Measurement on soil deformation caused by expanded-base pile in transparent soil using particle image velocimetry (PIV)

A new small-scale geotechnical physical model in 1-g and unconfined condition, combining the transparent soil, close-range photogrammetry and particle image velocimetry(PIV), was employed, which provides a non-intrusively internal deformation measurement approach to monitor the internal deformation of soil caused by expanded-base pile jacking with casing. The transparent soil was made of fused quartz and its refractive index matched blended oil, adding reflective particles(glass beads). Closerange photogrammetry was employed to record the images of the process of casing jacking and extraction in transparent soil, allowing the use of Matlab-based Geo-PIV to figure out the displacement field converted from image space to object space. Analysis of test results indicates that the maximum displacement caused by casing jacking for expandedconical-base pile is decreased by 29% compared with that for expanded-flat-base pile. The main movement happens at the early stage of casing extraction. The maximum displacement caused by casing extraction for the conical base is about 43% of that for the flatbase, while the affected zone caused by casing extraction for the conical base accounts for about 1/3 of that for the flat base. The contraction for horizontal displacements tends to decrease with the depth increasing. By contrast, the contraction under pile base decreases with the increasing of displacement. The displacements generated by jacking a conventional pile having a diameter equal to the casing diameter of the expanded-base pile were comparable to the net displacement taking place due to expanded-base pile installation for the conical base pile.

Theoretical study on setup of expanded-base pile considering cavity contraction

When an expanded-base pile is installed into ground, the cavity expansion associated with penetration of the enlarged pile base is followed by cavity contraction along the smaller-diameter pile shaft. In order to account for the influence of cavity contraction on the change of bearing capacity of expanded-base pile, a theoretical calculation methodology, predicting the setup of expanded-base pile, was established by employing the cavity contraction theory to estimate the shaft resistance of expanded-base pile, and horizontal consolidation theory to predict the dissipation of excess pore pressure. Finally, the numerical solutions for the setup of expanded-base pile were obtained. The parametric study about the influence of cavity contraction on setup of expanded-base pile was carried out, while a field test was introduced. The parametric study shows that the decrements in radial pressure and the maximum pore water pressure after considering cavity contraction are increased as the expanded ratio(base diameter/shaft diameter) and rigidity index of soil are raised. The comparison between calculated and measured values shows that the calculated results of ultimate bearing capacity for expanded-base pile considering cavity contraction agree well with the measured values; however, the computations ignoring cavity contraction are 2.5-3.0 times the measured values.