important published literature related to the vertical
response of pile foundation resulting from lateral loading. The review of literature has
been presented herein by analyzing previously published methods or models like p-y
model, centrifuge model etc.

2.2 Literature Study

2.2.1 Winklers Hypothesis
Most of the theoretical solutions for laterally loaded piles involve the concept of modulus
of subgrade reaction or soil modulus which is based on Winklers (1867), assumptions
that a soil medium may be approximated by a series of infinitely closely spaced
independent elastic springs. Fig. 2.1 shows a loaded beam resting on an elastic
foundation. The reaction at any point on the base of the beam is actually a function of
every point along the beam since soil material exhibit varying degrees of continuity. The
beam showed in the figure can be replaced by a beam in figure. In this figure the beam
rests on the bed of elastic springs wherein each spring is independent of the other.
According to Winklers hypothesis the reaction at any point of the base of the beam in
figure depends only on the deflection at that point.

Fig. 2.1 Winklers hypothesis

2.2.2 Analysis of p-y Model

In the paper Non-linear analysis of pile groups subjected to lateral loads using p-y
curve, H.S. Chore et.al (2012) analyzed the two groups of piles subjected to lateral
loads incorporating the non-linear behavior of soil. The finite element method was
adopted for carrying out the parametric study of the two pile groups comprising either
two or three piles. Further, two arrangements of piles in a group are considered with
reference to the lateral load acting on the pile cap. The pile is idealized as a one
dimensional beam element, the pile cap as two dimensional plate elements and the soil as
non-linear elastic springs using the p-y curves developed by Georgiadis et al. (1992).
Two groups of piles, embedded in a cohesive soil, involving two and three piles in series
and parallel arrangement thereof are considered. The response of the pile groups was
found to be significantly affected by the parameters such as the spacing between the
piles, the number of piles in a group and the orientation of the lateral load. The response
obtained in the present study is compared with the linear analysis result by Chore et al.
(2012) for the same system, but with the soil assumed to be linear elastic.
According to their study, the relation between the soil pressure and deflection at any
point along a pile should be nonlinear as shown in Fig.2.3. From the Fig.2.2, where a set
of p-y curves is shown, it is observed that laterally loaded piles lies in the construction of
the p-y curves, which depend upon factors such as depth, type of soil and deformations.

Fig. 2.2 P-Y model for laterally loaded pile

On the basis of the experiments, Reese et al. (1974) observed that the above assumption
is sufficiently true for practical purposes. Since there is no restriction on the shape of the
p-y curves, an iterative solution using the finite difference formulation is necessary to
obtain compatible values of p and y at all points along the pile.
Georgiadis et al. (1992) conducted a series of model tests on instrumented piles to study
the pile response under the static and cyclic lateral loads in soft clay. The results were
analyzed to determine appropriate load-displacement relationship for the non-linear
springs (p-y curves). For static loading the hyperbolic function,

P=

y
1 y
+
k Pu

where, k is the initial stiffness of the p-y curve and u p is the ultimate soil resistance. The
ultimate resistance of soil ( pu ) is expressed as,
p NCd
u

Here Np is non-dimensional coefficient, which increases with depth (x), starting with an
initial value of 3 at ground level to a maximum value of 9 as given below

Np 3 +

( Cux )+( dx )
9

where, Cu = un-drained cohesion of soil,

d = pile diameter,
= effective unit weight of the soil and
J = empirical constant = 0.14
x = depth of soil under consideration
They analyzed with considering beam element, spring element, plate element (with
bending effect and membrane effect) etc. Finally the conclusions emerging from the
analysis may be written as following
1. The various parameters such as spacing between the piles, number of piles in a pile
group and arrangement of piles in a group significantly affects the behavior of the pile
group.
2. With the increase in pile spacing, the lateral resistance of the pile group is found to
increase.
3. The lateral resistance of the pile group is found to increase with the increase in the
number of piles for series configuration, but it is found to decrease with the increase in
the number of piles for parallel configuration.
4. The piles in a group with the series arrangement exhibit greater lateral resistance than
those in the parallel arrangement.
5. The nonlinearity of soil behavior decreases the lateral resistance of pile group.
6. The capacity of the pile group increases with pile spacing. The capacity is found
to increase with the increase in the number of piles for the series arrangement and
to decrease for the parallel arrangement.
7. The fixed end moments are found to increase, while the positive moments are found
to decrease with the increase in pile spacing. The moments are on the higher side for the
group of three piles as compared to those for the group of two piles.
8. The incorporation of the nonlinear behavior of soil decreases the fixed end moments
in all the pile groups considered in the study. The fixed end moment is found to decrease
in the range of 2% to 20%, while the positive moment in therange of 54% to 57%.
In the paper Soil Behavior from Analysis of Tests of Uninstrumented Piles Under Lateral
Loading, L. C. Reese et.al. (1969) showed that non-dimensional curves, developed from
the numerical solutions of the differential equation, could be used to estimate p-y curves
if only the following easily obtainable information is reported; pile properties, magnitude
of the individual lateral loads, point of load application.
According to their study, the pile is divided into a finite number of increments of length h
and the differential equation is written in the form of
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EI
h4

y n 2 4 y n1 +6 y n4 y n +1 y n +2

Esn y n

at each node point. The above equation is obtained from the following to equations

