Nwankwo, E. (2023). Correlation between Pile Displacement from Pile Load Tests and FE Modelling: Case Study of Piles in Cawthorne Channel Area in Nigeria. JES. Journal of Engineering Sciences, 51(4), 255-268. doi: 10.21608/jesaun.2023.203603.1217
Ebuka Nwankwo. "Correlation between Pile Displacement from Pile Load Tests and FE Modelling: Case Study of Piles in Cawthorne Channel Area in Nigeria". JES. Journal of Engineering Sciences, 51, 4, 2023, 255-268. doi: 10.21608/jesaun.2023.203603.1217
Nwankwo, E. (2023). 'Correlation between Pile Displacement from Pile Load Tests and FE Modelling: Case Study of Piles in Cawthorne Channel Area in Nigeria', JES. Journal of Engineering Sciences, 51(4), pp. 255-268. doi: 10.21608/jesaun.2023.203603.1217
Nwankwo, E. Correlation between Pile Displacement from Pile Load Tests and FE Modelling: Case Study of Piles in Cawthorne Channel Area in Nigeria. JES. Journal of Engineering Sciences, 2023; 51(4): 255-268. doi: 10.21608/jesaun.2023.203603.1217
Correlation between Pile Displacement from Pile Load Tests and FE Modelling: Case Study of Piles in Cawthorne Channel Area in Nigeria
Assoc. professor, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Benin, Nigeria
Abstract
Pile load static tests are used to confirm that a pile would not exceed a prescribed displacement at service or ultimate limit load. In this work, 600mm diameter steel piles were driven to 30m depths at the project site in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. The relationship between pile displacements obtained from field pile load tests on these driven piles and those obtained from a finite element (FE) program, PileAXL, was studied. It was observed that for loads lower than the elastic limit of the soils at the pile toe, the FE program was able to accurately predict the displacements obtained from pile load tests. However, as the test loads on piles increased, the FE program was not able to accurately predict the displacements obtained from the pile load tests. This suggests that as significant plasticity sets in the end-bearing pile spring in the FE program, a more rigorous end bearing nonlinear spring would be required to model the load-displacement behavior of piles. This paper aims at presenting a technical reference to show that pile load test results can be easily validated using simplified FE models at low service loads using simplified nonlinear springs to model pile shaft interaction and end-bearing displacements.
[1] T. Q. Truong, N. T. Q. Nguyen, and T. Van Nguyen, “Comparison of Axial Compressive Load Capacity of Piles by Different Methods,” International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology, vol. 10, no. 9, Oct. 2021, doi: 10.17577/IJERTV10IS090213.
[2] H. Alimohammadi and J. N. Tahat, “A Case Study Pile Load Testing (PLT) to Evaluate Driven Pile Behaviors,” Indian Geotechnical Journal, vol. 52, no. 4, pp. 959–968, Aug. 2022, doi: 10.1007/S40098-022-00613-3/METRICS.
[3] ASTM, “Standard Test Methods for Deep Foundation Elements Under Static Axial Compressive Load,” ASTM D1143/D1143M-20, 1994. https://www.astm.org/d1143_d1143m-20.html (accessed Apr. 25, 2023).
[4] C. Bohn, A. L. dos Santos, and R. Frank, “Development of Axial Pile Load Transfer Curves Based on Instrumented Load Tests,” Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, vol. 143, no. 1, p. 04016081, Jul. 2016, doi: 10.1061/(ASCE)GT.1943-5606.0001579.
[5] F. R. Lopes, P. E. L. Santa Maria, F. A. B. Danziger, I. S. M. Martins, B. R. Danziger, and M. C. Tassi, “A proposal for static load tests on piles: the Equilibrium Method,” Soils and Rocks, vol. 44, no. 1, Jan. 2021, doi: 10.28927/SR.2021.057920.
[6] K. Józefiak, A. Zbiciak, M. Mas̈lakowski, and T. Piotrowski, “Numerical Modelling and Bearing Capacity Analysis of Pile Foundation,” Procedia Eng, vol. 111, pp. 356–363, Jan. 2015, doi: 10.1016/J.PROENG.2015.07.101.
[7] B. K. Huchegowda, C. Bagoor, and G. Kalyan Kumar, “Numerical Modeling by Finite Elements for a Pile Foundation Under Tension Load,” Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering, vol. 195, pp. 467–475, 2022, doi: 10.1007/978-981-16-6456-4_48/COVER.
[8] N. C. Consoli, A. Diambra, R. E. Cordeiro, R. B. Born, and X. Cheng, “Field and Numerical Analysis of Cyclic Displacement Controlled Lateral Load Tests on Driven Piles in a Residual Soil,” Geotechnical and Geological Engineering, vol. 41, no. 2, pp. 685–705, Sep. 2022, doi: 10.1007/S10706-022-02295-3/METRICS.
[9] H. Alimohammadi and J. Tahat, “A case study experimental pile load testing (PLT) for evaluation of driven pile behaviors,” Arabian Journal of Geosciences 2022 15:9, vol. 15, no. 9, pp. 1–11, Apr. 2022, doi: 10.1007/S12517-022-10176-5.
[10] H. Alimohammadi and J. N. Tahat, “A Case Study Pile Load Testing (PLT) to Evaluate Driven Pile Behaviors,” Indian Geotechnical Journal, vol. 52, no. 4, pp. 959–968, Aug. 2022, doi: 10.1007/S40098-022-00613-3/METRICS.
[11] Q. Q. Zhang, S. C. Li, and Z. M. Zhang, “Influence of reaction piles on test pile response in a static load test,” Journal of Zhejiang University: Science A, vol. 14, no. 3, pp. 198–205, Mar. 2013, doi: 10.1631/JZUS.A1200210/FIGURES/5.
[12] L. Li, J. Li, Y. Wang, and W. Gong, “Analysis of nonlinear load-displacement behaviour of pile groups in clay considering installation effects,” Soils and Foundations, vol. 60, no. 4, pp. 752–766, Aug. 2020, doi: 10.1016/J.SANDF.2020.04.008.
[13] J. Gao, J. Chen, X. Hou, Q. Mei, and Y. Liu, “Discussion on pile axial load test methods and their applicability in cold regions,” Research in Cold and Arid Regions, vol. 14, no. 4, pp. 239–249, Aug. 2022, doi: 10.1016/J.RCAR.2022.08.004.
[14] Geo Engineer, “PileAXL | Geoengineer.org,” The International Information Center for Geotechnical Engineers, 2020. https://www.geoengineer.org/index.php/software/pileaxl (accessed Apr. 25, 2023).
[15] J. Jia, “Axial Force–Displacement of Piles: t-z and Q-z Curve,” Soil Dynamics and Foundation Modeling, pp. 521–557, 2018, doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-40358-8_17.
[16] T. Orr, “Eurocodes: Background & Applications GEOTECHNICAL DESIGN with worked examples Deep foundations-d i f il design of pile foundations”.
[17] European Commission, “Eurocode 7: Geotechnical design | Eurocodes: Building the future,” EN 1997-2:2004, 2007. https://eurocodes.jrc.ec.europa.eu/EN-Eurocodes/eurocode-7-geotechnical-design (accessed Apr. 25, 2023).
View on SCiNiTO
Top