Evaluation of Dynamic Experiments on Pile Group

Abstract

Dynamic experiments with a large group of small closely spaced piles were conducted in the field. The results of the experiments are compared with theoretical predictions made for vertical and horizontal response on the bases of different approaches accounting for the group effects, i.e., pile‐soil‐pile interaction. The theoretical approaches employed include static interaction factors, dynamic interaction factors, and complete dynamic analysis, as well as direct static analysis and the equivalent pier. The comparison with the experiments indicates that dynamic analytical techniques are able to predict the main features of dynamic behavior of pile groups for small strains and that the interaction effects are very significant. The omission of pile‐soil‐pile interaction can make the analysis of pile groups quite unrealistic.