Effects of sliding and debonding of the pile-soil interface on the soil reaction to laterally loaded piles

Abstract

An analytical model is proposed to analyze the effects of sliding and debonding of the interface between the pile and the surrounding soil on the soil reaction under a lateral load. Based on the approximate three-dimensional analytical model, the vanishing stress assumption is also employed to satisfy the stress-free soil surface condition. Referring to the distribution of stresses on the pile-soil interface, the interface in the proposed model is divided into three parts—the bonding, sliding, and debonding areas. The behaviors of sliding and debonding are considered by incorporating the hypothesis of mixed boundary conditions on the pile-soil interface. Those behaviors were not considered in earlier analytical studies, which led to an overestimation of the soil reaction. Influence functions are adopted to define the relationship between the stresses and the displacements on the pile-soil interface. Then, the radiant stress method and the convolution of Fourier series are employed to solve the mixed boundary conditions occurring at the pile-soil interface. The validity of the proposed model is demonstrated by comparison with experimental data. Parametric studies are also presented to show the effects of predefined parameters on the behaviors of sliding and debonding.