High-strain dynamic model of large-diameter pipe piles with soil plug for vertical vibration analysis

A rigorous analytical model is developed for simulating the vibration behaviors of large-diameter openended pipe piles(OEPPs)and surrounding soil undergoing high-strain impact loading.To describe the soil behavior,the soil along pile shaft is divided into slip and nonslip zones and the base soil is modeled as a fictitious-soil pile(FSP)to account for the wave propagation in the soil.True soil properties are adopted and slippage at the pile-soil interface is considered,allowing realistic representation of largediameter OEPP mechanics.The developed model is validated by comparing with conventional models and finite element method(FEM).It is further used to successfully simulate and interpret the behaviors of a steel OEPP during the offshore field test.It is found that the variation in the vertical vibrations of shaft soil along radial direction is significant for large-diameter OEPPs,and the velocity amplitudes of the internal and external soil attenuate following different patterns.The shaft soil motion may not attenuate with depth due to the soil slippage,while the wave attenuation at base soil indicates an influence depth,with a faster attenuation rate than that in the pile.The findings from the current study should aid in simulating the vibration behaviors of large-diameter OEPP-soil system under high-strain dynamic loading.

A theoretical analysis of vertical dynamic response of large-diameter pipe piles in layered soil

Considering the viscous damping of the soil and soil-pile vertical coupled vibration,a computational model of large-diameter pipe pile in layered soil was established.The analytical solution in frequency domain was derived by Laplace transformation method.The responses in time domain were obtained by inverse Fourier transformation.The results of the analytical solution proposed agree well with the solutions in homogenous soil.The effects of the shear modulus and damping coefficients of the soil at both outer and inner sides of the pipe pile were researched.The results indicate that the shear modulus of the outer soil has more influence on velocity admittance than the inner soil.The smaller the shear modulus,the larger the amplitude of velocity admittance.The velocity admittance weakened by the damping of the outer soil is more obvious than that weakened by the damping of the inner soil.The displacements of the piles with the same damping coefficients of the outer soil have less difference.Moreover,the effects of the distribution of soil layers are analyzed.The results indicate that the effect of the upper soil layer on dynamic response of the pipe pile is more obvious than that of the bottom soil layer.A larger damping coefficient of the upper layer results in a smaller velocity admittance.The dynamic response of the pipe pile in layered soil is close to that of the pipe pile in homogenous soil when the properties of the upper soil layer are the same.

A Theoretical Analysis of the Bearing Performance of Vertically Loaded Large-Diameter Pipe Pile Groups

This paper aims to present a theoretical method to study the bearing performance of vertically loaded large-diameter pipe pile groups.The interactions between group piles result in different bearing performance of both a single pile and pile groups.Considering the pile group effect and the skin friction from both outer and inner soils,an analytical solution is developed to calculate the settlement and axial force in large-diameter pipe pile groups.The analytical solution was verified by centrifuge and field testing results.An extensive parametric analysis was performed to study the bearing performance of the pipe pile groups.The results reveal that the axial forces in group piles are not the same.The larger the distance from central pile,the larger the axial force.The axial force in the central pile is the smallest,while that in corner piles is the largest.The axial force on the top of the corner piles decreases while that in the central pile increases with increasing of pile spacing and decreasing of pile length.The axial force in side piles varies little with the variations of pile spacing,pile length,and shear modulus of the soil and is approximately equal to the average load shared by one pile.For a pile group,the larger the pile length is,the larger the influence radius is.As a result,the pile group effect is more apparent for a larger pile length.The settlement of pile groups decreases with increasing of the pile number in the group and the shear modulus of the underlying soil.

An Approach to Stability Analysis of Embedded Large-Diameter Cylinder Quay

The large-diameter cylinder structure, which is made of large successive bottomless cylinders placed on foundation bed or partly driven into soil, is a recently developed retaining structure in China. It can be used in port, coastal and offshore works. The method for stability analysis of the large-diameter cylinder structure, especially for stability analysis of the embedded large-diameter cylinder structure, is an important issue. In this paper, an idea is presented that is, embedded large-diameter cylinder quays can be divided into two types, i.e. the gravity wall type and the cylinder pile wall type. A method for stability analysis of the large-diameter cylinder quay of the cylinder pile wall type is developed and a method for stability analysis of the large-diameter cylinder quay of the gravity wall type is also proposed. The effect of significant parameters on the stability of the large-diameter cylinder quay of the cylinder pile wall type is investigated through numerical calculation.

Drivability of Large Diameter Steel Cylinders During Hammer-Group Vibratory Installation for the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macao Bridge

The Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macao Bridge(HZMB)involved the installation of 120 mega-cylinders with a diameter of 22 m,weights up to 513 t,and penetration depths up to 33 m using an eight-vibratory hammer group.Due to the lack of engineering experience on the drivability of large-diameter cylinders under multiple vibratory hammers,predicting the penetration rate and time of steel cylinders is an open challenge that has a considerable impact on the construction control of the HZMB.In this study,the vibratory penetration of large-diameter steel cylinders in the HZMB is investigated based on geological surveys,field monitoring,and drivability analysis.The vibratory penetration rate,installation accuracy,and dynamic responses of the steel cylinders at both the eastern and western artificial islands are analyzed.The dynamic soil resistance has a great influence on the cylinder drivability.However,the current design methods for estimating the vibratory driving soil resistance are proven inaccurate without considering the scale effects.Therefore,a modified method with a normalized effective area ratio A_(r,eff)is proposed in this study to calculate the vibratory soil resistance for open-ended thin-wall cylinders under unplugged conditions.Considering the scale effects on the vibratory driving soil resistance,the proposed method leads to closer results to the measured data,providing a reference for future engineering practice.

High-frequency interference in low strain integrity testing of large-diameter pipe piles

The high-frequency interference exists obviously in low strain integrity testing of large-diameter pipe pile when a transientpoint load is applied. An analytical solution of vertical vibratory response of large-diameter pipe piles in low strain testing isdeduced in this paper. The analytical solution is verified by both numerical simulation and model test results. The time-domainvelocity responses on pile top are analyzed. The calculation results indicate that the time-domain responses at various pointssuffer different high-frequency interferences, thus the peak values and phases of different points are different. The influence ofvibratory modes on high-frequency interference is analyzed. It is found that the high-frequency interference at 90° point main-ly derives from the second flexural mode, but for other points it mainly originates from the first flexural mode. The factors af-fecting the frequency and peak value of interference waves have been investigated in this study. The results indicate that thelarger radius angle between the receiving and 90° points leads to greater peak value of high frequency wave crest. The leasthigh-frequency interference is detected at the angle of 90°. The frequency of interference waves is decreased with the increaseof pile radius, while the peak value is almost constant. The frequency is also related to pile modulus, i.e. the larger pile modu-lus results in greater frequency. The peak value varies with impulse width and soil resistance, i.e., the wider impulse width andlarger soil resistance cause smaller peak value. In conclusion, the frequency of interference waves is dependent on the geomet-rical and mechanics characteristics of the piles such as pile radius and modulus, but independent of the external conditionssuch as impulse width and soil resistance. On the other hand, the peak value of interference waves is mainly dependent on theexternal conditions but independent of the geometrical and mechanics characteristics of the piles. In practice, some externalmeasures should be adopted to weaken high-frequency interference such as using soft hammer, hammer cushion and adoptingsuitable receiving point.