Abstract
Marine structures, offshore platforms and bridge piers are usually supported on foundation piles. These piles are subjected to lateral loading due to wind, waves and currents. Piles installed in marine or river environments are susceptible to scour depending on wave and current characteristics and soil types. In this paper, the effect of local and global scour on behavior of laterally loaded piles installed in different soil conditions has been investigated. Finite element model (FEM) using the software program PLAXIS and Winkler model using the software program LPILE were used in the analyses. Different parameters were investigated such as soil types, scour depth, scour hole dimension, pile material, submerged condition, magnitude of lateral load and load eccentricity. The results showed that scour has a significant impact on piles installed in sand and a less significant impact on piles installed in clay. Global scour has a significant impact on pile lateral displacement and bending stresses. The effect of scour is more significant if piles are subjected to large lateral loads due to the nonlinear response of pile-soil system. Effect of scour of stiff clayey soils on piles is more pronounced than that of soft clayey soils.
Highlights
Bridge piers and marine structures like jetties, seawalls and offshore structures can fail due to severe scour caused by currents and waves
The results showed that scour has a significant impact on piles installed in sand and a less significant impact on piles installed in clay
It was found that existence of water level at or above pile head provides similar results to the cases were groundwater is below the scour hole depth
Summary
Bridge piers and marine structures like jetties, seawalls and offshore structures can fail due to severe scour caused by currents and waves. The ultimate scour depth depends on the diameter of obstruction, flow Froude number, shear stress and soil characteristics. A thorough review of available literature on the topic showed that there is no research related to fullscale field or lab tests on scour effects on laterally loaded piles in sand. Kishore et al [6] and [7] conducted experimental tests on small diameter PVC and aluminum piles to study the influence of scour on laterally loaded single piles installed in soft clay. Lin et al [8] investigated the scour effect on the response of laterally loaded single piles installed in sand considering the stress history of remaining sand. Comparison with experimental tests found in the literature for scour around piles installed in soft clay was conducted
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