Laterally loaded floating pipe piles using semi-analytical approach-stress analysis involving soil/pile interface effects

Abstract

ABSTRACT Evaluating the response of pile foundations subjected to lateral loads induced by wind, waves, or seismic actions remains a challenging problem in geotechnical engineering. In this study, the pipe pile and the surrounding soil are modelled as an axisymmetric body subjected to non-axisymmetric loading. A semi-analytical finite element formulation is employed to compute nodal displacements, strains, and stresses throughout the discretised medium. The developed computer code was first validated for a solid cross-section pile by comparison with rigorous analytical and numerical solutions available in the literature. The accuracy of the interface element formulation was then evaluated by comparing the stresses at the pile-soil interface with those obtained at the boundaries of adjacent soil elements. Following this successful validation, the influence of interface roughness and smoothness on the radial distribution of selected stress components at a given depth was investigated for three soil stiffness profiles under the two loading cases.