Analysis of an axially loaded pile in saturated multi-layered soils with anisotropic permeability and elastic superstrata

This paper proposes a coupling method to study the effect of overlying single-phase soils and the time-dependent response of an axially-loaded pile in saturated multi-layered soils. The analytical layer-element theory is employed to obtain the flexibility matrices of soils, and then 1D FEM is used to derive the stiffness matrix equation of a single pile. The solutions for pile-soil interaction are achieved by incorporating the compatibility condition between the pile and soil media. Several examples are presented to examine the impact of the stratification, pile-soil stiffness ratio, interfacial permeability and consolidation time on the behaviour of a single pile foundation.