Pile foundations supporting wind turbines and offshore platforms are always subjected to asymmetric lateral cyclic loads from wind and waves. To calculate the lateral response of the pile in sand under asymmetric cyclic loading, this paper proposes a p- y curve model to deal with different levels of load reversal. According to the state of the soil around the pile under asymmetric cyclic loading, the scaling factor of the reloading curve is modified. The soil collapse-recompression model is also extended to apply to different cases of asymmetric cyclic loading according to the characteristics of soil convection during asymmetric cyclic loading. By modifying the shape and position of the p- y curves to different degrees, the lateral response of the pile under asymmetric cyclic loading can be obtained in combination with the improved finite difference method. The validity of the proposed model is demonstrated by comparing the results with the centrifuge model tests. Then, the pile displacement accumulation, the variation of the bending moment, and the soil resistance under asymmetric cyclic loading, are further discussed.
This study puts forward a reliability analysis for the bearing performance of piles subjected to the coupled action of chloride corrosion and scouring. A chloride diffusion model was constructed based on the stiffness degradation factor and Fick's law. The Monte Carlo simulation method, along with the consideration of the scouring effect of water flow on the pile foundation, was employed to assess the impact of key factors on the failure probability, considering both the bending moment and lateral displacement damage criteria. The results show that for the same exposure period, the failure probability increases as the bending moment, lateral and vertical loads, and seawater velocity increase; furthermore for the same conditions, the failure probability increases with longer exposure times. According to a particular case study, the mean bending moment, mean lateral and vertical loads, and seawater velocity all have an impact on the lateral displacement failure criterion, making it more sensitive than the bending moment failure criterion.
The paper introduces a semi-analytical approach for predicting the pile-soil response under cyclic lateral loads in sands, incorporating the cavity expansion/contraction theory with an anisotropy and non-associated constitutive model, Simple ANIsotropic SAND (SANISAND). The pile hole is regarded as a cylindrical cavity, and the cyclic loading process is reasonably treated as a cavity expansion/contraction problem. A superposition principle is introduced to determine the superimposed stress states around the cavity. The geometric relationship, quasistatic equation, and boundary conditions are integrated into a standardized solving procedure to obtain the stress-strain distribution surrounding the pile. Subsequently, the derived cyclic p-y curve is used in conjunction with the deflection equilibrium differential equation and finite-difference method to determine the pile-soil response under lateral cyclic load. The method's validity and capacity are further demonstrated through two well-examined centrifuge tests, which shows a good agreement with the experimental data. The cumulative deformation, hardening and ratcheting behaviors of pile-soil system can be captured in this study, which provides a novel approach to figure out the pile-soil response in sands under cyclic lateral loads.