Design equations of uplift capacity of circular piles in sands

Abstract

Uplift capacity of circular piles in sands is one important design parameter for many pile foundations supporting important structures subjected to tensile forces. Even though a number of formulas based on the limit equilibrium or semi-empirical methods are proposed to predict the uplift capacity of piles in sands, there is a major limitation of the methods in obtaining the accurate predictions. In this paper, the computational limit analysis is employed to investigate the uplift capacity of circular piles in sands. The effects of the important variables including pile length and diameter, soil friction angle and unit weight, and roughness factor at soil-pile interface are examined extensively using the dimensionless parameters while the predicted failure mechanisms associated with the parameters are discussed and compared. Approximate statistical design equations of the uplift capacity of circular piles in sands are developed based on the numerically derived solutions and the existing experimental data. It is found that the proposed design equations provide the most accurate prediction of the uplift capacity of circular piles in sands as compared to the existing formulas.