Behavior of pile group with elevated cap subjected to cyclic lateral loads

Abstract

The pile group with elevated cap is widely used as foundation of offshore structures such as turbines, power transmission towers and bridge piers, and understanding its behavior under cyclic lateral loads induced by waves, tide water and winds, is of great importance to designing. A large-scale model test on 3×3 pile group with elevated cap subjected to cyclic lateral loads was performed in saturated silts. The preparation and implementation of the test is presented. Steel pipes with the outer diameter of 114 mm, thickness of 4.5 mm, and length of 6 m were employed as model piles. The pile group was cyclic loaded in a multi-stage sequence with the lateral displacement controlled. In addition, a single pile test was also conducted at the same site for comparison. The displacement of the pile cap, the internal forces of individual piles, and the horizontal stiffness of the pile group are presented and discussed in detail. The results indicate that the lateral cyclic loads have a greater impact on pile group than that on a single pile, and give rise to the significant plastic strain in the soil around piles. The lateral loads carried by each row of piles within the group would be redistributed with loading cycles. The lateral stiffness of the pile group decreases gradually with cycles and broadly presents three different degradation patterns in the test. Significant axial forces were measured out in some piles within the group, owing to the strong restraint provided by the cap, and finally lead to a large settlement of the pile group. These findings can be referred for foundation designing of offshore structures.