Effects of spudcan penetration on adjacent piles based on large deformation of soils

The effects of spudcan penetration on adjacent piles are mainly embodied in the additional lateral loads induced by large deformation of soils. It is a common practice to quantitively evaluate the effects when the edge-to-edge clearance between the spudcan and the pile is less than the spudcan diameter. The conventional two-stage passive pile analysis method is utilized to investigate the process. Analysis continuation after the mesh replacement (mesh-to-mesh) technique is improved and post-processed, and CEL technique is post-processed to calculate the soil displacement during free-field spudcan penetration. Then by considering the nonlinear beam foundation model and p-y data, the bending moments of pile during spudcan penetration can be calculated by means of the incremental finite difference method based on the free-field soil displacement. Thus a two-stage method to analyze the effects of spudcan penetration on adjacent piles can be formed. Good agreement between the calculated and measured results is found compared with the available centrifuge tests by which the efficacy of the proposed method can be proved.