1.

364 ADVANCED GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING

HOMEWORK NO. 4
th
Due: Monday November 24

Question 1

Two circular concrete piles each 0.4m in diameter were installed through thick soft to firm clays
underlain by dense coarse silty sand at depth. The subsoil profile and the variation of the soil
properties with depth from the ground surface is given in Figure 1 and 2. The characteristic
strength and Young’s modulus of the pile concrete was 30 MPa and 20 GPa respectively. Pile
No.1 was driven to a set at 20.8m in the dense silty sand layer, whilst Pile No.2 was terminated
1m above the top of the dense silty sand layer within the firm silty clay/clayey silt. After
completion of piling, the platform was subsequently raised by 2m and compacted to a density of
20kN/m3. The embankment can be considered as wide in relation to the thickness of the clay
layer. The piles were debonded from the embankment by applying a bituminous slip coating.

TASKS

1.1 For Pile No.1,

a. Calculate the ultimate capacity of the pile in end bearing and the factor of safety for a
working load of 970 kN, without considering effects of downdrag
b. Obtain the profile of vertical pile displacement with depth under the applied working load
of 970 kN, assuming that no downdrag occurs
c. Compute the free field ground settlement under the surcharge weight of the embankment
at 1m depth intervals
d. Assess the location of the neutral axis due to downdrag
e. What will be the factor of safety of the pile as a result of the downdrag force?
f. Estimate the additional vertical displacement at the pile head due to downdrag

1.2 For Pile No.2,

a. Calculate the working load of the pile if a factor of safety of 2.0 is required, without
consideration of downdrag
b. Obtain the vertical pile displacement with depth under the working load calculated in (a),
assuming no downdrag occurs
c. Estimate the resulting vertical displacement of the pile head due to the surcharge imposed
by the embankment
d. What is the factor of safety of the pile in this case?

Note that in Figure 2, values of mv were obtained for two load increments (s’vo and 4s’vo). For
simplicity, assume that the lower values apply if OCR<1 and the higher values apply for OCR>1.
 Description Moisture content and Unit weights: Particle size Loss on Vertical effective Undrained shear
Atterberg limits: % kg/m3 distribution: % ignition: % stress: kN/m2 strength: kN/m2
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 1600 1800 2000 0 20 40 60 80 0 5 10 0 50 100 150 200 0 25 50 75
0 Firm dark grey/brown silty clay
Shells in silty clay 4 Range of yield
2 Average field
Soft brown grey silty clay/ stresses from
vane strength
clayey silt with shells consolidation
(from Fig. 11)
4 tests
Soft very dark grey silty clay/ clayey silt 36
(from Fig. 8)
grey mottling, sometimes micaceous.
6 Some silt laminations Profile used Yield stress:
in this Paper
s 'y = 1.55 s vo
'

Remoulded vane str

Soft to firm dark grey silty clay with
Depth below ground m

8 small holes and some mottling 59

Soft dark grey silty clay/clayey silt

10
with faint laminations. Some mottling

12 83

ength
14
Firm dark grey sility clay/clayey silt
with some mottling and laminations.
16 Slightly micaceous, with occasional 110
shells below 15 m
18 Average field

Medium silt
Coarse silt
Piston U U triaxial
Vertical

Fine silt
Delft effective strength

Sand
Clay
20 Coarse silty sand with broken shells Wp W W L '
stress in-situ s vo (from Fig. 11)

Figure 1. Soil profile and geotechnical parameters, Bothkennar site

0.1 1 10 0.1 1 10 100 0.1 1 10

0

5
Depth: m

10

15

20
mv: m2/MN Cv: m2/year k: 10-9 m/s

Oedometer
s' vo 4 s' vo SBPM

Figure 2. Compressibility, consolidation and hydraulic conductivity parameters, Bothkennar

 Pile No.1 Pile No.2

+2m
Fill 2m
0m

Debonded

Soft to firm clay

19.5m

1m
-19.5m
1.3m

Dense coarse silty sand

Figure 3 Schematic of piles installed

Question 2

A bridge pier is to be founded on the same soil profile as question 1. The pier will be supported
on 13m deep drilled shaft foundations. Each drilled shaft is 1m diameter and will be constructed
with reinforced concrete of characteristic strength 35 MPa. The pile modulus was determined to
be 20 GPa. The ultimate structural moment capacity of each pile was 3750 kNm. Assuming that
the head of each pile is fixed against rotation and that the elastic shear modulus of the clay , G =
100su, find the following:
a. Use the method of Fleming et al (1985) to compute the maximum working lateral load
that can be applied to the pile head without exceeding a factor of safety of 1.5 on the
ultimate lateral geotechnical capacity
b. For the value of the working load obtained, predict the lateral deflection and bending
moment along the pile shaft using the Wrinkler model.
c. Compare the results of (b) with those calculated using the elastic continuum model of
Randolph (1981).