Chapter 4

LOAD ON SINGLE PILE

4.1 Introduction

In this section, considering pile/soil interaction, we learn to calculate the bearing capacity of single
piles subjected to compressive axial load. During pile design, the following factors should be taken
into consideration:

pile material compression and tension capacity

deformation area of pile, bending moment capacity

condition of the pile at the top and the end of the pile

eccentricity of the load applied on the pile

soil characteristics

ground water level ..etc.

Nevertheless, calculation method that can satisfy all of these conditions will be complicated and
difficult to carry out manually, instead two widely used simplified methods are presented. These
two methods are refereed as geotechnical and dynamic methods. This section too has worked
examples showing the application of the formulae used in predicting the bearing capacity of piles
made of different types of materials.

Learning outcome

When students complete this section, they will be able to

 understand the theoretical back ground of the formulae used in pile design
 carry out calculation and be able to predict design bearing capacity of single piles
 appreciate results calculated by means of different formulae

4.2 The behaviour of piles under load

Piles are designed that calculations and prediction of carrying capacity is based on the application
of ultimate axial load in the particular soil conditions at the site at relatively short time after
installation.

This ultimate load capacity can be determined by either:

 the use of empirical formula to predict capacity from soil properties determined by testing, or
 load test on piles at the site

Fig.4-1, When pile is subjected to gradually increasing compressive load in maintained load stages,
initially the pile-soil system behaves in a linear-elastic manner up to point A on the settlement-load
diagram and if the load is realised at any stage up to this point the pile head rebound to its original
level. When the load is increase beyond point A there is yielding at, or close to, the pile-soil
interface and slippage occurs until point B is reached, when the maximum skin friction on the pile
shaft will have been mobilised. If the load is realised at this stage the pile head will rebound to point
C , the amount of permanent settlement being the distance OC. When the stage of full mobilisation
of the base resistance is reached ( point D), the pile plunges downwards with out any farther
increase of load, or small increases in load producing large settlements.


No end-bearing is mobilised up to this point. The whole of the load is carried by the skin friction on the pile shaft see figure 4-1 I)


The pile shaft is carrying its maximum skin friction and the pile toe will be carrying some load


At this point there is no further increase in the load transferred in skin friction but the base load will have reached its maximum
value.
 Figure -1 axial compression of pile

4.3 Geotechnical design methods

In order to separate their behavioural responses to applied pile load, soils are classified as either
granular/noncohesive or clays/cohesive. The generic formulae used to predict soil resistance to pile
load include empirical modifying factors which can be adjusted according to previous engineering
experience of the influence on the accuracy of predictions of changes in soil type and other factors
such as the time delay before load testing.

(Fig 4-1II) the load settlement response is composed of two separate components, the linear
elastic shaft friction Rs and non-linear base resistance Rb. The concept of the separate evaluation
of shaft friction and base resistance forms the bases of "static or soil mechanics" calculation of pile
carrying capacity. The basic equations to be used for this are written as:

Q = Qb + Qs - Wp or

Rc = Rb + Rs - Wp

Rt = Rs + Wp

Where: Q = Rc = the ultimate compression resistance of the pile

Qb = Rb = base resistance

Qs = Rs = shaft resistance

Wp = weight of the pile

Rt = tensile resistance of pile

In terms of soil mechanics theory, the ultimate skin friction on the pile shaft is related to the
horizontal effective stress acting on the shaft and the effective remoulded angle of friction between
the pile and the clay and the ultimate shaft resistance Rs can be evaluated by integration of the
pile-soil shear strength  a over the surface area of the shaft:

 a = Ca +  n‫׼‬ tan a
Where:  n = Ks‫׼‬  v (refer geotechnical notes)

  a = Ca + KS ‫׼‬  v ‫׼‬ tan a

and

where: p = pile perimeter

L = pile length

 = angle of friction between pile and soil

Ks = coefficient of lateral pressure

the ultimate bearing capacity, Rb, of the base is evaluated from the bearing capacity theory:

Ab = area of pile base

C = undrained strength of soil at base of pile

NC = bearing capacity factor

……………………………………………
4.1

Nevertheless, in practise, for a given pile at a given site, the undrained shear strength C a varies
considerably with many factors, including, pile type, soil type, and methods of installations.

