Static and Dynamic Lateral Loading of Pile Groups






INTRODUCTION AND RESEARCH APPROACH

INTRODUCTION

A key concern of bridge engineers is the design and performance

of pile group foundations under lateral loading events,

such as ship or ice impacts and earthquakes. This report documents

a research program in which the following were developed:

(1) a numerical model to simulate static and dynamic

lateral loading of pile groups, including structural and soil

hysteresis and energy dissipation through radiation; (2) an analytical

soil model for nonlinear unit soil response against piles

(i.e., p-y curves) for dynamic loading and simple factors (i.e.,

p-multipliers) to permit their use in modeling groups of piles;

(3) experimental data obtained through static and dynamic

testing of large-scale pile groups in various soil profiles;

and (4) preliminary recommendations for expressions for p-y

curves, damping factors, and p-multipliers for analysis of laterally

loaded pile groups for design purposes. The report also

describes experimental equipment for performing site-specific,

static, and dynamic lateral load tests on pile groups.


Background

Observations made during two recent earthquakes in California,

the 1989 Loma Prieta and the 1994 Northridge events,

as well as during the 1995 Hanshin-Awaji earthquake near

Kobe, Japan, and the 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake in central Taiwan,

provide clear evidence of the types of damage that occur

in pile foundations and in the structures that they support.


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