EFFECTS OF SOIL PLUG ON BEHAVIOUR OF DRIVEN PIPE PILES

Abstract

Stress wave theory is applied to open-ended pipe piles to clarify the effects of soil plug on the behaviour of piles during driving and static loading. Measured field data and various numerical models are reviewed ; methods are presented to calculate wave propagation in both the pile and the soil plug ; modelling is presented which takes into account the interaction between the soil plug and the pile ; also presented is simplified method to estimate the loadsettlement relation of the pipe pile in static loading. By correlating observed and calculated values in two analytical cases, the authors demonstrate that incorporation of the soil plug (modelled as a series of masses and springs) is required to correctly predict pile behaviour during driving and static loading.