Ideally, Ca should be determined from a pile-load test, but since this is not always possible, C a is
correlated with the undrained cohesion Cu by empirical adhesion factor  so that the general
expression in e.q. (4-1) could be simplified to the following expression:

…………………………………………
…4.2

Where: Ws = weight of soil replaced by the pile

=average value of shear strength over the whole shaft length

4.3.1 The undrained load capacity (total stress approach)

For piles in clay, the undrained load capacity is generally taken to be the critical value unless the
clay is highly over consolidated. If the undrained or short-term ultimate load capacity is to be
computed, the soil parameters C,  , ,  should be appropriate to undrained conditions and  v and
 vb should be the total stresses. If the clay is saturated , the undrained angle of friction  u is zero,
and  a (angle of friction between pile and soil) may also be taken as zero. In addition, N q = 1, N =
1, so that the eq in(4-1) reduces to:

……………………………………………4.3

Where: Nc, Nq, N ,= bearing capacity factors and are functions of the internal angle of friction  of
the soil, the relative compressibility of the soil and the pile geometry.

4.3.2 Drained load capacity (effective stress approach)

For piles installed in stiff, over consolidated clays, the drained load capacity is taken as design
criterion. If the simplified assumption is made that the drained pile-soil adhesion C? a is zero and
that the term in eq (4-1)…involving Nc, N ignoring the drained ultimate bearing capacity of the pile
may be expressed as :
 ……………………………………………4.4

Where: s ? v, and s ? vb = effective vertical stress at depth z respective at pile base

f ? a,= effective angle of friction between pile/soil and implied can be taken as f ? ,

Nq which is dependant up on the values of f ? may be taken to be the same as for piles in sand, and

can be decided using table 10-5 & 10-6

4.3.3 Pile in sand

If the pile soil adhesion Ca and term Nc are taken as zero in e.q (4-1)… and the terms 0.5 d N is
neglected as being small in relation to the term involving N , the ultimate load capacity of a single
pile in sand may be expressed as follows:

……………………………………………4.5

Where: s ? v, and s ? vb = effective vertical stress at depth z respective at pile base

Fw = correction factor for tapered pile ( = 1 for uniform diameter)

4.4 Dynamic approach

Most frequently used method of estimating the load capacity of driven piles is to use a driving
formula or dynamic formula. All such formulae relate ultimate load capacity to pile set (the vertical
movement per blow of the driving hammer) and assume that the driving resistance is equal to the
load capacity to the pile under static loading they are based on an idealised representation of the
action of the hammer on the pile in the last stage of its embedment.

Usually, pile-driving formulae are used either to establish a safe working load or to determine the
driving requirements for a required working load.

The working load is usually determined by applying a suitable safety factor to the ultimate load
calculated by the formula. However, the use of dynamic formula is highly criticised in some pile-
design literatures. Dynamic methods do not take into account the physical characteristics of the
soil. This can lead to dangerous miss-interpretation of the results of dynamic formula calculation
since they represent conditions at the time of driving. They do not take in to account the soil
conditions which affect the long- term carrying capacity, reconsolidation, negative skin friction and
group effects.


specified load acting on the head of the pile

Chapter 5

SINGLE PILE DESIGN

5.1 End bearing piles

If a pile is installed in a soil with low bearing capacity but resting on soil beneath with high bearing
capacity, most of the load is carried by the end bearing.

In some cases where piles are driven in to the ground using hammer, pile capacity can be
estimated by calculating the transfer of potential energy into dynamic energy . When the hammer is
lifted and thrown down, with some energy lose while driving the pile, potential energy is transferred
into dynamic energy. In the final stage of the pile’s embedment,On the bases of rate of settlement,
it is able to calculate the design capacity of the pile.

For standard pile driving hammers and some standard piles with load capacity (FRsp,), the working
load for the pile can be determined using the relationship between bearing capacity of the pile, the
design load capacity of the pile described by: FRsp   n‫׼‬ FSd and table 5-1

where: FSd = design load for end baring.

