Numerical investigation on lateral deflection of single pile under static and dynamic loading

ABSTRACT: In this thesis a 3D nonlinear analysis was performed to study the lateral deflection of single pile with different slenderness ratios (L/D) under static and dynamic loading. Different models of pile, soil and loading have been simulated, and the lateral deflections were studied considering elastic, elasto-plastic and dynamic models of the soil. For seismic load modeling Ricker wavelet was used. 3D finite element method was applied for numerical modeling and the ABAQUS program version 6.11was utilized to evaluate the lateral deflection of pile. It was concluded that one of the most effective parameters on lateral deflection of pile is slenderness ratio; the pile length has more influence on increasing the lateral deflection. Furthermore, the lateral deflections versus depth along pile length at the same slenderness ratio revealed that the piles with bigger diameters exhibited less lateral deflections, which might be attributed to the increase in the surface area and hence the skin friction between pile and soil. Keywords: Finite Element Method, Lateral deflection, Single Pile, Slenderness Ratio, Ricker Wavelet. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………