PLASTIC-RIGID ANALYSIS OF VERTICAL PILES IN NORMALLY CONSOLIDATED CLAYS

Abstract

Using a simple displacement field the vertical movement of a round pile embedded in a uniform deposit of normally consolidated clay and subjected to a concentric vertical load is analysed. It is assumed that the clay follows a plastic-rigid (in a broad sense) constitutive law relating strain to effective stress and that the pile behaves, essentially, as a rigid unit. The influence of the shape of stress-strain behaviour of the clay, the shape of stress paths obtained in an undrained test and the response of the soil deposits below the tip of the pile on the load-settlement characteristic of a pile is analysed and discussed.