EI

P=

and,

d4 y
d x4

=p

E s y

Finite difference equations are written at top and bottom of pile to reflect the boundary
conditions at those points which can be solved by use of a digital computer.
For predicting p-y curves for any given site, one should be well known about the soil
properties at that particular site. In their paper, several methods have been discussed for
determining the behavior of the soil around a laterally loaded pile from field tests of piles,
such as

One method of determining experimental p-y curves would be to use instruments

which could make direct measurement of earth pressure and pile deflection. If the
pile can be made hollow, direct measurement of deflection can be accomplished
by affixing scales at various points inside the pile.

Another method of using an instrumented pile to obtain p-y curves is to

instrument for bending moment. Electric strain gages are installed at closely
spaced intervals along the pile. The pile is calibrated so that bending moment can
be obtained very accurately. Using appropriate boundary conditions, p and y for a
given loading at points along the pile may be obtained by solving the following
equations numerically:

M
dx
EI

and

d2 M
d x2

From their study it should be pointed out that the value of the soil modulus is not a
property of the soil but is a fitting function to correlate the pile behavior (deflection) with
the soil properties as reflected by the p-y curves. For the purposes of this discussion it
will be assumed that the soil modulus can be adequately defined by the equation
Es

n
= kx

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Finally it should be concluded from their study that

1. Field tests on laterally loaded piles with minimum instrumentation can yield
meaningful information on the load-deformation properties, p-y curves, of the soil
at depths below the groundline.
2. A comparison computed with measured values of lateral deflection (yt) and slope (St)
at the groundline of two laterally loaded piles has indicated that measured values of
applied load and moment at the pile top, together with measured values of lateral
deflection and slope at the groundline, are sufficient to establish representative p-y
relationships for the pile-soil interaction.
3. The proposed method may not be exist when the computed values for n in the equation
for soil modulus

Es

n
= kx , are high, say greater than three.

2.2. 3 Laterally Loaded Piles in Multilayered Soils

M. Ashour et.al (1998) Used Strain-Wedge model approach for solving the
problem of a laterally loaded pile in layered soil. The strain wedge model allows the
assessment of the nonlinear p-y curve response of a laterally loaded pile based on the
envisioned relationship between the three-dimensional response of a flexible pile in the
soil to its one-dimensional beam on elastic foundation parameters. In addition, the strain
wedge model employs stress-strain-strength behavior of the soil as established from the
triaxial test and the effective stress condition to evaluate the mobilized soil behavior.

Zhaohui Yang et. Al.(2005) This paper presents results of the finite element study
on the behavior of a single pile in elastic-plastic soils. Pile behavior in uniform sand and
clay soils as well as cases with a sand layer in a clay deposit and a clay layer in a sand
deposit were analyzed using finite element modeling. Finite element results were used to
generate p-y response curves, which were cross compared to investigate the soil layering
effects.
D. BASU et.al.(2007) Developed an analytical method to determine the response of
laterally loaded piles in layered elastic media. The differential equations governing pile
deflections in different layers due to a concentrated static force and/or moment acting at
the pile head are obtained using the principle of minimum potential energy and calculus
of variations. The differential equations are solved analytically using the method of initial
parameters. Pile deflection, slope of the deformed axis of the pile, bending moment and
shear force can be reliably obtained by this method for the entire pile length. The input
parameters needed for the analysis are the pile geometry and the elastic constants of the
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soil and pile. It is observed that soil layering has a definite impact on pile response and
must be taken into account for proper analysis and design. The analysis forms the basis
for future formulations that can consider stressstrain nonlinearity.
Ling Zhang et.al (2013) Developed semianalytical solutions to assess the static
behavior of vertical piles embedded in multiple-layered soil systems and subjected to
lateral loads. The behavior of the surrounding soil was idealized as an elasticperfectly plastic model. The basic idea of the subgrade reaction theory was used to

obtain the governing differential equations in terms of pile lateral deflection. Combining
with continuity conditions at the adjacent pile segments, the response of the whole pile
was expressed through the deflections and lateral forces at the pile head in a matrix form.
The validation of the proposed solutions was verified by other theoretical solutions and
measured data. The layering effect of subgrade soils on the response of the laterally
loaded pile was also discussed in this paper.

