Lateral response of a pile group embedded in the transversely isotropic saturated soil due to surcharge loads

Abstract

This paper investigates the behavior of pile groups in the transversely isotropic saturated soil under an adjacent surcharge load using a coupling method. The analytical layer-element theory is utilized to the transversely isotropic saturated soil model, and the fundamental solutions of the soil are applied to derive the soil flexibility matrices. And the FEM is used for the piles modeled as Bernoulli–Euler beams considering pile–pile interaction. Then, the dynamic response equations of pile groups are derived by using the FEM–BEM coupled method and considering pile-soil boundary coordination condition. The results of the present model compared well with those in existing solutions. Numerical examples are presented to examine the influences of the soils’ transverse isotropy, the magnitude of the surcharge load, the pile's physical properties and the distance between the load and the pile on the behavior of pile groups. It is observed that as the surcharge load grows, the position of the pile maximum displacement response changes from the middle of the soft soil layer to the top of the pile. The impact of the surcharge load is not significant when the loading action distance is greater than twice the thickness of soft soil layer. Furthermore, relatively large bending moments appear in the middle of the soft soil layer and at the interface of the soil layers.