Centrifuge static and dynamic lateral pile behaviour

The behaviour of a single vertical pile embedded in saturated sand and subjected to cyclic static and dynamic loading is studied using an extensive centrifuge model testing program. A reliable data reduction method allows computation of the dynamic and static cyclic lateral pile resistance–deflection p–y curves. The results are compared with full-scale dynamic test results and oil industry design guidelines.From these comparisons, the centrifuge technique appears to model the dynamic soil–pile system properly. For loadings causing significant nonlinearity, the static stiffness appears to be greater than the dynamic stiffness, while material hysteresis appears about the same in each case. Current American Petroleum Institute guidelines for static cyclic loading appear to overestimate the dynamic lateral resistance for medium dense sands. Key words: centrifuge model, cyclic loads, dynamic response, lateral loads, liquefaction, model tests, pile lateral loads.