Numerical Simulation of Soil Squeezing Effects of a Jacked Pipe Pile in Soft Foundation Soil and in Foundation Soil with an Underlying Gravel Layer

Abstract

A three-dimensional finite-element analysis was carried out using ABAQUS to evaluate the squeezing effects of a prestressed high-strength concrete (PHC) pipe pile, including land upheaval, lateral soil displacement, and soil stress field with depth-varying during pile-sinking. Field data used in the analysis were obtained from the settlement building project in Hefei City, Anhui Province, China. In coastal areas of China, PHC pipe piles are normally used for reinforcement of soft foundation. The changes of displacement with the increase of soil depth and radial distance during pile-sinking are simulated for both soft foundation and soft clay with an underlying gravel layer. The numerical simulation results show that there is little difference in land upheaval with soil depth during pile-sinking, and the obvious land upheaval occurs within 0.8 m from the center of the pile. The lateral soil displacement is evident within the area of 1.0 m from the axis of the PHC, decreases with the increase of radial distance during pile-sinking, and becomes negligible beyond 4.0 m. The existence of the gravel layer helps reduce soil squeezing substantially, and the soil squeezing effects during pile-sinking have less influence on the surrounding area of foundation with a gravel layer than that in a soft foundation soil without gravel layer.