Hindawi

Advances in Civil Engineering

Volume 2020, Article ID 6291826, 15 pages
[Link]

Research Article
Experimental Study on Static Load of Large-Diameter Piles in
Nonuniform Gravel Soil

Baoyun Zhao ,1,2,3 Xiaoping Wang,1,2 Mijia Yang,4 Dongyan Liu,1,2 DongSheng Liu,5
and Shuguo Sun5
1
School of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Chongqing University of Science and Technology, Chongqing 401331, China
2
Chongqing Key Laboratory of Energy Engineering Mechanics & Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, Chongqing 401331, China
3
Key Laboratory of Well Stability and Fluid & Rock Mechanics in Oil and Gas Reservoir of Shaanxi Province,
Xi’an Shiyou University, Xi’an 710065, China
4
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, North Dakota State University, Fargo 58108-6050, ND, USA
5
Chongqing Bureau of Geology and Minerals Exploration, Chongqing 401121, China

Correspondence should be addressed to Baoyun Zhao; baoyun666@[Link]

Received 7 December 2019; Revised 28 May 2020; Accepted 9 June 2020; Published 11 July 2020

Academic Editor: Pier Paolo Rossi

Copyright © 2020 Baoyun Zhao et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License,
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
With the development of tourism, the number of multistorey buildings in mountain areas is increasing gradually, and the re-
quirements of the form and bearing capacity of foundation in landslide areas are getting more demanding than ever. In-situ testing of
rock and soil mass in slope area has important practical significance for improving the stability of building foundation. Taking a
project in Baishi Mountain located in southwest of China as an example, firstly, the geological structure and mechanical properties of
soil are analyzed. Then, two types of pile foundations, i.e., empty-bottom pile foundations and solid-bottom pile foundations, are
designed based on the characteristics of the geological structure for carrying out the static load test on pile foundation. The test results
are as follows: (a) the load settlement curve (Q-S) of the empty-bottom test pile shows a steep drop, while the Q-S curve of the solid-
bottom test pile shows a gradual change, showing that the end-bearing friction pile’s property and the ultimate bearing capacity of the
solid-bottom pile are higher than those of the empty-bottom pile. (b) The maximum lateral friction of the four test piles is
139.158 kPa, 148.015 kPa, 150.828 kPa, and 154.956 kPa, respectively. (c) The shaft skin resistance under ultimate load is coming close
to the maximum value, and the maximum values are 9.792 mm, 7.939 mm, 9.881 mm, and 14.97 mm, respectively. Research results
can serve as design bases for the pile foundation of multistorey buildings located in landslide areas of Baishi Mountain in the
southwest of China and also as references for the engineering application of pile foundation in similar geological fracture areas.

1. Introduction according to the field static load test research of bored piles
with different length-diameter ratios, it has been confirmed
Due to its high bearing capacity, small settlement, good that the bearing performance of the piles is related to the
stability, and other characteristics, pile foundation has been length-diameter ratio of the piles and the construction
extensively studied by many scholars around the world in the technology of the pile foundation itself; increasing the bottom
past few decades. In the early research of pile foundation, the of pile and no sediment at the bottom will improve the
integrity of pile body and the bearing capacity of single pile are bearing capacity of pile, and the larger the length-diameter
mainly tested by low strain integrity testing [1, 2], acoustic ratio, the lower the bearing capacity [5–7]. In addition to the
transmission method [3], penetration test (CPT) [4], and specific length-diameter ratio, the rock-soil properties [8]
other methods, but the bearing capacity of pile foundation where the pile foundation is located also affect the bearing
obtained by the above methods is only estimated value. capacity. Therefore, in the foundation design, the effective
The field static load test method is the most reliable stress distribution of the soil around and below the foun-
method to determine the bearing capacity. In recent years, dation unit must be determined first, because it is the basis for
2 Advances in Civil Engineering

design analysis [9]. Until now, scholars around the world have (m)
also carried out extensive load test research on the bearing 0 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 32 36 40 44 48
150
capacity of pile foundation in different rock and soil mass, 0 0
172
including laboratory tests [10, 11] and field static load tests of
197
pile foundation in different geologic structure in different 3 3
226
regions. Guo and Ghee [12] studied the influence of lateral No.1 No.4
6 6 256
movement of upper soil mass on pile bending moment and

(m)

