Responses of Laterally Loaded Piles in Multi-Layered Sand: Numerical Simulations

Abstract

Pile foundations are widely used to support heavy engineering structures by means of load-transferring to deeper soil layers safely. Generally, piles under high-rise buildings, tall chimneys, towers, offshore structures, high retaining walls, etc. are subjected to strong lateral loads. When the soil profile consists of multiple layers, the lateral load responses of piles become complex. They may also affect the lateral load carrying capacity of the pile foundation. Due to this complexity in behaviour, the research has been carried out for the last few decades on it but still the behaviour is not understood completely. Therefore, an attempt has been made to investigate the lateral load carrying capacity of pile foundation in sand under multi-layered conditions by means of Finite Element (FE) Numerical Simulations using PLAXIS 3D. In addition to it, several parameters are studied to better understand the effects of those parameters on the behaviour of pile foundation. It is found from the FE analyses that length and diameter of the pile and soil profile are majorly impactful to the load carrying capacity of the pile while the presence of a water table does not have a significant effect until it reaches the ground level. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2025.