• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.33 no.8
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• pp.5-16
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• 2017

When a lateral load is applied to a short pile whose embedded depth is relatively smaller than its diameter, an overturning failure occurs. To investigate the behavior of laterally loaded short piles, several model tests in laboratory scales had been carried out, however the behavior of large moment carrying piles for electric poles, traffic sign and road lamp, etc. have not been revealed yet. This paper deals with the real-scale load tests for 750 mm diameter short piles. To simulate the actual loading condition, very large moment was mobilized by applying lateral loads to the location 8 m away from the pile head. Three load tests changing the pile embedded lengths to 2.0 m, 2.5 m, and 3.0 m were carried out. The test piles overturned abruptly with very small displacement and rotation before the failures. These brittle failures are in contrast with the ductile failures shown in the former model tests with the relatively smaller moment to lateral load ratio. Comparisons of the test results with three existing methods for the estimation of the ultimate lateral capacity show that the method assuming the rotation point at pile tip matches well when the embedded depth is small, however, as the embedded depth increases the other two methods assuming the inversion of soil pressure with respect to rotation points in pile length match better.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.75-91
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• 2014

In this study the analysis is performed for influencing factors on the behavior of rigid piles (short pile) by research papers and case study. The results indicated that the point of virtual fixity should be calculated considering the relative stiffness of soil and pile, and Chang (1937) and P-Y method estimated the similar fixity. The values of ultimate resistances of a vertical pile to a lateral load are different for laboratory and field tests in cohesive soils and its ultimate values in laboratory tests are underestimated and in field tests are under or overestimated. The estimated resistance by Hansen (1961)'s method is similar to the value of field tests. The horizontal resistances to laterally loaded pile in cohesionless soils are overestimated in laboratory tests and generally overestimated in field tests. The ultimate resistances by Zhang (2005)'s method, used to the empirical distribution of the resistance, are similar to the test results. In the paper the calculating method and distribution of the ultimate resistance in cohesive soils are proposed. The estimated value by the proposed method is closer to the test results than any other method of calculating ultimate resistance of the piles embedded into cohesive soils.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.26 no.11
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• pp.63-73
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• 2010

Monopiles, used as one foundation option for offshore wind turbines, are usually subjected to great cyclic lateral loads due to wind and wave. In this study, model pile load tests were performed using calibration chamber and three model piles with different pile lengths in order to investigate the behavior of laterally cyclic loaded piles driven into sand. Model test results show that the first loading cycle generates a bigger displacement than the following ones, and the permanent displacement of piles by one loading cycle decreases with increasing the number of cycles. 1-way cyclic loading causes the permanent displacement in the same direction as cyclic loading, whereas 2-way cyclic loading causes the permanent displacement in the reverse direction of initial loading. It is also observed that the permanent displacement of piles due to cyclic lateral loads increases with decreasing relative density of soil and with increasing the magnitude of cyclic loads. However, it is insensitive to the earth pressure ratio of soil and embedded pile length. In addition, based on the model pile load test results, equations for estimation of the permanent lateral displacement and rotation angle of piles due to 1-way cyclic lateral loads are proposed.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.1143-1179
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• 2016

Offshore wind turbines are considered as a fundamental part to develop substantial, alternative energy sources. In this highly flexible structures, monopiles are usually used as support foundations. Since the monopiles are large diameter (3.5 to 7 m) deep foundations, they result in extremely stiff short monopiles where the slenderness (length to diameter) may range between 5 and 10. Consequently, their elastic deformation patterns under lateral loading differ from those of small diameter monopiles usually employed for supporting structures in offshore oil and gas industry. For this reason, design recommendations (API and DNV) are not appropriate for designing foundations for offshore wind turbine structures as they have been established on the basis of full-scale load tests on long, slender and flexible piles. Furthermore, as these facilities are very sensitive to rotations and dynamic changes in the soil-pile system, the accurate prediction of monopile head displacement and rotation constitutes a design criterion of paramount importance. In this paper, the Fourier Series Aided Finite Element Method (FSAFEM) is employed for the determination of static impedance functions of monopiles for OWT subjected to horizontal force and/or to an overturning moment, where a non-homogeneous soil profile has been considered. On the basis of an extensive parametric study, and in order to address the problem of head stiffness of short monopiles, approximate analytical formulae are obtained for lateral stiffness $K_L$, rotational stiffness $K_R$ and cross coupling stiffness $K_{LR}$ for both rough and smooth interfaces. Theses expressions which depend only on the values of the monopile slenderness $L/D_p$ rather than the relative soil/monopile rigidity $E_p/E_s$ usually found in the offshore platforms designing codes (DNV code for example) have been incorporated in the expressions of the OWT natural frequency of four wind farm sites. Excellent agreement has been found between the computed and the measured natural frequencies.