Joint Stability and lateral behavior of composite piles

복합말뚝 연결부 안정성 평가 및 수평거동특성 분석

The behavior of composite piles composed of steel pipe pile in the upper part and concrete pile in the lower part by a mechanical splicing joint was examined by field lateral load tests and bending tests. A total of 7 piles including two instrumented piles for bending test were installed. The soil profile consists of soft clay with weak silt with shallow groundwater level. Laboratory tests were carried out to determine the basic soil characteristics and the strength parameters. This paper presents the composite pile behavior with various portions of the upper steel pile: 0, 20, 30, and 45% of the pile embedded pile length. Three-point bending tests were performed to investigate the stress-strain relation at the mechanical joint. Based on these test results, the behavior of composite piles with various upper steel pile length are evaluated and the stability of mechanical joints are examined. Through comparisons with results of field load tests, it was found that lateral load carrying capacity of the composite piles increased and deflections of the composite piles decreased with increasing the upper steel piles. The mechanical joint was proved to retain its structural stability against the tested load conditions. Economical benefits of composite pile of this kind can be gained by setting adequately the length of the upper steel pipe piles.