Assessing the Ultimate Strength of Piles Interacting with Sliding Soil

Abstract

Determination of the bearing capacity of bed soil using the finite-element method is often undertaken by seeking a critical load value under the assumption that the solution to a system of equations converges. This approach does not always provide a satisfactory result when studying the spatial interaction between sliding soil and retaining structure piles. The proposed criterion for assessing the limit slide load on a pile under the assumption that soil is kept from passing between piles or flowing around individually standing piles is based on an analysis of relaxation stresses in soil when the slide load is dynamically applied.