Fitting Method for Determining the Ultimate Bearing Capacity of Flexible Batter Piles in Homogeneous Sand under Horizontal Loads

Abstract

It is generally difficult to read the ultimate bearing capacity of flexible batter piles under horizontal loads from load-deflection curves.
In this paper, the fitting method is introduced to determine the ultimate bearing capacity of flexible batter piles in homogeneous sand under horizontal loads and its applicability is discussed experimentally.
Model tests were carried out using instrumented flexible piles of wide-ranging flexibilities.The piles were buried in loose, medium and dense sand at batter angles β = 0°C, ±15°C and ±30°C and were subjected to incrementally increasing horizontal loads.
Reasonable agreement was found between the present theory of ultimate bearing capacity and the theory of Meyerhof and Ranjan (1973).