(m)
296
soil reaction force through model test and found that when
9 9 339
there is vertical load on the pile top, the maximum defor-
mation of the pile body, the maximum bending moment, and No.2 388
12 12
the soil reaction caused by the movement of the upper soil No.3 455
mass are obviously smaller than those caused by no vertical 15 15
load on the pile top. According to Zhou et al. [13], taking (m/s)
Wuding Expressway project in loess region as an example, the
shaft skin resistance of six test piles is studied through static Figure 1: Profile of shear wave velocity on site area.
load testing and multiparameter statistical analysis. The
multiparameter statistical analysis method is compared with According to the profile of shear wave velocity in Figure 1,
the static load test results, and the error is controlled within the site can be divided into four layers. The first layer is
20%. Hai and Fellenius [14] conducted static loading tests cultivated soil with a depth of about 1 meter, and an average
using single-level O-cells at Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and shear wave velocity is less than 150 m/s. The second layer is
showed the shaft resistance to be postpeak softening, and the sandy soil, a depth about 1 to 3 meters, and an average shear
pile toe stress-movement responses were essentially linear and wave velocity of 150 to 200 m/s. The third layer is silty clay
almost identical for the two piles. With the development of with a relatively a small amount of gravel soil content, a depth
the computer numerical simulation technology such as finite about 3 to 6 meters, and an average shear wave velocity of 200
element method and finite difference method, the numerical to 250 m/s. The fourth layer is gravel soil with a depth of more
simulation method is gradually applied to the prediction and than 6 m and a wave velocity greater than 250 m/s. In the
evaluation of the bearing capacity of pile foundation [15, 16]. longitudinal direction, the wave velocities of surface soil and
The numerical simulation calculation results and the deep soil are quite different. In the transverse direction, the
experimental results are easily affected by soil properties, distribution of chromatic aberration in shear wave velocity
and there are few researches on the bearing capacity of pile image is chaotic. According to the above findings, it can be
foundation in the landslide area. Therefore, in this paper, we concluded that the shear wave velocity of rock and soil mass
study the field in which the vertical static load test of large on the site changes greatly and the testing site is composed of
diameter manually bored cast-in-place pile was carried out many kinds of rock and soil with different sizes and shapes
in the Baishi Mountain located in southwest of China, to and shows the characteristics of strong nonuniformity.
study the bearing performance and load transfer law of pile Cone dynamic sounding test is a commonly used in-situ
foundation in the slope area. test method to evaluate the mechanical properties of
granular soil. In this test, 4 locations are selected as test
2. Soil Conditions points and superheavy 120 kg dynamic penetrometer was
used. The statistical results of penetration hammering counts
The test is carried out in the slope area of Baishi Mountain. are shown in Table 1. The relationship between hammering
The rocks in the test site are in different sizes and shapes, and counts and penetration depth is shown in Figure 2.
the geologic structure is uneven. Before the static load test of According to the standard values of the superheavy N120
pile foundation, multichannel transient surface wave test dynamic sounding hammering count of the four test points and
and superheavy (N120) cone dynamic sounding test are China Code for Investigation of Geotechnical Engineering
conducted on the test site area in order to determine the (GB50021 2016) [18], it can be concluded that the density of
physical and mechanical properties of gravel soil. gravel soil in the site is of medium density. From the single-hole
In the multichannel transient surface wave test, DZQ24- hammering count obtained from the test, it can be seen that
2A series high-resolution seismograph and 24-pound high hammering counts and low hammering counts are in-
hammering source are used. There are 10 observation sys- terwoven, indicating that the particle size of rock and soil mass
tems with a distance of 2 m between each two. The minimum on the site is complicated and the uniformity is poor. In order to
offset distance is 10 meters, the sampling interval is 512 µs, investigate the grain size relationship of soil and rock of each
and the total number of sampling points is 1024. In view of test pile, the field stratified sampling and screening test was
the difference in frequency and propagation speed between carried out on the gravel soil. Due to the crushing of machines
surface wave and other seismic wave fields and the dis- and tools, the topsoil (about 1 m thick) was removed before the
persion characteristic of surface wave, f-k analysis method test. Samples were taken from the point of 1 m and then
[17] was used in data processing, and the shear wave velocity sampled at intervals of 3 m in sections, with each section
profile was generated after Kriging meshing and Gaussian sampling about 200 kg. After sampling, the soil was dried in an
smoothing. As shown in Figure 1, the abscissa is the section oven (105∼110°C), and the block stones with a short side di-
length L (m) and the ordinate is the formation depth Z (m). ameter of more than 60 mm were weighed. Then, the remaining
Advances in Civil Engineering 3

Table 1: Statistical table of test indexes of superheavy dynamic sounding test (N120).
Average hammering counts for
Test point Scope of statistics (m) Range value Standard value Variable coefficient
single-hole correction N120
No. 1 0.3～10.0 0.96∼19.552 7.55 4.60 0.609
No. 2 0.3～10.0 1.82∼19.552 8.82 4.36 0.49
No. 3 0.3～10.0 1.88∼17.766 8.56 3.86 0.450
No. 4 0.3～15.0 1∼20.032 7.88 3.98 0.505

