Experimental study on evaluating the lateral load capacity of raker pile in sloping ground

ABSTRACT A lot of uncertainty is associated with the behavior of pile foundations on the sloping ground due to factors like soil – pile interface and vague evaluation of pile bearing capacity. These constraints have a considerable impact on the extensive implementation of deep foundation on sloping ground. Comprehensive research studies were carried out on laterally loaded vertical piles on horizontal ground whereas only a limited number of studies have been conducted on the behavior of the laterally loaded raker-pile system on sloping sites. Therefore, to address this knowledge gap, the current investigative research paper aimed to study the results of a series of static lateral load tests were conducted in the laboratory on a single aluminium model raker pile embedded in loose sandy soil on 1V: 2H sloping ground. The loading directions were varied considering either forward (close to the slope) or reverse (away from the slope) loading for all pile positions. The influence of the sloping ground was quantified by measuring the pile response for horizontal ground conditions. It was observed that there is a significant increase in the displacement of the pile for the sloping ground surface compared to the horizontal ground. With an increase in the edge distance from the slope crest towards the embankment, a reduction in the pile displacement was observed. The optimum distance from the slope crest towards the embankment where the effect of slope becomes nullified under both forward and reverse lateral loads was determined as 10D (D – Diameter of the pile). From the obtained results, it was evident that in the case of the level ground and sloping ground with forward loading, the negative raker piles offer more resistance to lateral loads than vertical piles. In contrast, the positive raker piles endure the least lateral load with increasing inclination angle.