A Technical Note on Development and Performance Study of a Set-up for Imparting Lateral Cyclic Load on Piles

摘要

The environment prevalent in oceans necessitates the pile foundations supporting offshore structures to be designed against lateral cyclic loading initiated by wave action. Such quasi-static load reversal induces deterioration in the strength and stiffness of the soil-pile system introducing progressive reduction in the bearing capacity as well as settlement of the pile foundation. To understand the effect of lateral cyclic load on model pile foundations, a new apparatus consisting of mechanically and electrically controlled components has been designed and fabricated. Each of the components of this apparatus is calibrated and a series of tests are performed for its performance study. This paper presents detailed description of the apparatus, calibration and operating principle of each of its components, the observations made from the experiments performed and the relevant conclusions drawn therefrom.