Ch.
14: Deep Foundations-Axial
Load Capacity based on Analytical
Methods
• Chapter 13: Full Scale Load Tests
• Chapter 14: Analytical Methods -
Based on Laboratory of In-Situ Test
Data
• Chapter 15: Dynamic Methods –
Based on the dynamics of Pile Driving
or Wave Propagation
Ch. 14: Deep Foundations-Axial Load
Capacity based on Analytical Methods
• Section 14.1: Changes in the Soil
• Section 14.2: Toe Bearing
• Section 14.3: Side Friction
• Section 14.4: Upward Load Capacity
• Section 14.5: Analyses based on CPT
• Section 14.6: Group Effects
• Section 14.7: Settlement
Sec 14.1 Changes in Soil
• Piles
• Changes in Clays
• Changes in Sands
• Drilled Shafts
• Impact on Analytical Methods
Piles: Changes in Clays
• Distortion
• Compression-Excess Pore Water Pressures
• Loss of Contact
ue
Piles: Changes in Clays
Piles: Changes in Clays
Piles: Changes in Sands
• Loose Sands
• Particle re-arrangement
• Particle crushing
• Densification
• Dense Sands (may require pre-
drilling/jetting)
• Loosen soils
Drilled Shafts: Changes in Soil
• Excavation; Release of Stress; Soil
Expansion; reduction in load capacity
• Impact on load capacity may depend
on construction procedure
• How long the hole is kept open
• Whether drilling fluid is used or not
• Whether casing is used or not
Estimating Toe Bearing
• Unit toe bearing resistance, q´t
• q´t in Sands
• Piles
• Drilled Shafts
• Auger Cast Piles
• q´t in Clays
• q´t in Intermediate Geomaterials and
Rock
Unit toe bearing resistance, q´t
in Sands
• Piles
qt B N zD N q
* *
E
Ir
2(1 )( zD tan )
Vesic’s N*
Vesic’s , Nq*
Unit toe bearing resistance, q´t
in Sands
• Drilled Shafts
qt 1200 N60 60,000 psf
qt 57.5N60 2900 kPa
If base diameter of shaft >1200mm (50in):
50in 1200mm
qtr qt or qtr qt
Bb Bb
Unit toe bearing resistance, q´t
in Sands
• Auger-cast Piles
qt 3800 N60 150,000 psf
qt 190 N60 7500 kPa
Unit toe bearing resistance, q´t
in Clays
qt N c su
*
N*c = 6.5 at Su = 25 kPa (500 psf)
= 8.0 at Su = 50 kPa (1000 psf)
= 9.0 at Su 100 kPa (2000 psf)
Use reduction factor, Fr if Bb >1900mm (75in)
Unit Toe Bearing Resistance, q´t
in Intermediate Geomaterials & Rock
• Intermediate Geomaterials
Cohesive materials with
250 kPa (5000psf) < Su <2500kPa (50,000psf)
Or
Non-cohesive materials with
N60 > 50
Unit Toe Bearing Resistance, q´t
in Intermediate Geomaterials & Rock
• Cohesive Intermediate Geomaterials & Rock
If RQD is 100% qt 2.5 qu
If 70%<RQD<100% and qu>500 kPa
qt 7970 (qu ) 0.51
For jointed material
qt t 0.5 (mt 0.5 t )0.5 qu
Unit Toe Bearing Resistance, q´t
in Intermediate Geomaterials & Rock
Unit Toe Bearing Resistance, q´t
in Intermediate Geomaterials & Rock
Estimating Unit-Side Friction
Resistance, fs
Effective Stress Analysis (-Method)
f s z
– Sands
– Gravels
– Silts and Clays
Total Stress Analysis (-Method)
f s su
-Method (Sands)
For large displacement piles, Bhushan(1982)
0.18 0.65Dr
-Method (Sands)
For drilled shafts with N6015, O’Neill & Reese
(1999)
1.5 0.135 z 0.25 1.20 (English)
1.5 0.245 z 0.25 1.20 (SI )
Subject to maximum value of fs of 4000 psf (190
kPa)
If N60<15 then multiply above by N60/15
-Method (Sands)
For Auger-Cast Piles,
Neely (1991)
Do not divide into
layers
f s 140 kPa (2800 psf )
-Method (Gravels)
Rollins, Clayton, and Mitchell (1997)
For 50% or more gravel size particles
3.4 e0.026z 0.25 3.00 (English)
3.4 e0.085z 0.25 3.00 (SI )
For 25-50% gravel size particles
2.0 0.061z 0.75 0.25 1.80 (English)
2.0 0.15z 0.75 0.25 1.80 (SI )
-Method (Silts and Clays)
Fellenius, (1999)
For normally consolidated silts and clays
0.27 - 0.50 (Silts )
0.25 - 0.35 (clays )
For heavily over consolidated clays
could be much higher (See Figure 14.11)
-Method (Clays)
-Method (fs= su); Piles
-Method (fs= su)
API Function
For su <25 kPa (500 psf) 1.0
For 25 kPa (500 psf) < su <75kPa (1500psf)
su 500 psf
1.0 0.5
1000 psf
For su > 75 kPa (1500 psf) 0.5
-Method (fs= su); Drilled Shafts
-Method (fs= su); Drilled Shafts
Example 14.3
Example 14.4
Sec 14.4 Upward Load Capacity
• From Chapter 13
W f f s As
( Pupward) a
F
O’Neill and Reese (1999)….. Use 75% of fs
used for downward load capacity
Upward Load Capacity; Belled Piers
Upward Load Capacity; Belled Piers
• Add extra upward capacity from the bell
( su N u zD )( / 4)( Bb2 Bs2 )
( Pupward) a
F
For unfissured clay: Nu 3.5 Db / Bb 9
For fissured clay: Nu 0.7 Db / Bb 9
Sec 14.6 Group Effects
Piles/Auger-cast piles may be installed in
groups
Why?
