A new model for the analysis of laterally loaded piles

Pile foundations are widely used in engineering practice. Laterally loaded piles are especially used in constructions such as structures subjected to wind loads, seismic loads and static and cyclic lateral loads. Though many researchers have earlier developed models for lateral load foundations, all of these contain certain amount of empiricism in the development of their models.; Different approaches have been taken towards the analysis of laterally loaded piles. The first method is to model the soil as a set of horizontal elastic springs in which the pile is embedded. The stiffness of the spring depend on the properties of the soil and is known as the coefficient of subgrade reaction. This type of analysis is based on the Winkler foundation solution. The second approach is to model the soil as an elastic continuum in which the pile is embedded. Elastic equations and compatibility conditions are used to develop these types of models. In both cases the pile is modeled as an elastic beam.; The development of models for the analysis of laterally loaded piles is a typical soil structure interaction problem. In this problem the properties of the soil influence the displacement of the pile and the properties of the pile influence the displacement of the soil and vice versa. This makes the system equations inherently contain both the soil and the pile combined.; In this research the case of pile foundations under lateral loads for linear displacements are studied in detail. This thesis consists of two major contributions to the study of laterally loaded pile foundations. The first is to develop an equivalent value of the Winkler horizontal subgrade reaction for soils so that these values can be used to predict the deflection of the pile using the Winkler model. Also an equation is presented as a function of the properties of the pile-soil system. The second contribution of this research is to develop a new model using the continuum approach towards modeling of the soil. The basic advantage of this method is that stratified soil's can easily be incorporated into the model.