Effect of soil saturation on load transfer in a pile excited by pure vertical vibration

Abstract

A comparison between the resistance capacity of a single pile excited by two opposite rotary machines embedded in dry and saturated sandy soil was considered experimentally. A small-scale physical model was manufactured to accomplish the experimental work in the laboratory. The physical model consists of: two small motors supplied with eccentric mass 0·012 kg and eccentric distance 20 mm representing the two opposite rotary machines, an aluminum shaft with 20 mm in diameter as the pile, and a steel plate with dimensions of (160 × 160 × 20 mm) as a pile cap. The experimental work was achieved taking the following parameters into consideration, pile embedment depth ratio (L/d; length to diameter) and operating frequency of the rotary machines. Twenty four tests were conducted in medium dense fine sandy soil with 60% relative density. The results revealed that in dry soil during machine operation the pile tip load decreased for all (L/d) ratios and operating frequencies due to mobilizing the skin friction resistance. Whereas in saturated soil, for small (L/d) ratio and low operating frequency, the mobilized skin friction was affected by the presence of water, which works as a lubricant leading to increase the pile tip load.