Centrifuge investigation of the lateral response of pile groups in sand

摘要

Centrifuge model tests have been conducted on pile groups in loosernsand to investigate their response to lateral loads. The behaviour of tworndifferent model pile groups and one single pile in loose sand wererninvestigated in a series of centrifuge model tests. The model pile groupsrnwere installed and then horizontal load was applied using a horizontalrnactuator at 100g. Two of the piles in each of the pile groups as well asrnthe single pile were strain gauged to measure the bending momentrndistribution. Initial investigation focussed on the lateral displacementsrnand the rotations of the pile groups and the bending moment. Thesernshowed how the pile group shared the load between the front and backrnrow. Manipulation of the bending moment data allowed p-y curves tornbe obtained for different depths for each of the piles. These p-y curvesrnare presented for the two pile group spacings and are compared to thernresults from the single pile to deduce the group interaction effects. Thernresults show that although the group p-y curves were softer, the pilerngroup response was stiffer than the single pile response due to complexrnpile group interaction effects.