SPT N
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22
0
Cultivated
3m

soil 2

Muddy 4
3m

silty clay
6
Depth Z/m

10
10m

Gravel
soil 12 Average value
of SPT N
14

16
No. 1 No. 3
No. 2 No. 4
Figure 2: SPT N120 values with depth.

soil was placed on the standard screen selected in batches of Table 2: Statistics and analysis of gravel soil screening test and
10 kg each time for vibration screening for 10 to 15 minutes. conventional physical parameters.
Finally, the mass of samples on each screen was weighed and
Specimen number Sample depth (m) Cu Cc
the soil gradation was calculated. The statistical analysis of test
data is shown in Table 2. And the grain size distribution curves A 1∼4 15.643 4.357
A 4∼7 4.042 2.494
at the site of A, B, C, and D are shown in Figure 3.
A 7∼10 6.228 3.232
During on-site screening, at positions A, B, and C, with a B 1∼4 17.627 3.303
depth from 1 to 4 m, the particle sizes of rock and soil bodies B 4∼7 5.297 3.175
differ greatly, with missing intermediate particles, faults, B 7∼10 4.66 2.763
nonuniform soil particles, and easy compaction. At D C 1∼4 35.641 4.359
screening positions, the particles with a depth of less than C 4∼7 7.738 3.806
4 m are relatively uniform and easy to compact. According to C 7∼10 5.333 2.91
statistical data, the nonuniformity coefficient Cu of gravel D 1∼4 9.133 2.737
soil is 4.042 to 35.641; the average value is 9.461. The cur- D 4∼7 4.67 2.747
vature coefficient Cc is 2.45 to 4.359, with an average value of D 7∼10 6.853 4.123
3.227. According to the grain size distribution curves (as D 10∼13 5.48 2.72
D 13∼15 4.105 2.45
seen in Figure 3), it can be seen that, on the site, there is a
Statistics 14 14
large difference in particle size, soil particles are nonuni- Average value 9.461 3.227
form, and particles are loose. The site is a poorly graded site Maximum value 35.641 4.359
and is not conducive for stabilizing the foundation. Minimum value 4.042 2.45
According to the results of the above-mentioned mul-
tichannel transient surface wave test, superheavy (N120) cone
dynamic sounding test, and gravel soil particle grading test,
it is concluded that the geological structure of the site is 3. Pile Test Program
complex, the content of gravel soil is high, and the non-
uniformity between particles is high. Based on the prelim- 3.1. Pile Foundation Construction. According to the above-
inary engineering survey report and the above-mentioned mentioned in-situ test results, in order to study the internal
in-situ test results, detailed physical parameters of the rock force characteristics of pile shaft axial force, shaft skin re-
and earth mass on the site are obtained, as shown in Table 3. sistance, ultimate tip resistance, and other internal force
4 Advances in Civil Engineering

100

80

Pass rate (P/%)

60

40

20

0
100 10 1 0.1 0.01
Grain size (d/mm)
A C
B D
Figure 3: The grain size distribution curves at the site of A, B, C, and D.

Table 3: Physical and mechanical properties of soil.

Soil layer Weight density c (kN/m3) Internal friction angle φ (°) Cohesion C (kPa)
Cultivated soil 18 18 15
Sandy soil 19 21 —
Silty clay 19 13 23
Gravel soil 20 25 5

characteristics of pile foundation in gravel soil bearing stratum

of different depths, static load tests are carried out in the area
where shear wave velocity is relatively uniform, i.e., within 30 to No. 3

2500
38 m along the length direction of wave velocity profile. The test
pile is a C35 manually excavated cast-in-place pile with a di-
ameter of 0.9 m. A total of 4 piles were arranged. See Figures 1
and 4 for the plan layout and pile numbers. The characteristic No. 1 No. 4
parameters of each tested pile are shown in Table 4.

2500
The No. 1 pile is empty-bottom pile (as shown in
No. 2
Figure 5(a)) and Nos. 2, 3, and 4 piles are solid-bottom piles
(as shown in Figures 5(b) and 5(c), resp.). The empty-bottom
pile is welded to a 20 mm thick circular steel plate at the
bottom of the steel cage; the diameter of the steel plate is 3000 3000 3000
(850 mm) slightly smaller than the diameter of the pile hole.
When pouring concrete, the steel cage is suspended to make Figure 4: Layout of pile position.
the bottom of the steel cage suspended 1 m.
There are 12 Φ 14 HRB 400 reinforcements used as main longitudinal bar of anchor piles is composed of 16 and 20
reinforcements of all test piles. The inner stirrup adopts finished reinforcing bars with the diameter of 28 mm. The
HPB235 reinforcement with a diameter of 16 mm, and it concrete reinforcement layout and strain gauges layout of
starts from 2 m below the top of the longitudinal rein- the test pile are seen in Figure 5.
forcement and is evenly arranged each 2 m. The outer stirrup
adopts HPB235 reinforcement with a diameter of 8 mm, and
it is arranged from below the longitudinal rib top. The 3.2. Measuring Instrument. Resistive strain gauges are
spacing between the outer stirrup and the longitudinal rib symmetrically arranged on the main reinforcement (as
top is 100 mm within the range of 3 m, and the rest of the shown in Figure 5) to measure the vertical strain of rein-
space is 200 mm. At the same time, 6 anchor piles with a forcement and pile body. The DM-YB1840 dynamic and
length of 15 m are arranged, in 4 of them the diameter is static strain testing system automatically collects strain data
1300 mm, and the others’ diameter is 1100 mm. The and calculates axial force on pile body and shaft skin
Advances in Civil Engineering 5

Table 4: The characteristic parameters of each tested pile.

