In this paper, a single unrestrained passive pile in a two-layered cohesionless soil is analysed with the aim to evaluate its contribute in terms of resistance at the depth of an assigned sliding surface. The method assumes that the ultimate soil pressure is fully mobilised and increases linearly with depth. Six failure mechanisms are considered and dimensionless values of shear force and bending moment at sliding depth are derived in analytical and graphical form. The maximum shear force computed by the present theory reasonably agrees with data of model tests published in the literature, whereas the maximum bending moment is underestimated. This approach seems to be suitable to be implemented in traditional limit equilibrium methods when pile contribute is considered as an additional resistance. More sophisticated analyses based on an adequate soil constitutive model are requested when pile displacement must be predicted.
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