Zhi Yong Ai et.al (2013) Using the decoupled analyticall ayer-element solution of a
lateral ring load acting in multi-layered transversely isotropic soils as the kernel
function,a boundary element method is employed to solve the laterally loaded piles
embedded in multi-layered tranversely isotropic soils. Several numerica lexamples
presented reveal that the pile behavior is affected synthetically by both transverse
isotropy and stratified character of soil and the pile's size and physical properties.

Ling Zhang et.al.(2014) Proposed a semi-analytical solutions using the power

series method to assess the behavior of a vertical pile with variable cross sections and
embedded in a multilayered soil system to support lateral loads at its head. For the
present method, the moduli of the lateral subgrade reaction were assumed to be of
constant depth for clay soil and of linearly increasing depth for sandy soil. By
considering the deflection and force continuum conditions along the pile length, a matrix
form of pile response at any depth was expressed through the deflections and lateral
forces at the pile head. The validity of the presented solution was verified by back
predicting behaviors of laterally loaded piles in two existing cases. Moreover, four
hypothetical cases related to laterally loaded piles in uniform and layered soil systems
were set up to discuss the response of the laterally loaded pile in layered soils. The
comparison results indicate that the pile behavior is controlled by the subgrade soil
stiffness at shallow depth (up to 34 times the pile diameter). It also indicates that the
interlayer with a higher stiffness embedded near the ground surface, such as a sand layer

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presented within clay deposit, has a reduction effect on the maximum pile lateral
deflection, but has a slight effect on the maximum bending moment of the pile.

Fayun Liang et.al (2014) This paper reports a simplified analytical solution for
laterally loaded long piles in a soil with stiffness linearly increasing with depth. Based on
a FourierLaplace integral, a power series solution for small depth and a Wentzel
KramersBrillouin (WKB) asymptotic solution for large depth are derived. By using this
analytical solution, they obtained the deflection and bending moment profiles of a
laterally loaded pile through simple calculation. The proposed power series solution is
exact for infinitely long piles. Numerical examples show that this solution agrees well
with other existing methods on predicting the deflection and bending moment of laterally
loaded piles . The simplified analytical solution obtained in this study provides a better
approach to analyze the responses and design of laterally loaded long piles.

2.2.4 Group Factor Method and p-Multiplier

Bhavik S. Parsiya and Dr. S. P. Dave, in the paper Analytical Study Of The Laterally
Loaded Pile Group carried out the analytical studies on the lateral behavior of the pile
group foundations for different group configurations subjected to lateral load. In this
study, used same number of piles with different four pile group configurations (i.e.12x3,
6x6, 9x4 and 4x9 pile groups) with four value of spacing (i.e. 2D, 3D, 4D and 5D) and
four different value of modulus of elasticity of soil (5000, 10000, 15000 and
20000kN/m2). It can be observed that, the spacing of the pile group and the modulus of
elasticity of the soil are largely affected on the lateral pile displacement and stresses in
the soil for same amount of lateral load. From the experiment it is notified that with the
lateral movement of closely spaced pile groups, the failure zones for front or trailing rows
piles overlap with leading row piles and decrease lateral resistance as shown in Fig 2.3.

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Fig. 2.3 Illustrated of reduction in lateral pile resistance due to pile-pile

interface
The tendency for a pile in a trailing row to exhibit less lateral resistance due to location
behind another pile is commonly referred to as pile-soil-pile interaction or the group
interaction effect.
In this paper The piles are simulated by means linear elastic model, soil is modeled
using Mohr-Coulomb relationship and the interface is represented using 15 nodes wedge
element. The Finite element analyses are performed using the software PLAXIS 3D
FOUNDATION. From this paper the following important points are exposed to us
There is no significant effect on the pile head displacement in all the four pile group
configurations for same amount of lateral load.

The greater the spacing between piles in the group the lower the head

displacement.
There is 40% reduction in pile head displacement and 35% to 45% reduction in
the stresses when spacing changes 2D to 3D spacing. And in other case when
spacing changes from 3D to 4D or 4D to 5D the reduction in head displacement is
about 20% to 22%, where in case of stresses it is 15% to 25%.

The modulus of elasticity also affects the head displacement. The head
displacement decrease with the higher modulus of elasticity.

