Based on a generalized limiting force profile (LFP), closed-form solutions for laterally loaded fixed-head piles in an elastic-plastic medium were developed recently by the first author, who also implemented them into a spreadsheet program called GASLFP. The solutions allow the LFP mobilised along a pile to be back-figured readily against measured response of the pile. The LFP is critical to an accurate prediction of the pile response. While various suggestions were proposed for constructing the LFP for a single pile, little information is available for a pile in a group. This paper first demonstrated the significantly different responses of a pile predicted using existing LFPs; then back-figured new LFPs for the lead row piles using measured results collected from four typical tests. It was found that the new LFPs must be adopted in order to obtain good predictions. Preliminary guidelines for constructing the LFP were thus drafted for lead row piles in sand.
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