Numerical investigation of pile responses caused by adjacent braced excavation in soft clays

Abstract

ABSTRACT The pile responses to soil movements induced by adjacent braced excavation have attracted increasing attention from geotechnical design engineers. The lateral displacement of soil caused by deep braced excavation could produce significant effect on adjacent piles according to field measurement data. In this paper, the finite element (FE) analyses considering soil of the hardening small strain (HSS) constitutive model were carried out to establish the excavation-induced pile behaviours by varying the depth of excavation, pile diameter, pile length, pile distance away from the excavation, pile-head fixity, unsupported depth of excavation and axial loadings exerted on the pile head. A set of design charts is developed to estimate the behaviours of piles subjected to adjacent braced excavation in soft clay, targeting to provide design guidelines for the lateral wall deflection assessment of pile foundations and stability evaluation.