Penetration mechanism of open-ended pipe piles under jacking and driving methods

Abstract

Different pile penetration methods will cause different pile penetration results. Therefore, it is very necessary to study the pile penetration mechanism under different pile penetration methods. In this paper, numerical simulations using the discrete element method (DEM) are carried out to investigate the meso-scopic mechanism of pipe pile penetration under jacking and driving methods. The mechanism is comprehensively compared and analyzed in terms of particle movement, changes in the force chain, displacement changes, resistance of penetration pile, soil lateral stress and soil vertical stress. Results show that the height of the soil plug in the jacked pile is lower than that in the driven pile. The degree of contact force chain at the bottom of the soil plug in the driven pile is slightly higher than that at the bottom of the soil plug in the pile of the jacked pile. The total resistance of the driven pile greater than that of the jacked pile. Within a certain distance below the pile tip, the jacked pile affects the vertical stresses of the soil in this area to a greater extent than the driven pile. Then, parametric sensitivity analysis is performed, which captures the effects of the penetration velocity in the jacking method and the hammering frequency in the driving method. This study can provide a reference for the selection of the penetration method of pipe piles in actual projects.