Numerical Pile Driving Analysis for Non-Uniform Piles
Abstract: This paper focuses on the effect of pile shape on the penetration of the pile and the magnitude of stress in the pile body. For this purpose, concrete tapered piles of the same volume and length are considered. All piles have a conic shape with different slopes along the shaft. In all analyses, the hammer impact is modeled using a single function which obtains from current literature. The subsoil is assumed to be normally consolidated clay. The soil is assumed to be saturated and undrained. Linear elastic behavior is assumed for the pile whereas the Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion is considered for clay. Interface elements are used to allow the slip between the pile and the soil. To ensure the correctness of the constructed numerical pile driving models, the results obtained from this proposed model are compared with numerical data obtained from an available sophisticated analysis. Parametric studies have been carried out to determine the influence of contributing factors such as tapered angle and soil stratification on the pile-driving phenomenon. The effect of taper angle on permanent pile penetration and driving stresses will be presented.