Piles’ no. Piles’ length L (m) Piles’ diameter D (mm) Concrete strength Form
No. 1 10 900 C35 Empty-bottom
No. 2 10 900 C35 Solid-bottom
No. 3 10 900 C35 Solid-bottom
No. 4 15 900 C35 Solid-bottom

300

300
300

300

300

300
Ground Ground Ground Ground Ground Ground

400
400

400

1600
1600
1700

Within 3 m Within 3 m Within 3 m

below the pile below the pile below the pile
top @ 100 top @ 100 top @ 100

1600
1600
1700

12 14 12 14 12 14

1600
1600
3m below 3 m below 3 m below
1700

the pile top the pile top the pile top

10000

@ 200 @ 200 @ 200

10000

10000

10000

1600
1600
1700

Under the Under the

pile top 2 pile top 2

1600
m @ 2000 m @ 2000
1700

15000

15000
1700

Strain gauges Under the

Strain gauges

1600
pile top 2
1700

Steel plate m @ 2000

with D 850
20 mm thick 900

1600
Strain gauges

900 Empty-bottom

1800
1800

900
(a) (b) (c)

120¡ã
Main reinforcement
The stirrup of outside
Strain gauges
The stirrup of inside
50mm thick
concrete protective layer
900
(d)

Figure 5: The reinforcement layout and strain gauges layout of the test pile. (a) Empty-bottom pile No. 1. (b) Solid-bottom pile No. 2 and
No. 3. (c) Solid-bottom pile No. 4. (d) Plan of layout of pile.
6 Advances in Civil Engineering

resistance. The embedment of strain gauges shall be carried Piles. The bearing capacity under ultimate load of No. 1 pile
out strictly in accordance with the operating instructions is 3600 kN, and the corresponding pile top settlement is
and maintenance work shall be done to improve the success 12.89 mm; the maximum load is 4000 kN and the maximum
rate; for the on-site embedding photo of strain gauges, see settlement is 40.68 mm; similarly, the maximum loading
Figure 6. load of Nos. 2, 3, and 4 piles and their corresponding pile top
displacement values, bearing capacity under ultimate load
and corresponding pile top displacement, and settlement
3.3. Static Load Method of Pile Foundation. In the YD10000-
values are shown in Table 5.
200 hydraulic jack applying load, the load reaction force is
Figure 9 shows the S-lgt curve of settlement of each pile
provided by anchor pile. Four FP-50 displacement sensors
with time, which can further explain the value of ultimate
were used for settlement, which were installed on the ref-
bearing capacity. At the last step of loading, an obvious
erence beam at the top of the test pile. The support of the
downward bending is shown in the displacement of the four
sensor was fixed on the jack with magnetic bearing, and the
piles, the displacement exceeded 40 mm, and the pile reaches
reference beam was fixed on the steel beam in an inde-
the failure state [22].
pendent position unaffected by deformation calibrating the
displacement sensor with the displacement sensor calibra-
tion table before the test and using a force transducer to 4. Discussion
calibrate the accuracy of the load on the jack. The Y-LINK
static load test system automatically collects and stores test 4.1. The Characteristics of Pile Shaft Force Transfer. The re-
data. The vertical compressive static load device of single pile inforcement strain εi (µε) at the corresponding depth is di-
is shown in Figure 7(a), and the photo of field static load test rectly measured by the strain gauges meter embedded, and
is shown in Figure 7(b). then the reinforcement stress σ i is calculated according to
The test is carried out according to China Technical Code σ si � K · ε0 − εi 􏼁, (1)
for Testing of Building Foundation Piles (JGJ106-2014) [19];
the specific steps are as follows. where σ i is the stress on the reinforcement; K is calibration
(1) In the test, the step loading method was adopted; (2) coefficient indicated by the manufacturer and its value
measuring the settlement every 5 minutes, 10 minutes, and ranges from 0.6 to 0.8; εi is average strain measured by strain
15 minutes after each step of loading was applied, every 15 gauges on the same section; i is the serial numbers of the
minutes after that, and every 30 minutes after a total of 1 buried sections of the strain gauges, i � 1, 2, L, n are arranged
hour and then loading stopped. (3) The settlement per hour from top to bottom.
could not exceed 0.1 mm. When it occurred twice in suc- According to Hooke’s law and the stress on the rein-
cession, it was considered to be relatively stable and the next forcement, the real strain value of the strain gauges string is
step of loading could be applied. (4) When the settlement of calculated:
the pile was 5 times of the settlement under the previous load σ
εsi � si , (2)
and the total settlement at the top of the pile exceeded Es
40 mm, or the settlement of the pile was greater than 2 times
of the settlement under the previous load, and had not where εsi is the real strain of the strain gauges string; Es is the
reached a stable state after 24 hours, loading stopped. elastic modulus of reinforcement, with a value of
2.04 × 104 MPa; σ i and i are the same as in formula (1).
Assuming that the compression amount of concrete is
3.4. Test Results of Pile Foundation. The line type of load- equal to the real strain value of the strain gauges string and
displacement (Q-S) curve in static load test can macro- the cross-sectional area of the pile is unchanged, the concrete
scopically reflect pile body’s failure mechanism and failure stress can be obtained according to
mode of soil around pile [20]. When the load is small, the
displacement curve tends to develop linearly and is in the σ ci � εsi · Ec , (3)
elastic stage. With the increasing load, the pile gradually where σ ci is the concrete stress value; εsi is the real strain of
changes from elastic deformation to elastic-plastic defor- strain gauges string; Ec is the modulus of elasticity of
mation. As the load continues to increase, the displacement concrete, with a value of 104 MPa; i is the same as in formula
increases sharply and enters the plastic stage and the pile (1).
reaches the failure state. The Q-S curves of piles Nos. 1, 2, 3, Finally, the respective internal forces are obtained by
and 4 are shown in Figure 8. multiplying stress values by the respective cross-sectional
It can be seen from Figure 8 that the Q-S curve of No. 1 areas, and then the pile axial force of this section is obtained
pile has obvious inflection point, indicating that it is a steep by the stress of reinforcements plus the stress of concrete,
drop curve. The pile top load corresponding to the inflection and the axial force of other cross-sectional pile bodies can be
point of Q-S curve is taken as the ultimate bearing capacity obtained similarly; the calculation formula is as follows:
of the test pile [21]. The Q-S curves of the other three piles
have similar trends, and there is no obvious steep drop Qi � σ ci Aci + σ si Asi , (4)
section, indicating that they are slowly changing curves, so
the ultimate bearing capacity is confirmed according to 4.4.2 where Qi is the axial force of tested section; σ ci and σ si are the
in The Technical Specification of China Building Foundation same as in formulas (3) and (1), respectively. Aci is the
Advances in Civil Engineering 7

