Displacement response of an energy pile in saturated clay

Abstract

In this study, an experimental investigation was conducted to assess the thermo-mechanical behaviour of a small-scale instrumented floating energy pile installed in normally consolidated saturated clay. The energy pile was subjected to five heating/cooling cycles where the inlet temperature ranged from 5 to 45°C. The interaction between the energy pile and a traditional adjacent pile, and the interaction between the two piles and the pile cap were investigated. The experimental programme consisted of monitoring the change in temperature of the pile and the surrounding soil, the excess pore water pressure and the pile head displacement. The results show that the thermo-mechanical behaviour of the energy pile was affected by the adjacent pile. The energy pile showed smaller irreversible pile head displacement in the presence of the adjacent pile than in its absence. The pile cap also restrained the movement of the energy pile, leading to a smaller irreversible pile head displacement than in the case without the pile cap.