Abstract
This study uses concepts from unsaturated soil mechanics to explain changes in axial capacity observed in geotechnical centrifuge experiments on semi-floating energy piles in unsaturated silt heated monotonically to different temperatures. Thermally-induced drying of the unsaturated silt surrounding energy piles was observed during heating using temperature-corrected dielectric sensor readings. An effective stress-based equation for estimating the ultimate capacity was calibrated using the load-settlement curves for a pile at room-temperature, which was then used to estimate the ultimate capacities of energy piles under elevated temperatures using measured changes in degree of saturation near the energy pile. The predicted capacity matched well with the capacity from the experimental load-settlement curves, confirming the relevance of the effective stress principle in unsaturated soils in nonisothermal conditions and the importance of considering coupled heat transfer and water flow in unsaturated soils surrounding energy piles.
Highlights
Goode and McCartney [1] evaluated the thermomechanical response of semi-floating energy piles in unsaturated, compacted silt and dry sand
They found that the axial capacity of the energy piles in unsaturated silt increased with pile temperature, while the axial capacity of the energy piles in dry sand did not
This paper uses the corrected dielectric sensors results in an effective stress analysis accounting for the effects of coupled heat transfer and water flow in unsaturated soils to estimate the axial capacity of the energy piles
Summary
Goode and McCartney [1] evaluated the thermomechanical response of semi-floating energy piles in unsaturated, compacted silt and dry sand. This paper uses the corrected dielectric sensors results in an effective stress analysis accounting for the effects of coupled heat transfer and water flow in unsaturated soils to estimate the axial capacity of the energy piles. The model-scale semi-floating energy pile tested by Goode and McCartney [1] has a diameter of 63.5 mm and a length of 342.9 mm. The temperature and the volumetric water content of the soil surrounding the energy pile were measured using dielectric sensors (Model EC-TM from Decagon Devices of Pullman, WA). Where ߪԢ is the effective stress prior to undrained shearing and ߶Ԣ is the drained friction angle
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