(a) (b)

Figure 6: Site photo of strain gauges embedding. (a) Part photo. (b) The overall photo.

Test beam(s) Load transfer

column

Hydraulic Displacement
jack meter
Steel test
plate

Test pile Minimum clear

Anchor pile distance is 2.5 m
(a) (b)

Figure 7: Schematic diagram and field photo of static load test. (a) Schematic diagram. (b) Photograph.

Load at pile top (kN)

0 1200 2400 3600 4800 6000 7200 8400 9600
respectively. With the increase of loading steps, axial force is
0 gradually generated at the lower part of each solid-bottom
5
pile, and pile tip resistance is gradually mobilized [23]. When
reaching the ultimate load, pile tip resistance of piles Nos. 2, 3,
10 and 4 is 2100 kN, 1418 kN, and 3463 kN, respectively. The first
pile is an empty-bottom pile; with the increase of load, axial
Displacement (mm)

15
force is gradually generated at the lower part of the pile body.
20 After reaching the ultimate bearing capacity, the load will
25
continue to be applied, and the displacement of pile top will
rapidly increase from the original 12.89 mm to 40.68 mm.
30 This is because the first pile is an empty-bottom pile, and there
is no soil at the bottom to generate tip resistance. When the
35
shaft skin resistance reaches the maximum value and cannot
40 resist the axial force in the vertical direction, if the load
continues to be applied after reaching the ultimate bearing
45
capacity, sudden settlement of the pile body occurs and the
No. 1 No. 3 settlement exceeds the limit specified in the specification,
No. 2 No. 4
indicating that pile failure has occurred.
Figure 8: Load-displacement curve of static load test. It can be seen from the stress conditions of the solid-
bottom pile, the empty-bottom pile, the 10-meter-long pile
concrete area of pile body, 0.63585 m2; Asi is the area of body, and the 15-meter-long pile body in Figure 10 that the
reinforcement in pile body, 1.84632 × 10−3 m2. axial force of the empty-bottom pile and the solid-bottom
Figures 9(a)–9(d) show the axial force distribution of piles pile is relatively small at the initial loading step. With the
Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4 with depth under different loading steps, increase of loading step, the axial force gradually develops
8 Advances in Civil Engineering

Table 5: Results of static load test.

