Response of Pipe Piles Embedded in Sandy Soils Under Seismic Loads

• Published in: Transportation Infrastructure Geotechnology
• Main Author: Al-Jeznawi D.; Jais I.B.M.; Albusoda B.S.; Alzabeebee S.; Al-Janabi M.A.Q.; Keawsawasvong S.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Springer 2024
• Online Access: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85163658225&doi=10.1007%2fs40515-023-00318-x&partnerID=40&md5=6d92e361053d72ede30cea35551e1e78

This paper studies the seismic response of open-ended (OE) pipe piles subjected to static and seismic loads using three-dimensional finite element analysis. The influence of the pipe material, soil saturation, slenderness ratio and earthquake shaking intensity were examined. The finite element model was validated against the findings of the available laboratory experiments. In addition, four different earthquake records (Kobe, El Centro, Halabja, and Ali Algharbi) were considered to simulate different shaking scenarios. In general, a scatter of the relationship between the peak ground acceleration (PGA) and the liquefaction ratio was observed. Furthermore, the results of the numerical study demonstrated that the bending moment of the pile is greater in saturated soil models when compared to the dry soil models for all of the scenarios used in this study. Ultimately, the current study showed that the frictional resistance of the pile increased during seismic excitation under dry soil condition regardless of the selected slenderness ratio, which is due the densification of the soil caused by the shaking. However, the frictional resistance is reduced due to seismic effects for the case of the saturated soil condition due to the decrease of the soil effective stress caused by the onset of liquefaction. Overall, the plug frictional resistance was much higher than the external pile frictional resistance. Thus, the piles in both conditions (dry and saturated) experienced plugged mode. In light of this, preliminary design charts were developed to estimate the liquefaction ratio, lateral displacement, bending moment, and frictional resistance of (OE) piles using only slenderness ratio and earthquake intensity. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2023.