Numerical Simulation of Soil-Pile Interaction in Expansive Soils Foundation

Analytic solution of load-transfer for single pile in expansive soil is completed based on shear-deformation method and superposition principle (Fan et al., 2007). As a complement of the research work, the numerical simulations have been done based on corresponding grogram in this paper. The results are shown as follows: increasing of pile length is able to effectively decrease the upward pile movement, but meanwhile, tensile forces of pile shaft increase as well; pile with small diameter (d approx. 0.044L) can effectively reduce the upward pile movements in expansive soils while those piles with the diameter over 0.045L contribute little if not in vain; the applied load that act on pile-top for preventing upward pile movement depend on maximum swelling force, varying from different pile length and influenced zone; As irrigation proceeds, both the pile shaft displacement and tensile force increase while the increments of the both keep decreasing at the same interval. Given enough time, soils' swelling tends to be stable and so do the displacements and tensile forces of the pile shaft