Investigation of the penetration characteristics of snake skin-inspired pile using DEM

Abstract

Snake can perfectly utilize its scales to move. Inspired by the snake scales, this study investigated the characteristics of the snake skin-inspired pile penetration process. Six kinds of pile shaft inspired by snakeskin and one normal pile as reference were designed. In order to investigate the influence of scale layouts on the pile and particle responses, the discrete element method was adopted to simulate the process of pile penetration numerically. Effects of three potentially relevant factors, including the scale height, scale length and penetration direction were analyzed. According to the computed results, the snake skin-inspired pile has a greater shaft resistance, causes obvious soil disturbance with aspect to soil displacement and particle rotation compared with the reference pile. The shaft resistance and soil disturbance are positively correlated with the scale height, and inversely relevant with the scale length. The inspired pile installed in cranial direction causes a wider disturbance range in surrounding soil compared with the caudal installation. The cranial penetrated pile contributes to significant soil dilatancy, leading to greater loading–unloading behavior and less major principal stress rotation of surrounding soil.