WHY PILES ARE NEEDED?

1. Top layers of soil are highly compressible for it to support

structural loads through shallow foundations.
2. Rock level is shallow enough for end bearing. Pile
foundations provide a more economical design.
3. Lateral forces are relatively prominent.

DEEP FOUNDATIONS 4. In presence of expansive and collapsible soils at the site.

5. Offshore structures
6. Strong uplift forces on shallow foundations due to
PILE FOUNDATIONS
shallow water table can be partly transmitted to Piles.
CE 522
7. For structures near flowing water (bridge abutments,
etc.) to avoid the problems due to erosion.

PILES – are structural members that are CLASSIFICATION BASED ON MATERIALS

made of steel, concrete, or timber OR COMPOSITION:
 Steel Piles
PURPOSE OF PILE FOUNDATIONS: Pipe piles
1. to transmit a super structure load to deeper load Rolled steel H-section piles
bearing strata, and
 Concrete Piles
2. to withstand lateral, vertical, uplift load and to minimize
the settlement. Pre-cast Piles
Cast-in-situ Piles
Bored-in-situ piles
 Timber Piles
 Composite Piles
STEEL PILES CONCRETE PILES
 Usual length: 15 m – 60 m  Pre-cast Piles:
 Usual Load: 300 kN – 1200 kN Usual length: 10 m – 15 m
 Advantage: Usual Load : 300 kN – 3000 kN
1. Relatively less hassle during installation and easy to  Pre-cast Pre-stressed Piles
achieve cut-off level. Usual length : 10m – 45 m
2. High driving force may be used for fast installation Usual Load: 7500 kN – 8500 kN
3. Good to penetrate hard strata  Advantage:
4. Load carrying capacity is high 1. It can be easily combined with concrete superstructure
 Disadvantage: 2. Corrosion resistant
1. Relatively expensive 3. It can bear hard driving
2. Noise pollution during installation  Disadvantage:
3. Corrosion 1. Difficult to transport
4. Bend in piles while driving 2. Difficult to achieve desired cut-off

STEEL PILES CONCRETE PILES

 In many cases, the pipe piles are filled with concrete after  Cast-in-situ piles or cast in-place piles:
they have been driven. a.) Cased cast-in place piles
 The allowable structural capacity for steel piles is: Usual length: 5 m – 15 m
Q = Asfs
Usual Load: 200 kN – 500 kN
where:
Advantages:
As = cross-sectional area of the steel
a. Relatively cheap
fs = allowable stress of the steel (≈0.33 – 0.5fy)
b. Allow for inspection before pouring concrete
c. Easy to extend
Disadvantages:
a. Difficult to splice after concreting
b. Thin casings may be damaged during driving
CONCRETE PILES CONCRETE PILES
 Allowable load:  Allowable load:
Q = Asfs + Acfc Q = Acfc
where: where:
As = cross-sectional area of the steel Ac = cross-sectional area of the concrete
Ac = cross-sectional area of the concrete fc = allowable stress of the concrete
fs = allowable stress of the steel
fc = allowable stress of the concrete

CONCRETE PILES COMPOSITE PILES

b.) Uncased cast-in-place concrete piles  The upper and lower portions of composite piles are made of
Usual length: 5 m to 15 m different materials.

Usual load: 300 kN to 500 kN  Steel-and-concrete piles consist of a lower portion of steel
and an upper portion of cast-in place concrete.
Advantages:
 This type of pile is used when the length of the pile required
a. Initially economical for adequate bearing exceeds the capacity of simple cast-in-
b. Can be finished at any elevation place concrete piles.
Disadvantages:
a. Voids may be created if concrete is placed rapidly
b. Difficult to splice after concreting
c. In soft soils, the sides of the hole may cave in,
squeezing the concrete
CLASSIFICATION OF PILES BASED ON  If, instead of bedrock, a fairly compact and hard stratum
THE NATURE OF THEIR PLACEMENT of soil is encountered at a reasonable depth, piles can be
extended a few meters into the hard stratum.
1. Displacement Piles
The ultimate pile load may be
 Driven piles are displacement piles, because they move some
expressed as :
soil laterally; hence, there is a tendency for densification of
soil surrounding them. Q =Q +Q
 Concrete piles and closed-ended pipe piles are high- where:
displacement piles. Qp = load carried at the pile
2. Non-displacement Piles point
 Bored piles are non-displacement piles because their Qs = load carried by skin friction
placement causes very little change in the state of stress in developed at the side of
the soil. the pile (caused by
shearing resistance
between the soil and the
pile)

