A theory of pile failure, based on buckling instability is proposed in this thesis. The main postulate of this theory is that if piles are too slender they require lateral support from the surrounding soil if they are to avoid buckling instability. During earthquake-induced liquefaction, the soil surrounding the pile loses effective confining stress and can no longer offer sufficient support to the pile. A slender pile may then buckle sideways in the direction of least elastic bending stiffness pushing aside the initially liquefied soil, and eventually rupturing under the increased bending moment and shear force. Lateral loading due to slope movement, inertia or out-of-straightness increases lateral deflections, which in turn induces plasticity in the pile and reduces the buckling load, promoting more rapid collapse. These lateral loads are, however, secondary to the basic requirements that piles in liquefiable soil must be checked against Euler's buckling. This theory has been formulated based on a study of fifteen case histories of pile foundation performance and verified using dynamic centrifuge tests. Analytical studies also support this theory of pile failure. A hypothesis of post-buckling pile-soil interaction is also developed to fit the centrifuge test data. Centrifuge tests were designed in level ground to avoid the effects of lateral spreading and the main aim was to study the effect of axial load as soil liquefies. The failure mode observed in the tests was very similar to those observed in the field in laterally spreading soil. It is concluded in this thesis that it is not necessary to invoke lateral spreading of the soil to cause a pile to collapse. The pile may even collapse before lateral spreading starts. The key parameter identified to distinguish whether the pile pushes the soil (buckling) or the soil pushes the pile (lateral spreading) is the slenderness ratio of the pile in the liquefiable region. The critical value of this parameter is approximately 50. In summary, it has been shown that the current codes of practice for pile design omit considerations necessary to avoid buckling in event of soil liquefaction. These codes are inadequate and buckling needs to be addressed. It has been identified that many of the structures designed based on the current codes of practice may be unsafe and may need retrofitting. Therefore, a design method is proposed taking into consideration the buckling effect.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:596628 |
| Date | January 2003 |
| Creators | Bhattacharya, S. |
| Publisher | University of Cambridge |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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