An experimental study of the effect of lateral static load on cyclic response of pile group in sandy soil

Abstract

Abstract The application of two different lateral loads (i.e., the first is static and the other is cyclic load) at the same time to pile group seems a complex problem. So, this study is concerned with the interaction of these loads together and includes laboratory tests to determine the effect of the static lateral load on the lateral cyclic capacity of the 2 × 2 pile group with three distances (S/D = 3, 5, and 7). The experimental program included small-scale laboratory setup by using hollow piles of aluminum and sand rain method for the preparation of sandy soil medium. The results showed that increasing the static lateral load led to reducing the lateral displacement, and the average value of decrease for the three distances reaches 72%. It can also be concluded that the distance S/D = 3 is more affected by the increase in the static lateral load than other distances, where the average decrease in the lateral displacement was about 83, 74, and 60% when S/D = 3, 5, and 7 sequentially.