Today's structures impose a higher demand on their foundations as their height increases and their designs are more daring and complex. Naturally, the use of pile foundations, which provide the means for transferring the loads to greater depths, is increasing. Despite the advances in the construction of such foundations as well as the advances in software and technology, the analysis of pile foundations and especially those loaded laterally remains a challenge to the engineers. This paper reviews the literature regarding the development of the analysis methods through time going all the way back to 1867 and the subgrade reaction method by winkler and reaches today and the current state of the art. The analysis methods are grouped into the subgrade reaction methods, the ultimate limit state methods, the continuum methods and finally the finite element method. The main objective is to present the fundamentals of each method in an effort to make a contribution to the design of pile foundations by providing a reference and a critical discussion to the geotechnical engineers.
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