The data is valid only if at the final stage, rate of settlement is 10 mm per ten blow. And pile length
not more than 20 m and geo-category 2 . for piles with length 20 - 30 m respective 30 - 50 m the
bearing capacity should be reduced by 10 res. 25%.


Table 5-1 Baring capacity of piles installed by hammering

drop hammer (activated by rope and

hammer DROP HAMMER (released by trigger)
friction winch

cross-sectional area of pile cross-sectional area of pile

fall height 0.055m2 0.073m2 fall height 0.055m2 0.073m2

0.3 420 kN 450 kN 0.4 390 kN 420 kN

3 TON 0.4 490 520 0.5 450 480

0.5 560 590 0.6 520 540

0.3 470 510 0.4 440 480

4 TON 0.4 540 590 0.5 510 550

0.5 610 680 0.6 550 610

0.3 580 640 0.4 550 600

5 TON 0.4 670 740 0.5 610 660

0.5 760 840 0.6 670 730

Example 5.1

A concrete pile with length 26 m and cross-sectional area (235)‫׼‬ (235) is subjected to a
vertical loading of 390 kN (ultimate) load. Determine appropriate condition to halt hammering. Type
of hammer Drop hammer activated by rope and friction winch. Class 2, GC 2, pile length 20 m

solution:




vertical load 390 kN ޼ 

Pile cross-sectional area ޼ 0.2352 = 0.055 m2 ޼

type of hammer: Drop hammer activated by rope and friction winch ޼

***For piles 20m - 30m length, the bearing capacity should be reduced by 10%

 Table value (table 5-1): Hammer weight = 4 ton ޼ fall height 0.45m (interpolation)

Hammer weight = 3 ton ޼ fall height 0.54 m

4 ton hammer with fall height 0.45m is an appropriate choice.

5.2 Friction piles

Load on piles that are driven into friction material, for the most part the weight is carried by friction
between the soil and the pile shaft. However considerable additional support is obtained form the
bottom part.

In designing piles driven into friction material, the following formulas can be used

………………………… 5.1

where: qci = consolidation resistance

* can be decided using table 10-4

Ab = end cross-sectional area of the pile

Ami = shaft area of the pile in contact with the soil.

should be  1.5 for piles in friction material

qcs = end resistance at the bottom of the pile within 4

‫׼‬
 Figure 5-1 Friction Pile

Example 5.2

Pile length 22 m, steel pile, friction pile, external diameter 100 mm, GC2,

Determine the ultimate bearing capacity of the pile

solution:

qc
MPa
Z m( depth measured from

ground level to bottom of pile)

0m - 5 m 5.4

5 - 11 6.4

11 - 18 7.0

18 - 22 7.5

22 m 8.0

The values are slightly scattered then the usual while the rest of the condition is favourable.

 Rd = 1.5 (the lowest value)

 n = 1.1

At the base where condition is unfavourable we get :

 s = 0.5

 m = 0.0025

Design bearing capacity of the pile is 62 KN.

5.3 Cohesion piles

Piles installed in clay: The load is carried by cohesion between the soil and the pile
shaft. Bearing capacity of the pile can be calculated using the following formula for pile
installed in clay.

………………………… 5.2

Where:

a i = adhesion factor for earth layer

cudci = undrained shear strength of clay.

Ami = area of pile shaft in contact with the soil.

The adhesion factor  is taken as 0 for the firs three meters where it is expected hole
room and fill material or week strata. For piles with constant cross-sectional area the
value of  can be taken as 1.0 and for piles with uniform cross-sectional growth the
value of  can be taken as 1.2 .

