Compression load tests on bored and barrette piles founded in gravelly sediments

Abstract

Compressive tests on piles socketed in gravelly sediments were conducted. Six bored piles and four barrette piles, with or without base grouting, were studied using back-analysis. A spline function was used to fit the measured data for pile load along the depth. Using the fitted spline function and assuming that behaviour at the pile-soil interface is hyperbolic, back-analysis was used to determine the model parameters by calibrating the design value of beta (the product of the coefficient of horizontal soil stress and the value of the tangent of the effective angle of shearing resistance of the soil-shaft interface) and comparing the results of back-analysis and the measured data. The results of this comparison revealed that the results of back-analysis were sensitive to the measured data. A back-calculated beta value that is, in general, larger than that found by current methods was obtained.