Numerical Investigation of the Lateral Response of Horizontally Loaded Single Pile Embedded in Layered Soil

Abstract

The piles are subjected to lateral loads which may generated by wind, earthquake, water current, earth pressure, effect of moving vehicles or ships, plant, and equipment. The accurate prediction of lateral response of pile is important design criteria due to changes in load carrying mechanism. The objective of this thesis is to analyze the performance of laterally loaded pile through a parametric study embedded in layered soil of Addis Ababa city around Bole area. Full-scale field test result obtained from the literature was used for the validation of Plaxis 3D Foundation FEM. A parametric study was conducted by varying pile diameter, length and loading eccentricity. PLAXIS 3D FOUNDATION V.1.1 was used as a tool to carry out all the analysis of parameters. The result shows that the changes in the pile diameter and loading eccentricity have the great effect on the horizontal displacement of the pile and ultimate resistance of the pile. The head deflection of the pile decreased by 66.02% when the pile diameter increases from 500mm to 800mm and increasing the load eccentricity from 0 to 1m increases the pile head deflection by 34% for the highest load. The findings contribute to understanding pile behavior and provide valuable insights for the analysis of single piles in practical engineering applications. Further studies are needed to establish other parameters and see their effect.