XCC pile installation effect in soft soil ground: A simplified analytical model

This paper presents a simplified analytical model: the X-shaped cylindrical cavity expansion method (XCEM), which can be used to interpret and predict the displacement, stress, and excess pore pressure caused by the X-section cast in place concrete (XCC) pile installation in soft soil. Analytical solutions for the displacement and strain field are obtained with a streamlined solution, base on the strain path method (SPM). The stress and excess pore pressure can then be subsequently determined with the assumption of the elastic-perfectly plastic soil behavior. A positive agreement was found when the theoretical prediction of the displacement, stress, and excess pores pressure was compared against the field measurements. The proposed XCEM improves the conventional cavity expansion method (CEM) and offers a framework for understanding the non-circular cross-section penetrator problem, which is different from the conventional circular penetrator problem.