Plaxis 2D-Pile Driving
Plaxis 2D-Pile Driving
Plaxis 2D-Pile Driving
14 PILE DRIVING
This example involves driving a concrete pile through an 11 m thick clay layer into a sand
layer, see Figure 14.1. The pile has a diameter of 0.4 m. Pile driving is a dynamic
process that causes vibrations in the surrounding soil. Moreover, excess pore pressures
are generated due to the quick stress increase around the pile.
In this example focus is put on the irreversible deformations below the pile. In order to
simulate this process most realistically, the behaviour of the sand layer is modelled by
means of the HS small model.
sand 7m
14.1 INPUT
General settings
• Start the Input program and select the Start a new project from the Quick select
dialog box.
• In the Project tabsheet of the Project properties window enter an appropriate title.
• In the Model tabsheet select the Axisymmetry option for Model and keep the default
option for Elements (15-Noded).
• Keep the default units and constants and set the model dimensions to xmin = 0, xmax
= 30, ymin = 0 and ymax = 18.
stratigraphy:
Create a borehole at x = 0.
• Create two soil layers extending from y = 18.0 to y = 7.0 and from y = 7.0 to y = 0.0.
• Set the Head in the borehole at 18.0 m.
The clay layer is modelled with the Mohr-Coulomb model. The behaviour is considered to
be Undrained (B). An interface strength reduction factor is used to simulate the reduced
friction along the pile shaft.
In order to model the non-linear deformations below the tip of the pile in a right way, the
sand layer is modelled by means of the HS small model. Because of the fast loading
process, the sand layer is also considered to behave undrained. The short interface in
the sand layer does not represent soil-structure interaction. As a result, the interface
strength reduction factor should be taken equal to unity (rigid).
Create the material data sets according to the information given in Table 14.1.
Table 14.1 Material properties of the subsoil and pile
Parameter Symbol Clay Sand Pile Unit
General
Material model Model Mohr-Coulomb HS small Linear elastic -
Type of behaviour Type Undrained (B) Undrained (A) Non-porous -
Unit weight above phreatic line γunsat 16 17 24 kN/m3
Unit weight below phreatic line γsat 18 20 - kN/m3
Parameters
Young's modulus (constant) E' 5.0· 103 - 3·107 kN/m2
Secant stiffness in standard ref
E50 - 5.0· 104 - kN/m2
drained triaxial test
Tangent stiffness for primary ref
Eoed - 5.0· 104 - kN/m2
oedometer loading
Unloading / reloading stiffness ref
Eur - 1.5· 105 - kN/m2
Power for stress-level dependency m - 0.5 - -
of stiffness
Poisson's ratio ν 'ur 0.3 0.2 0.1 -
Cohesion c 'ref - 0 - kN/m2
Undrained shear strength su,ref 5.0 - - kN/m2
◦
Friction angle ϕ' 0 31.0 -
◦
Dilatancy parameter ψ 0 0 -
Shear strain at which Gs = γ0.7 - 1.0·10-4 - -
0.722G0
Shear modulus at very small G0ref - 1.2·105 - kN/m2
strains
Young's modulus inc. E 'inc 1.0·103 - - kN/m2
Reference level yref 18 - - m
Undrained shear strength inc. su,inc 3 - - kN/m2
Reference level yref 18 - - m
Interface
Interface strength type Type Manual Rigid Rigid -
Interface strength Rinter 0.5 1.0 1.0 -
Initial
K0 determination − Automatic Automatic Automatic -
Lateral earth pressure coefficient K0,x 0.5000 0.4850 0.5000 -
Hint: Use the Zoom in feature to create the pile and the interface.
Pile
Interface
Clay
(0.2, 7.0)
(0.0, 7.0)
Extended interface
Hint: Note that dynamic multipliers can be defined by right-clicking the Dynamic
multipliers subtree under Attributes library in the Model explorer.
» Note that dynamic multipliers are attributes and as such it is possible to
define them in all the program's modes.
14.3 CALCULATIONS
The calculation consists of 3 phases. In the Initial phase, the initial stress conditions are
generated. In the Phase 1 the pile is created. In the Phase 2 the pile is subjected to a
single stroke, which is simulated by activating half a harmonic cycle of load. In the Phase
3 the load is kept zero and the dynamic response of the pile and soil is analysed in time.
The last two phases involve dynamic calculations.
Initial phase
Initial effective stresses are generated by the K0 procedure, using the default values.
Note that in the initial situation the pile does not exist and that the clay properties should
be assigned to the corresponding cluster. The phreatic level is assumed to be at the
ground surface. Hydrostatic pore pressures are generated in the whole geometry
according to this phreatic line.
Phase 3 - Fading
Add a new calculation phase.
• In the General subtree in the Phases window, select the Dynamic option as
Calculation type.
• Set the Dynamic time interval to 0.19 s.
14.4 RESULTS
Figure 14.9 shows the settlement of the pile (top point) versus time. From this figure the
following observations can be made:
• The maximum vertical settlement of the pile top due to this single stroke is about 13
mm. However, the final settlement is almost 10 mm.
• Most of the settlement occurs in phase 3 after the stroke has ended. This is due to
the fact that the compression wave is still propagating downwards in the pile,
causing additional settlements.
• Despite the absence of Rayleigh damping, the vibration of the pile is damped due to
soil plasticity and the fact that wave energy is absorbed at the model boundaries.
When looking at the output of the second calculation phase (t = 0.01 s, i.e. just after the
stroke), it can be seen that large excess pore pressures occur very locally around the pile
tip. This reduces the shear strength of the soil and contributes to the penetration of the
pile into the sand layer. The excess pore pressures remain also in the third phase since
consolidation is not considered.
Figure 14.10 shows the shear stresses in the interface elements at t = 0.01 s. The plot
shows that the maximum shear stress is reached all along the pile, which indicates that
the soil is sliding along the pile.
When looking at the deformed mesh of the last calculation phase (t = 0.2 s), it can also
be seen that the final settlement of the pile is about 10 mm. In order to see the whole
dynamic process it is suggested to use the option Create Animation to view a 'movie' of
the deformed mesh in time. You may notice that the first part of the animation is slower
than the second part.