Physical modelling of pipe piles under oblique pullout loads using transparent soil and particle image velocimetry

Abstract

A small-scale physical modelling method was developed to investigate the pile bearing capacity and the soil displacement around the pile using transparent soil and particle image velocimetry (PIV) technique. Transparent sand was made of baked quartz and a pore fluid with a matching refractive index. The physical modelling system consists of a loading system, a laser light, a CCD camera, an optical platform and a computer for image analyzing. A distinctive laser speckle was generated by the interaction between the laser light and transparent soil. Two laser speckle images before and after deformation were used to calculate the soil displacement field using PIV. Two pipe piles with different diameters under oblique pullout loads at angles of 0°, 30°, 45°, 60° and 90° were used in tests. The load-displacement response, oblique pullout ultimate resistances and soil displacement fields were then studied. The test results show that the developed physical modelling method and transparent soil are suitable for pile-soil interaction problems. The soil displacements around the pipe piles will improve the understanding on the capacity of pipe piles under oblique pullout loads.