Bearing capacity under Settlement under
Pile number Maximum load (kN) Maximum load settlement (mm) Rebound rate (%)
ultimate load (kN) ultimate load (mm)
No. 1 4000 40.68 3600 12.89 10.06
No. 2 5400 40.1 4800 30.01 12.36
No. 3 4800 40.51 4200 28.92 16.84
No. 4 8800 40.83 8000 26.76 18.94

lgt (min) lgt (min)

1 10 100 1000 1 10 100 1000
0 0

5 5

10 10

15 15

20 20
S (mm)

S (mm)
25 25

30 30

35 35

40 40

45 45
800kN 2800kN 600 kN 3600 kN
1200kN 3200kN 1200 kN 4200 kN
1600kN 3600kN 1800 kN 4800 kN
2000kN 4000kN 2400 kN 5400 kN
2400kN 3000 kN
(a) (b)
lgt (min) lgt (min)
1 10 100 1000 1 10 100 1000
0 0

5 5

10 10

15 15

20 20
S (mm)

S (mm)

25 25

30 30

35 35

40 40

45 45
600 kN 3000 kN 1600 kN 5600 kN
1200kN 3600 kN 2400 kN 6400 kN
1800kN 4200 kN 3200 kN 7200 kN
2400kN 4800 kN 4000 kN 8000 kN
4800 kN 8800 kN
(c) (d)

Figure 9: S-lgt curve of each pile. (a) No. 1 pile. (b) No. 2 pile. (c) No. 3 pile. (d) No. 4 pile.
Advances in Civil Engineering 9

Axial force (kN) Axial force (kN)

0 400 800 1200 1600 2000 2400 2800 3200 3600 4000 4400 0 600 1200 1800 2400 3000 3600 4200 4800 5400 6000
0 0
1 1
2 2
3 3
4 4
Depth Z/m

Depth Z/m
5 5
6 6
7 7
8 8
9 9
10 10
800kN 2800 kN 600 kN 3600 kN
1200 kN 3200 kN 1200 kN 4200 kN
1600 kN 3600 kN 1800 kN 4800 kN
2000 kN 4000 kN 2400 kN 5400 kN
2400 kN 3000 kN
(a) (b)
Axial force (kN) Axial force (kN)
0 600 1200 1800 2400 3000 3600 4200 4800 5400 0 800 1600 2400 3200 4000 4800 5600 6400 7200 8000 8800
0 0
1
1 2
2 3
4
3 5
4 6
Depth Z/m

Depth Z/m

7
5 8
9
6 10
7 11
12
8 13
9 14
15
10 16
600 kN 3000kN 1600 kN 5600 kN
1200kN 3600kN 2400 kN 6400 kN
1800kN 4200kN 3200 kN 7200 kN
2400kN 4800kN 4000 kN 8000 kN
4800 kN 8800 kN
(c) (d)

Figure 10: Distribution curve of axial force of each pile. (a) No. 1 pile. (b) No. 2 pile. (c) No. 3 pile. (d) No. 4 pile.

and transmits to the pile bottom and decreases with the transmission characteristics are similar. With the increase of
increase of the depth. Under different loading steps, the loading steps, the axial force gradually transmits to the lower
attenuation rate of axial force curve is different. The at- part of the pile body. If load continues to be applied after
tenuation rate of axial force curve reflects the development of reaching the ultimate load, the empty-bottom pile will be
shaft skin resistance. In low loading steps, the attenuation suddenly destroyed while the solid-bottom pile will be able to
rate of axial force curve is not fast and relatively uniform. bear due to soil in the lower part and will show a slow change.
With the increase of loading steps, the attenuation rate of
axial force curve at the upper part of pile body is not fast,
while the attenuation rate of axial force curve at the lower 4.2. Analysis of Characteristics of Shaft Skin Resistance of Pile
part of pile body is obvious, which shows that no matter it is Body. Based on the principle of static balance, regardless of
an empty-bottom pile or solid-bottom pile, the force the influence of pile body weight [24], the pile shaft skin
10 Advances in Civil Engineering

Skin friction of test pile (kPa) Skin friction of test pile (kPa)
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
0 0
1 1
2 2
3 3
4 4
Depth Z/m

Depth Z/m
5 5
6 6
7 7
8 8
9 9
10 10
800 kN 2800kN 600 kN 3600 kN
1200kN 3200kN 1200 kN 4200 kN
1600kN 3600kN 1800 kN 4800 kN
2000kN 4000kN 2400 kN 5400 kN
2400kN 3000 kN
(a) (b)
Skin friction of test pile (kPa) Skin friction of test pile (kPa)
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180
0 0
1
1 2
2 3
4
3 5
4 6
Depth Z/m
Depth Z/m

7
5 8
9
6 10
7 11
12
8 13
9 14
15
10 16
600kN 3000 kN 1600 kN 5600 kN
1200kN 3600 kN 2400 kN 6400 kN
1800kN 4200 kN 3200 kN 7200 kN
2400kN 4800 kN 4000 kN 8000 kN
4800 kN 8800 kN
(c) (d)

Figure 11: Distribution of shaft skin resistance on each pile. (a) No. 1 pile. (b) No. 2 pile. (c) No. 3 pile. (d) No. 4 pile.