– Single pile does not give sufficient capacity
– Low degree of precision in “spotting”
– Multiple piles provide redundancy
– Lateral soil compression produced by pile
groups is greater-therefore total capacity
higher
Sec 14.6 Group Efficiency
Load Capacity of Pile Group (Pag)
= x N x Capacity of single pile (Pa)
depends on:
– soil type (sands or clays)
– pile diameter/pile spacing ratio
– construction procedures (pre-drilling,
jetting etc.)
– elapsed time since pile driving
– mode of failure
Group Efficiency,
Converse-Labarre Formula
(n 1)m (m 1)n
1
90 m n
S m=4
n= 6
B
Individual vs. Block Failure
When Block Failure Governs…
2 s ( m n) 4 B
1
mnB
Note that the above equations have
been widely used but are not based on
any hard data
Full Scale Load Tests on Pile
Groups in Sands (O’Neill, 1983)
In loose cohesionless soils, is always
greater than 1 and is maximum around
s/B =2
In dense cohesionless soils with 2<S/B<4,
is slightly greater than 1, provided that
there is no pre-drilling or jetting
When pre-drilling and jetting is used is
lower than 1.0 (may be as low as 0.7)
Full Scale Load Tests on Pile
Groups in Clays (O’Neill, 1983)
Short-term group efficiency is nearly
always less than 1.0. Some of the
measured values are as low as 0.5
Group efficiency gradually increases
with time and approaches 1.0
for larger pile groups take a longer
time to reach 1.0
Full Scale Load Tests on Pile
Groups in Clays (O’Neill, 1983)
Guidelines for Practice (Sands)
Install piles at center-to-center spacings of at
least 3 x pile diameter
Avoid pre-drilling and jetting
When S/B3 and no pre-drilling and jetting is
used use =1
When pile group is founded on a firm bearing
stratum of limited thickness overlying weak
soil, group capacity is equal to the lesser of
– sum of individual pile capacities and
– group capacity against block failure
Guidelines for Practice (Clays)
Install piles at center-to-center spacings
of at least 3 x pile diameter
For clays with Su < 95 kPa (2000 psf)
and pile cap not in contact with ground
– Use =0.7 when S/B = 3
– Use =1.0 when S/B 6
– Linearly interpolate between 0.7 and 1.0
for intermediate spacings
Guidelines for Practice (Clays)
For clays with Su < 95 kPa (2000 psf)
and pile cap is in firm contact with
ground
– Use =1.0
For clays with Su > 95 kPa (2000 psf)
– Use =1.0
Guidelines for Practice (Clays)
Compute the Group Capacity
Pag 2D( Bg Lg )su1 Bg Lg su 2 N *
c
D B
N 51
*
c 1 9
5B 5L
Use the lower of capacity calculated by
using Pag=N Pa and above equation
Capacities calculated above are Long-
term values.
Settlement of Deep Foundations
Settlement of deep foundations, when
designed based on axial load capacity
considerations, is typically less than 0.5 in
Pile groups may have larger settlements, but
still within acceptable limits
Therefore, in practice engineers generally do
not perform settlement analysis for deep
foundations
However, settlement analysis may be
necessary in certain special situations
Perform Settlement Analysis when
……...
Structure is specially sensitive to
settlement
Soil is highly compressible
Structural engineers needs a “spring
constant” to represent response of the
foundation system
Downdrag may cause extra settlement
Load-Settlement Response
Load-Settlement Response
– Fellenius, 1999
– O’Neill and Reese (1999)
Imaginary Footing Method
t-z Method
Methods discussed in detail
Fellenius, 1999
g
(qt ) m
qt u
h
( f s )m
1.0
fs u
Pz i
e
AE
Example 14.7
Table 12.1 (page 444)
Settlement Chart I: Drilled Shafts
in Clays (O’Neill and Reese, 1999)
Figure 14.26
Settlement Chart II: Drilled Shafts
in Clays (O’Neill and Reese, 1999)
Figure 14.27
Settlement Chart I: Drilled Shafts
in Sands (O’Neill and Reese, 1999)
Figure 14.28
Settlement Chart II: Drilled Shafts
in Sands (O’Neill and Reese, 1999)
Figure 14.29
t-z Method
More precise method
Considers:
– load-displacement relationships for skin
friction and end bearing method
– form of the above load-displacement
relationships
– elastic compression of piles
Numerical method; commercial software
available
Imaginary Footing Method
Replace pile group with an imaginary footing;
then use analysis methods discussed in
Chapter 7 and then add e
Friction piles: place imaginary footing at two-
thirds depth (0.67D)
End bearing piles: place imaginary footing at
pile tip elevation (at D)
When both skin friction and end bearing
resistance is available, place it somewhere in
between
Imaginary Footing Method