Figure 5-2 Cohesion Pile

Example 5.3
18 m wood pile is installed small end down in clay. Pile diameter is 125 mm at the end and 10
mm/m increase in diameter. The undrained shear strength of the soil, measured from the pile cut-
off level is: 0-6 m = 12 kP 6-12 m = 16 kPa 12-18 m = 19 kPa. Determine the ultimate load capacity
of the pile. Pile cut-off level is 1.5m from the ground level.  Rd = 1.7

Figure 5-3 Example 5-3

solution

decide the values for 

 = 0 for the first 3.0 meters

 = 1.2 for the rest of the soil layer

divided the pile into 3 parts (each 6.0 m in this case)

calculate Average diameter at the middle of each section:

Average diameter : Bottom (section) = 0.125+3.0‫׼‬ (0.01) = 0.15

Middle (section) = 0.155+6‫׼‬ 0.01 = 0.21

Top (section) = 0.215+(3+2.25)‫׼‬ (0.01) = 0.268

 Ultimate bearing capacity of the pile is 117kN

5.4 Steel piles

Because of the relative strength of steel, steel piles withstand driving pressure well and are usually
very reliable end bearing members, although they are found in frequent use as friction piles as well.
The comment type of steel piles have rolled H, X or circular cross-section(pipe piles). Pipe piles are
normally, not necessarily filled with concrete after driving. Prior to driving the bottom end of the pipe
pile usually is capped with a flat or a cone-shaped point welded to the pipe.
Strength, relative ease of splicing and sometimes economy are some of the advantages cited in the
selection of steel piles.

The highest draw back of steel piles is corrosion. Corrosive agents such as salt, acid, moisture and
oxygen are common enemies of steel. Because of the corrosive effect salt water has on steel, steel
piles have restricted use for marine installations. If steel pile is supported by soil with shear
strength greater than 7kPa in its entire length then the design bearing capacity of the pile can be
calculated using the following formulas. Use both of them and select the lowest value of the two:

………………………… 5.3

………………………… 5.4

Where: m = correction factor

ESC = elasticity module of steel

I = fibre moment

fyc characteristic strength of steel

A = pile cross-sectional area

Cuc = characteristic undrained shear strength of the soil.

Example 5.4

Determine the design bearing capacity of a Steel pile of external diameter 100 mm, thickness of 10
mm. Treated against corrosion. pile. Consider failure in the pile material. Cc of the soil is 18 kPa,
favourable condition. S2

Steel BS 2172
solution :

 n = 1.1

 m = 0.9

Esc = 210 Gpa

for BS 2172 fyc = 320 MPa

 =

==

The first formula gives us lower value, therefore, the design bearing capacity of the pile is 0.3 MN

If we consider corrosion of 1mm/year ޼

==

5.5 Concrete piles

Relatively, in comparable circumstances, concrete piles have much more resistance against
corrosive elements that can rust steel piles or to the effects that causes decay of wood piles,
furthermore concrete is available in most parts of the world than steel.

Concrete piles may be pre-cast or cast-in place. They may be are reinforced, pre-stressed or plain.

5.5.1 Pre-cast concrete piles

These are piles which are formed, cast to specified lengths and shapes and cured at pre casting
stations before driven in to the ground. Depending up on project type and specification, their shape
and length are regulated at the prefab site. Usually they came in square, octagonal or circular
cross-section. The diameter and the length of the piles are mostly governed by handling stresses.
In most cases they are limited to less than 25 m in length and 0.5 m in diameter. Some times it is
required to cut off and splice to adjust for different length. Where part of pile is above ground level,
the pile may serve as column.

If a concrete pile is supported by soil with undrained shear strength greater than 7 MPa in its entire
length, the following formula can be used in determining the bearing capacity of the pile :

………………………… 5.5

………………………… 5.6

Where: Nu = bearing capacity of the pile, designed as concrete column

Esc = characteristic elasticity module of concrete

Ic = fibre moment of the concrete cross-section ignoring the reinforcement

Cuc = characteristic undrained shear strength of the soil in the loose part of the soil within a layer of
4.0 m
Example 5.5

Concrete pile (0.235) ‫׼‬ (0.235) cross-section installed in clay with characteristic undrained
shear strength of 12 kPa. In favourable condition. C50. Determine design load of the pile. Consider
failure in the material.