TYPES OF PILES BASED ON THEIR

FUNCTION 2. Friction Piles
 When no layer of rock or rocklike
material is present at a
1. Point Bearing Piles reasonable depth at a site, point
 If soil-boring records establish bearing piles become very long
the presence of bedrock or and uneconomical.
rocklike material at a site within  In this type of subsoil, piles are
a reasonable depth, piles can driven through the softer
be extended to the rock material to specified depths. The
surface. resistance of these piles is
 In this case, the ultimate derived from skin friction.
capacity of the piles depends  The lengths of friction piles
entirely on the load-bearing depend on the shear strength of
capacity of the underlying the soil, the applied load, and
material. the pile size.
 Point Bearing Capacity, Qp
3. Compaction Piles  Ultimate bearing capacity of soil considering general bearing
 Under certain circumstances, piles are driven in granular soils to capacity equation. Shape, inclination, and depth factors are included
achieve proper compaction of soil close to the ground surface. in bearing capacity factors.
 The lengths of compaction piles depend on factors such as: q = q = c′N ∗ + qN ∗ + BγN ∗
(a) the relative density of the soil before compaction,  Since pile diameter is relatively small, third term may be dropped:
(b) the desired relative density of the soil after compaction, and q = q = c′N ∗ + q′N ∗
(c) the required depth of compaction.  Thus, the point bearing load capacity of piles is:
 These piles are generally short; however, some field tests are Q =q A
necessary to determine a reasonable length where:
Ap = area of the pile tip
c’ = cohesion of the soil supporting the pile tip
qp = unit point resistance
q’ = effective vertical stress at the level of pile tip
N*c, N*q = the bearing capacity factors

EQUATIONS FOR ESTIMATING PILE CAPACITY Frictional Resistance, Qs

 The ultimate load-carrying capacity
Qu of a pile is given by the equation:
Q = Q +Q
where:
Qp = load-carrying capacity of
the pile point
Qs = frictional resistance (skin
friction) derived from the soil-
pile interface
 The frictional, or skin, resistance of a pile may be written as:
Q = ∑   p∆Lf
where:
p = perimeter of the pile section
ΔL = incremental pile length over which p and f are taken to be constant
f = unit friction resistance at any depth z

(Note: Ap = area of steel + soil plug)

 Table 15. Interpolated Values of
ALLOWABLE LOAD, Qall N*q Based on Meyerhof’s Theory

 After the total ultimate load-carrying capacity of a pile has been

determined by summing the point bearing capacity and the frictional
(or skin) resistance, a reasonable factor of safety should be used to
obtain the total allowable load for each pile, or presented as:

Q
Q =
FS
where:
Qall = allowable load-carrying capacity for each pile
FS = factor of safety (generally used ranges from 2.5 to 4, depending on the
uncertainties surrounding the calculation of ultimate load)

Figure 4. Variation of the maximum values of N*q with

soil friction angle ϕ (Based on Meyerhof, G. G. (1976).

MEYERHOF’S METHOD FOR ESTIMATING QP VESIC’S METHOD FOR ESTIMATING QP

Pile tip on Sand (c’ = 0): Pile tip on Sand (c’ = 0):
∗
Q = A qN
Vesic (1977) proposed a method for estimating the pile point bearing capacity
However, Qp should not exceed the limiting value 𝐀 𝐩 𝐪𝐋, where qL=limiting based on the theory of expansion of cavities.
unit tip resistance, therefore: Q = A q = A σ′ N ∗
Q = A qN ∗ ≤ A q where:
The limiting point resistance, qL is: σ′ = mean effective normal ground stress at the level of the pile point
q = 0.5p N∗ tan ϕ′
σ′ = q′
where:
Ko = earth pressure coefficient at rest = 1 – sin ϕ’
pa = atmospheric pressure (≈100 kPa or 2000 psf)
N ∗ = bearing capacity factor
ϕ’ = effective soil angle of friction of the bearing stratum ∗

Pile tip on Clay (ϕ = 0): N∗ = ( )

For piles in saturated clays under undrained conditions (ϕ = 0), the net ultimate
load can be given as:
Q ≈ A c N∗ = 9A c
where: cu = undrained cohesion of the soil below the tip of the pile
 Table 16. Bearing Capacity Factors N*σ Based on the Theory of Expansion of Cavities
According to Vesic’s theory,
N∗ = f (I ) (Table 16)
Where: Irr = reduced rigidity index for the soil.
I
I =
1+I ∆
where:
Ir = rigidity index of the soil = =

