A cast in drilled hole (CIDH) piles is to be used for a bridge foundation. The geotechnical data of the site indicate that the soil profile consist of 10m normally consolidated soft clay underlined by a thick layer of over consolidated stiff clay. Three different pile diameters of 1.6m, 1.8m and 2m are selected from the analysis to be used for a depth of 30m below ground level and an average height of 5m above ground level. To investigate behavior of these (CIDH) piles under lateral loads, an analytical parametric study is performed to evaluate the ultimate lateral load capacity of the piles (which is assumed to cause a pile head displacement of 10% of the pile diameter) and the distribution of shear force and bending moment along the depth of the piles. The soil is represented by two ways, linear and nonlinear material. For the linear case, a linear brick finite element is used to represent the soil with either a linearly variable modulus of elasticity from ground level to the bottom of the pile or a constant modulus of elasticity for the top 10 meters (the soft clay) while linearly varying for the next 20m. For the nonlinear case, the P-Y curves method is used to represent the soil by nonlinear springs at intervals of 1meter. In both cases (linear and nonlinear soil), the piles are assumed to behave linearly. Results obtained indicate that the ultimate lateral load capacity of the piles from the nonlinear case is in the range of 50% to 60% of the linear case
Keywords: Cast in Drilled Hole Piles, Finite Element, P-Y Curves