Solution:

 ef = 1.3

lc /h = 20

kc = 0.6, k = 0.24, ks = 0.62

fcc = 35.5 /(1.5‫׼‬ 1.1) = 21.5 MPa

fst = 410/(1.15‫׼‬ 1.1) = 324 MPa

Effective reinforced area:

FRd =  m‫׼‬ NU

 m = 0.9 ޼ FRd = (0.9)0.769 = 0.692 MN

Failure checking using the second formula:

Ecc = 34 GPa

The lowest value is 0.632 MN ޼ Design capacity =0.63 M

5.6 Timber piles (wood piles)

Timber piles are frequently used as cohesion piles and for pilling under embankments. Essentially
timber piles are made from tree trunks with the branches and bark removed. Normally wood piles
are installed by driving. Typically the pile has a natural taper with top cross-section of twice or more
than that of the bottom.

To avoid splitting in the wood, wood piles are sometimes driven with steel bands tied at the top or
at the bottom end.

For wood piles installed in soil with undrained shear strength greater than 7kPa the
following formula can be used in predicting the bearing capacity of the pile:

………………………… 5.7

Where: = reduced strength of wood

A = cross-sectional area of the pile

If the wood is of sound timber, (e.g. pinewood or spruce wood with a diameter > 0.13m), then
(reduced strength) of the pile can be taken as 11MPa.

Increase in load per section of pile is found to be proportional to the diameter of the
pile and shear strength of the soil and can be decided using the following formula:

………………………… 5.8

where: Am, = area of pile at each 3.5 m section mid point of pile

Cm = shear strength at each 3.5m section mid point of pile

dm = diameter of pile at each 3.5 m section mid point of pile

Pmi = pile load at the middle of each section

Example 5.6

Determine the design bearing capacity of a pile 12m pile driven in to clay with
characteristic undrained shear strength 10KPa and 1.0kPa increase per metre depth.
Piling condition is assumed to be favourable and the safety class 2. The pile is cut at
1.5m below the ground level. Top diameter of the pile is 180mm and growth in
diameter is 9mm/m.
 Figure 5-4 Example 5.6

*Often it is assumed that cohesive strength of the soil in the fires three meters is half the values at
the bottom.

solution:

First decide which part of the pile is heavily loaded. To do so, divide the pile which is in contact with
the soil in three parts or sections (see fig.4.1) in this example the pile is divided into three 3.5m
parts

Calculate and decide diameter of the pile at the mid point of each 3.5m section (0.180+0.009(y i) ; yi
growth per meter from the end point.

Calculate the shear strength of the soil at the mid point of each 3.5m section C mi = (22 - 1(yi) ).
Shear strength at the end of the pile = (10MPa + 1MPa (12m))=22 MPa

Decide the values of the partial coefficients from table (10-1 - 10-4)

ymi(see dmi= (0.180+0.009

fig. 5.4) ‫׼‬ Cmi = (22 - 1
Part ‫׼‬
m 

T(top) 8.75 0.259 13.3 16.9

section

M(middle 5.25 0.227 16.8 18.7

) section

B(bottom) 1.75 0.196 20.3 19.5

section

Pti = pile load at the top of each section

 yti
Part m
m

55. 10.
T(top) 1 5
0.275 928 this part of the pile is highly loaded

38.
M(middle) 2
7.0 0.243 824

19.
B(bottom) 5
3.5 552

= stress at the top of the pile

 The bearing capacity of the pile is 55.1kN

Now using the equation in (6-7), we will check the pile for failure

fRed = 11MPa (see section 5.6)

 n = 0.9

 n = 1.1

 =

In consideration of failure in the pile material, the pile can be loaded up to 9.0 MPa

In consideration of cohesion force, the pile can be loaded up to 55 MPa

the bearing capacity of the pile is therefore, 55 MPa

5.6.1 Simplified method of predicting the bearing capacity of timber piles

Consider the previous case and use the following formula :

………………………… 5.9

regarded the pile in its full length

calculate average diameter of the pile ޼

calculate average shear strength of the pile޼

3. decide the values of  Rd,  m and  (table 10-1 - 10-4) :

 Rd, = 1.7

 m = 1.8‫׼‬ (0.8) = 1.44

 = 1.2

 the bearing capacity of the pile is 56 kN