Development of a New Uplift Pile with Prestressed Semi-Bonded Composite Anchor

Abstract

This paper introduces a new type of prestressed uplift pile that adopts the semi-bonded composite anchor as the main reinforcement. An in-situ experimental study was carried out to investigate the new pile’s deformation, stress, bearing capacity, and cracking characteristics, which were then compared with the conventional piles. Results show that although the reinforcement ratio of the new pile is only 0.75%, much less than that of the conventional pile (i.e., 3.84%), it achieves similar or even better mechanical properties under uplift loads. The cost of the pile’s anchorage system is reduced by 43.8%, and the total cost of a single pile is reduced by 33.6%. Compared with the conventional pile, the new pile makes better use of the lateral friction resistance of the lower pile body, and the uplift bearing capacity and the uplift resistance of the pile are improved correspondingly. In addition, the cracking resistance of the new pile is significantly improved, with the cracking load increased by 88.2% and the cracking area reduced by 48.3%. In addition, the multi-layer structure of the composite main bar provides better protection for the load-bearing steel strands against corrosion. As such, the new type of pile is expected to gain much better durability than the conventional ones.