Response and soil pressure distribution around a single batter pile under oblique uplift loading

Abstract

Batter piles often bear high horizontal resistance and oblique uplift load transformed from high-rise superstructures, and the direction of the oblique uplift load changes with the horizontal displacement of the superstructure. However, the working behaviour of batter piles under such working conditions is less understood. Therefore, a series of laboratory and numerical studies is carried out. A new type of tactile pressure sensor is also used to measure the soil pressure around the pile. Three major conclusions are summarised from the results. First, the lateral response of the batter pile is affected by the loading angle, while the axial response is not. Second, the at-rest soil pressure on the batter pile is in the ‘offset’ state, which can be fitted with an elliptic function. The pile–soil interaction below a certain depth is not affected by the pile angles, and the pile can be designed as the axial uplift pile. The soil stiffness varies within 0.4L and 5D in the axial and radial directions of the pile, respectively. The increase in pile inclination and loading angle can reduce the stiffness degradation to a certain degree. The findings of this research can support engineering practice in the design of batter piles.