Abstract:

Pile may incline due to the excavation of tunnel or pit, incorrect driven sequence and other reasons. It is a common practice that pile inclines partially. For example, the upper part of a pile inclines due to flexural deformation while the lower part still remains vertical. Based on the results from load-tests on totally inclined piles and finite element analyses, finite element models are constructed to analyze the bearing capacity of partially inclined pile. Finite element analyses show that under the same vertical load, settlement of partially inclined pile with the degree of inclination within 5 % is smaller than that of vertical pile. When it is above 5 %, settlement of partially inclined pile is greater than that of vertical pile. Under the same vertical load, settlement of partially inclined pile with the degree of inclination within 7 % is smaller than that of totally inclined pile with the same degree of inclination, while when it is above 7 %, the trend reverses. For partially inclined pile, axial load transferred to the top of lower part of inclined pile will produce a lateral force on the lower part, which will lead to larger inflection deformation and moment in the lower part of the partially inclined pile especially when the joining point is below the point of inflection. The deeper the joining point, is the greater the lateral displacement is at partially inclined pile top, which will certainly make it easier for the inclined pile to fail due to excessive flexural deformation.

Key words: partially inclined pile, totally inclined pile, soil-pile interaction, vertical bearing capacity, point of inflection