Table 6: Value of shaft skin resistance of piles at different depths when reaching ultimate bearing capacity.
(a) No. 1 pile
Depth Z/m 1.7 3.4 5.1 6.8 8.5
Skin friction/kPa 60.177 112.974 133.037 139.158 135.235
(b) No. 2 pile
Depth Z/m 1.6 3.2 4.8 6.4 8.1 9.8
Skin friction/kPa 43.899 105.055 128.283 139.1 146.983 148.015
(c) No. 3 pile
Depth Z/m 1.6 3.2 4.8 6.4 8.1 9.8
Skin friction/kPa 46.948 106.907 130.723 145.894 147.938 150.828
(d) No. 4 pile
Depth Z/m 1.6 3.2 4.8 6.4 8 9.6 11.2 13 14.8
Skin friction/kPa 63.055 93.009 117.592 129.804 141.642 144.953 145.865 151.216 154.956
Advances in Civil Engineering 11

Pile-soil relative displacement (mm) Pile-soil relative displacement (mm)

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
0 0

2 2

4 4
Depth Z/m

Depth Z/m
6 6

8 8

10 10
800 kN 2800 kN 600 kN 3600 kN
1200 kN 3200 kN 1200 kN 4200 kN
1600 kN 3600 kN 1800 kN 4800 kN
2000 kN 4000 kN 2400 kN 5400 kN
2400 kN 3000 kN
(a) (b)
Pile-soil relative displacement (mm) Pile-soil relative displacement (mm)
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
0 0
1
2
2 3
4
5
4 6
Depth Z/m
Depth Z/m

7
8
6 9
10
11
8 12
13
14
10 15
600kN 3000kN 1600 kN 5600 kN
1200kN 3600kN 2400 kN 6400 kN
1800kN 4200kN 3200 kN 7200 kN
2400kN 4800kN 4000 kN 8000 kN
4800 kN 8800 kN
(c) (d)

Figure 12: Pile-soil relative displacement curve. (a) No. 1 pile. (b) No. 2 pile. (c) No. 3 pile. (d) No. 4 pile.

resistance value can be calculated by the following formula Figures 10(a)–10(d) show the distribution of shaft skin
according to the change value of the axial force of the pile resistance of piles Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4 with depth under
body: different steps of loading.
As can be seen from Figure 11, in lower loading step, the
Qi − Qi+1 shaft skin resistance of each pile is small; with the increase of
qsi � , (5)
u · li loading steps, the shaft skin resistance of each pile increases.
On the whole, the shaft skin resistance of the pile is also
where qsi is the resistance between the i section and the i + 1 gradually transmitted from the upper part of the pile body to
section; i is the same as in formula (1); u is the perimeter of the lower part of the pile body, but, compared with the
pile body; li is the pile length between the i section and the middle part of the pile body, the shaft skin resistance of the
i + 1 section. lower part of the first pile body with empty-bottom shows a
12 Advances in Civil Engineering

160 160

140 140

Skin friction of test pile (kPa)

Skin friction of test pile (kPa)

120 120

100 100

80 80

60 60

40 40

20 20

0 0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
Pile-soil relative displacement (mm) Pile-soil relative displacement (mm)
1-1 1-4 2-1 2-4
1-2 1-5 2-2 2-5
1-3 2-3 2-6
(a) (b)
160 160

140 140
Skin friction of test pile (kPa)

Skin friction of test pile (kPa)

120 120

100 100

80 80

60 60

40 40

20 20

0 0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
Pile-soil relative displacement (mm) Pile-soil relative displacement (mm)
3-1 3-4 4-1 4-4 4-7
3-2 3-5 4-2 4-5 4-8
3-3 3-6 4-3 4-6 4-9
(c) (d)

Figure 13: Distribution curves of shaft skin resistances versus relative displacements. (a) No. 1 pile. (b) No. 2 pile. (c) No. 3 pile. (d) No. 4
pile.

decreasing trend, because there is no soil bearing the cor- According to the calculation method in [26], the pile-soil
responding load at the pile tip; however, for the remaining relative displacement curves under different loading steps
three solid-bottom piles, when the tip resistance is mobilized are calculated and drawn. The curves of shaft skin resistance
to a certain extent, the friction resistance in the middle part and pile-soil relative displacement are shown in
of the pile body is smaller than that in the lower part, which Figures 12(a)–12(d), respectively.
indicates that the soil at the pile tip can reinforce the shaft In the calculation of the pile-soil relative displacement, it
skin resistance of the pile [25]. When the ultimate bearing is assumed that the soil around the pile will be not displaced.
capacity is reached, the shaft skin resistance values of the As can be seen from Figure 12, the pile-soil relative dis-
corresponding piles at various depths are shown in Table 6. placement at the same position of the pile body increases with
the increase of loading steps on the pile tip. When the first two
steps of loading are applied, the pile-soil relative displacement
4.3. Relationship between Shaft Skin Resistance and Pile-Soil of the four piles increases obviously due to the compaction
Relative Displacement. The pile-soil relative displacement effect of the first two steps of loading on the gravel soil around
objectively reflects the mobilization of shaft skin resistance. the pile. As the load level continues to increase, the pile-soil
Advances in Civil Engineering 13

relative displacement increment is relatively small because the 3750

shaft skin resistance gradually mobilizes its function to 3500
prevent the pile from moving. With the increase of loading, 3250
when the shaft skin resistance cannot resist the load, at the 3000
loading sections 4800 kN–5400 kN, 4200 kN–4800 kN, 2750
2500

