Increased Bearing Capacity of Piles Driven In Clay

Abstract

This paper investigates the increase in bearing capacity of a pile immersed in clay soils. It is shown for nonsaturated soils that such growth is mainly caused by capillary shrinkage during pile driving, followed by expansion of soils exposed to atmospheric humidity. For the case of saturated soils, the increase in piles bearing capacity can be explained by the influence of an air-gas component occurring with instantaneous soil compaction caused by filtration of highly viscous gas-saturated water under the conditions of a "closed system." New reliable methods for evaluation of the change in pile bearing capacity with time were developed.