A procedure for theoretical estimation of dewatering-induced pile settlement

Dewatering in geotechnical excavations may cause soil consolidation and settlement, which would exert negative skin friction on nearby piles and cause additional pile settlements. Incorporating four steps that include a pumping model, a simplified consolidation evaluation, a pile–soil interaction model and a semi-theoretical pile settlement prediction, this paper presents a procedure to estimate the drawdown, the soil consolidation settlement, the negative friction on the pile shaft and the additional pile settlement, induced by dewatering in phreatic zones. Numerical calculations for a simplified situation of dewatering operation illustrate the proposed procedure in estimating the mechanical effects of dewatering on nearby piles.