Performance of laterally loaded H-piles in sand

Results from experimental testing of four approximately one-third scale laterally loaded H-piles, subjected to monotonic and cyclic loading are presented. The test setups were designed to prevent torsion in the pile during testing and to eliminate the self-weight of the hydraulic actuator that could otherwise induce moment on the model piles. The tests were conducted in compacted medium dense sand and all the piles were extensively instrumented. Test results indicate that the lateral force-displacement responses under cyclic loading exhibited slight pinching behavior due to the gap that opened at the top of the soil-pile interface. Numerical simulations show that p-y curves based on the American Petroleum Institute (API) recommendations and that proposed by Reese et al. can reasonably predict the lateral response of the piles though slightly underestimate the ultimate capacities. The general pile behavior such as force-displacement response and moment distributions along the pile depth show slight sensitivity to the subgrade reaction modulus at large displacements.