Pile tip load (kN)

8000 kN–8800 kN, and 3600 kN–4000 kN, the maximum
2250
displacements of pile tips of Nos. 2, 3, and 4 solid-bottom pile 2000
and the empty-bottom pile increase by 9.792 mm, 7.939 mm, 1750
9.881 mm, and 14.97 mm, respectively. 1500
The shaft skin resistance increases with the increase of 1250
pile-soil relative displacement. Although continuous loading 1000
has led to foundation soil destruction, it can be concluded 750
from Figure 13 that the lateral resistance in the middle and 500
lower parts is not fully mobilized, and a certain pile-soil 250
relative displacement is needed to promote the full mobi- 0
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000 9000
lization of the shaft skin resistance. However, according to Load at pile top (kN)
the development trend that the slope of the shaft skin re-
sistance gradually decreases, it can be inferred that the shaft No. 2
No. 3
skin resistance will reach the maximum value. At the first No. 4
section position, the ultimate shaft skin resistance of piles
Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4 are 46.95 kPa, 43.90 kPa, 60.18 kPa, and Figure 14: Variation curve of pile tip resistance under different
63.05 kPa respectively, and the corresponding pile-soil rel- loading steps. (a) No. 1 pile. (b) No. 2 pile. (c) No. 3 pile. (d) No. 4
ative displacements are 34.19 mm, 34.42 mm, 26.33 mm, and pile.
32.79 mm. In the second section, the shaft skin resistance of
the four piles increases greatly, so does the pile-soil relative
displacement. Since the soil above the first section position is
basically cultivated soil, and it can resist small shaft skin 6000
resistance, while the content of gravel soil of the second
section is large, and, with the increase of depth, the sur- 5000
rounding pressure of soil around the pile increases, therefore
the ability of resisting pile foundation sliding and dis- 4000
Pile tip load (kN)

placement increases. Therefore, between the first section and

the second section, the shaft skin resistance increases greatly,
while the pile-soil relative displacement increases a little. In 3000
the second section and beyond, the soil is gravel soil, and the
shaft skin resistance increases slightly with the increase of 2000
pile depth, and the relative displacement decreases gradually.
1000

4.4. Pile Tip Resistance Varies with Load and Displacement.

0
During the test, the section where the largest embedded 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
depth of strain gauges is very close to the bottom of the pile Pile tip displacement (mm)
was shown, so the resistance at the pile tip is approximately No. 2
equal to the axial force measured at this section, namely, No. 3
Qb � Q0. Under the action of all loading steps, the resistance No. 4
variation curves at the lower tips of the Nos. 2, 3, and 4 piles
Figure 15: Relationship curve between pile tip resistance and pile
are shown in Figure 14. tip displacement. (a) No. 1 pile. (b) No. 2 pile. (c) No. 3 pile. (d) No.
The No. 2 and No. 3 piles in the first two loading steps 4 pile.
and No. 4 pile in the first loading step have smaller resistance
at the pile tip. The resistance at the pile tip gradually in-
creases until the third and fourth loading steps. Under the can be seen that the pile tip resistance and pile tip dis-
action of ultimate load, the ratio of pile tip resistance to pile placement present a double fold line model of work hard-
top load of Nos. 2, 3, and 4 is 37.7%, 30.08%, and 39.92%, ening. The Nos. 2, 3, and 4 piles all show a slow deformation
respectively, all higher 15%, which shows that pile tip re- failure, and, under the action of the first loading step, the
sistance has been brought into play to a certain extent. The slope of the curve is larger, and the corresponding dis-
pile tip resistance is shared by shaft skin resistance and pile placement is relatively small; in latter steps of loading, the
tip resistance, and the pile is of tip bearing friction pile. curvature curve becomes smoother, the displacement of the
According to the relationship curve between pile tip pile tips of adjacent loads increases, and the soil at the pile
resistance and pile tip displacement shown in Figure 15, it tips will gradually be compacted.
14 Advances in Civil Engineering

5. Conclusions Education Commission (Grant no. KJ1713327 and KJ1600532),

Key Laboratory of Well Stability and Fluid and Rock Mechanics
Analyses are carried out on data of the in-situ test of uneven in Oil and Gas Reservoir of Shaanxi Province, Xi’an Shiyou
gravel soil in Baishi Mountain, and the following conclu- University (Grant no. FRM20190201002), Chongqing Post-
sions are drawn: graduate Research Innovation Project (Grant no. CYS19353),
(1) Based on the analysis of the results of multichannel and Chongqing University of Science and Technology Graduate
transient surface wave test, superheavy (N120) cone Students’ Science and Technology Innovation Program (Grant
dynamic sounding test, and on-site screening test, no. YKJCX1720601 and YKJCX1920613).
the geological environment conditions of the uneven
gravel soil on the site are further explored. The strata References
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