Experimental and Numerical Analysis on the Rate-Dependent Cyclic Lateral Load on a Single Pile in Sand

The loading rate effect on a single pile subjected to cyclic lateral loads is studied experimentally and numerically. In the experiment, a scaled model pile embedded in cohesionless sand is housed in a laminar shear box under 1g condition. Loads are applied with a horizontal actuator rigidly connected to the pile-head allowing only horizontal translation. The results show the significant effect of loading rate in bearing capacity of the lateral pile subjected to cyclic loading. Further, the variation of the lateral resistance of the piles is found to be a linear function of logarithmic of the loading rate. However, no effect of loading rate appears in the bending moment, deflection, and soil reaction profile along the pile depth, which indicates that soil near the pile shows a consistent failure pattern despite a significant change in the loading velocity. Experimental results are further verified with numerical analysis using a 3D FEM model.