The total stresses in the soil decrease with the increase in spacing as well as
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modulus of elasticity.
In 2012 M.S. Fayyazi et.al analyzed the behavior of the pile groups under lateral load by
comparing continuum model and p-y model, which is presented on the paper Evaluation
of Group Factor Method for Analysis of Pile Groups. The group factor (average p
multiplier) is obtained through static tests. Group factor is a function of different
parameters like pile spacing, soil type, and pile group size. In this study group factors for
pile groups with different pile spacings are calculated and the effect of spacing on the
group factor is investigated.
For this purpose responses of three pile groups with different spacings are modeled using
the continuum model. The same system is also simulated using py model and the
required group factor for the py model is found so that the computed displacements
from the py model match the measured ones from the continuum model for the same
pile head force. Finally the bending moments along the pile shafts are calculated using
both models and the results are used to study the reliability of the overall concept of
group factor analysis of these pile groups at different pile spacings. Comparisons between
the model and the full scale test results show that the continuum model for this test is
reliable enough to explore the effects of different parameters on pile group response.
From this paper the following points are easily determined

It is observed that with increase of the loading level the difference of maximum
bending moment between continuum model and the corresponding py model
decreases

It is also evaluated that for different spacings and different target deflections the
group factor overestimates the maximum bending moment for the trailing rows.
The amount of overestimation for the last trailing row is considerable. The
amount of overestimation for the middle row is about half of the last trailing row.

2.2.5 Centrifuge Model with Finite Element Method

Masoud Hajialilue-Bonab et.al described in the paper Procedures Used for
Dynamically Laterally Loaded Pile Tests in a Centrifuge about the horizontal impact
tests on piles in the centrifuge by developing a new electromagnetic impact driver. The
two most important factors that are examined are the scale effect and the effect of
reflection of waves from the centrifuge box walls. Tests is carried out at different
locations in the box show that waves reflected from the box walls have no significant
effect. Test is conducted with three different types of piles (based on their installation)
such as Cast-in-pile, Driven pile and Jacked pile. From the test it is observed that in case
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of cast-in model piles the change of initial properties of the surrounding soil during the
pile installation is less significant than for other cases. In the case of pile driving, the
density of soil medium around the pile increases and the stress state is modified
compared to initial stresses. On the other hand, in the case of jacked piles, it can be
supposed that the modification of the state of stress is more significant than the density
change because there is no dynamic effect in this case.
In 2012, Shuji Tamura et.al. published a paper Effects of existing piles on lateral
resistance of new piles consisting of a short description on a Cyclic lateral-loading
centrifuge test, which were conducted on a new pile located at the center of 2 x 2 existing
piles. The aim of this test was to evaluate the effects of the existing piles on the new
piles lateral resistance when the piles of an old building are left derelict.Two dimensional
FEM analyses of the horizontal cross sections of the pilesoil systems were
carried out.

Fig. 2.4 Schematic diagram showing interaction of new and existing piles.
From this test it is showed that the lateral resistance of a new pile, located among
existing piles, should be higher. The existing piles increase the horizontal subgrade
reaction of the upper part of the new pile, but slightly decrease that of the lower part of
the new pile. Numerical analyses reveal that the key to whether an existing pile increases
the horizontal subgrade reaction of a new pile or not, is the soil displacement at the
location of the existing pile. An existing pile increases the horizontal subgrade reaction of
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a new pile when the existing pile displacement is less than the soil displacement caused
by the new pile. Conversely, an existing pile decreases the horizontal subgrade reaction
of a new pile when the existing pile displacement is greater than the soil displacement
caused by the new pile.

H.S. Chore et.al. (2012), described the behavior of laterally loaded pile by finite
element method in the paper Parametric study of laterally loaded pile groups using
simplified F.E. models. For this purpose simplified models along the lines similar to that
suggested by Desai et al. (1981) are used for idealizing various elements of the
foundation system. The pile is idealized one dimensional beam element, pile cap as two
dimensional plate element and the soil as independent closely spaced linearly elastic
springs. The analysis takes into consideration the effect of interaction between pile cap
and soil underlying it. The pile group is considered to have been embedded in cohesive
soil. The parametric study is carried out to examine the effect of pile spacing, pile
diameter, number of piles and arrangement of pile on the responses of pile group. The
responses are considered include the displacement at top of pile group and bending
moment in piles. The results obtained using the simplified approach of the F.E. analysis
are further compared with the results of the complete 3-D F.E. analysis published earlier
and fair agreement is observed in the either result. The major conclusions emerging from
this analysis are as following
With increase in pile spacing and pile diameter top displacement of the pile group
decreases which further, increases the resistance to lateral loads.

Effect of number of piles along with the configuration is quite important. For
group of two piles with series configuration, displacements are on higher side as
compared to that for group of three piles.

Effect of end condition at tip of the pile is also significant on displacement of the
pile group. Displacements are on higher side for free tip condition and fixed tip
condition yields lower displacement.

The capacity of the pile group is found to increase with pile spacing and pile
diameter. The capacity of the pile group is found to be higher in the series
configuration than that in parallel configuration. Capacity of the pile group is
observed to be highest for fixed condition and lowest for free tip condition.

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