Soil Disturbance Due to Installation of Model Piles and Pile Groups

Abstract

Relatively little attention has been given in the past to the soil disturbance due to installation of a single pile or pile group. This paper investigates the soil (Leighton-Buzzard Sand) disturbance due to installation of a single pile and pile groups. The technique which has been previously used at Leeds University (UK) is based on the fact that changes in sand density cause changes in thermal conductivity of the sand. Model piles which have a diameter of 40 mm and overall length of 1 m each were driven individually by a drop hammer into medium dense and dense air-dried sand. The effects of the initial sand density, the shape of the pile’s bottom and the spacing between piles on soil disturbance are examined. These factors were found to be very significant and various zones of loosening and compaction of sand were observed in regions below and beside the pile, inside and outside the periphery of the pile group.