Behavior of Laterally-Loaded Caissons in Purely Cohesive Soils

摘要

The general undrained behavior of single laterally-loaded rigid caissons founded in purely cohesive soils is investigated. Numerical solutions are presented for the effects of embedment ratio for both smooth and perfectly rough caissons, and under both conditions of immediate breakaway and no breakaway. The case of progressive breakaway due to body force and surface surcharge, and effects due to interface roughness and load eccentricity are also examined. Model caisson tests performed in normally consolidated kaolin are reported. A comparison of the experimental and other published results with the theoretical solutions indicates encouraging agreement. The failure loads obtained from the present analysis are shown to be reasonably approximated by a simple statical equation, for the entire range of embedment ratios under all interface conditions and load eccentricities, by the selection of appropriate factors for the ultimate soil pressure.