Nonlinear Analysis for Lateral Response of a Pile on Sloping Ground

Pile foundations are used to support a wide variety of structures. In many cases, lateral loads are often the critical factors considered in the design of piles. The response of piles subjected to lateral loading is highly nonlinear due to the inherent nonlinear behavior of soils and piles. In many practical situations, structures subjected to lateral loading are located near or in the slopes or embankments. But, the research to examine the effects of soil slope on lateral pile capacity is limited. Therefore, this study aims at the nonlinear analysis for lateral response of a pile on sloping ground.
To achieve the purpose, this study developed the analytical solution to estimate the ultimate soil resistance in the lateral loaded pile located in slope. The analytical solution is assumed passive failure wedge modal, and can be applied to normal type of soils. Furthermore, this study developed a simple, but rational, analytical model to simulate the behavior of single piles subjected to lateral loading. The analytical model adopted will be based on the Winkler hypothesis and p-y approach, which is commonly used in engineering applications. In this study, the non- linearity of the soil is simulated by applying nonlinear soil springs, while the nonlinearity of a pile is modeled by placing distributed plastic hinges in beam elements. The distributed plastic hinge model can completely capture the development process of plasticity in piles.
Finally, this study proposed the procedures of the fragility analysis for pile-supported wharf case. In modeling a wharf structure, the nonlinearity of the soil and the piles should be considered to account for their effects on the lateral response of the structure. And the proposed fragility analysis procedure can successfully establish the fragility curves of pile-supported wharf structures from illustrative examples.