Sand (relative density 5 50% to 80%): 75 to 150

Silt : 50 to 75
Es = modulus of elasticity of soil
μs = Poisson’s ratio of soil
Gs = shear modulus of soil
Δ = average volumetric strain in the plastic zone below the pile point/tip

VESIC’S METHOD FOR ESTIMATING QP

In order to estimate Ir and hence Irr, the following approximations may be used Pile tip on Clay (φ’ = 0):
(Chen and Kulhawy, 1994):
E  In saturated clay (φ = 0 condition), the net ultimate point bearing capacity of
=m a pile can be approximated as:
p Q = A q = A c N∗
where: where:
pa = atmospheric pressure ( ≈ 100 kPa or 2000 psf) cu = undrained cohesion
m = 100 to 200 (loose soil)
= 200 to 500 (medium dense soil) According to the expansion of cavity theory of Vesic (1977):
= 500 to 1000 (dense soil) 4 π
N ∗ = ln I + 1 + + 1
3 2
ϕ − 25  For saturated clay with no volume change (Δ = 0), Irr = Ir
μ = 0.1 + 0.3 for 25 ≤ ϕ′ ≤ 45
20  For φ = 0, I =
ϕ − 25 q′
∆ = 0.005 1 −
20 p
 Table 17. Variation of N*c with Irr for
φ = 0 Condition Based on Vesic’s Theory EXAMPLE:
1. Consider a 12-m-long concrete pile with a
cross section of 0.40 m x 0.40 m fully
embedded in sand. For the sand, given:
unit weight is 17.6 kN/m3; and soil friction
angle is 30o. Estimate the ultimate point Qp
with each of the following:
a. Meyerhof’s method
b. Vesic’s method

 O’ Neill and Reese (1999) suggested the following approximate relationships c. The method of Coyle and Castello
for Ir and the undrained cohesion, cu. 2. A 20-m-long concrete pile is shown in
- the preceding values can be approximated as: Figure. Estimate the ultimate point load
Table 18. Approximate
Qp by
Relationship for Ir and cu
I = 347 − 33 ≤ 300
a. Meyerhof’s method
b. Vesic’s method (Use m = 600)
c. The method of Coyle and Castello

COYLE AND CASTELLO’S METHOD FOR ESTIMATING QP

IN SAND EXAMPLE:
Coyle and Castello (1981) analyzed 24 large-
3. Consider a pipe pile having an outside diameter of 500 mm. The
scale field load tests of driven piles in sand.
embedded length of the pile in layered saturated clay is 22 m. The
On the basis of the test results, they
following are the details of the subsoil:
suggested that, in sand:
Q = q′N∗ A Depth from
Saturated unit
ground surface Cu, kPa
where: weight, kN/m3
(m)
q’ = effective vertical stress at the pile tip 0–3 16 25
N ∗ = bearing capacity factor 3 – 10 17 43
10 – 30 18 85

a. Meyerhof’s method
b. Vesic’s method

Figure 5. Variation of N*q with L/D

(Based on Coyle and Costello, 1981) Theory
CORRELATIONS FOR CALCULATING QP WITH SPT AND
CPT RESULTS IN GRANULAR SOIL
 On the basis of field observations, Meyerhof (1976) also suggested that the
ultimate point resistance qp in a homogeneous granular soil (L = Lb) may be
obtained from standard penetration numbers as:
L
q = 0.4p N ≤ 4p N
D
where:
N60 = the average value of the standard penetration number near the pile
point (about 10D above and 4D below the pile point)
pa = atmospheric pressure (≈ 100kPa or 2000 psf)
 Briaud et al. (1985) suggested the following correlation for qp in granular soil
with the standard penetration resistance N60.
q = 19.7p N .

 Meyerhof (1956) also suggested that

q ≈q
where: qc = cone penetration resistance

EXAMPLE:
1. Following is the variation of N60
with depth in a granular soil
deposit. A concrete pile 9 m
long (460 mm x460 mm in cross
section) is driven into the sand
and fully embedded in the sand.
Estimate the value of Qp.
2. Consider a pile in a sandy soil
deposit 10 m long with a
diameter of 0.45 m. Following is
the variation of standard
penetration resistance values
(N60) with depth. Estimate the
value of Qp.