PhD abstract
The axial and lateral capacity of piles jacked in Fontainebleau sand NE34 are studied using centrifuge modelling at 100×g.
The effect of the installation method, sand density and saturation, pile diameter and pile tip geometry (open or closed-ended) and pile roughness on the axial capacity of piles are firstly studied. A significant increase in the tension capacity is observed in cyclically-jacked piles unlike piles monotonically jacked at 100×g. The saturation of dense sand accelerates plug formation during pile installation. The increase in pile roughness and sand density increases significantly the shaft resistance of the piles tested here. For all the cases, pile capacities are compared with the current design codes for offshore wind turbines.
A parametric study of the effect of the installation method, load eccentricity and sand saturation on the lateral response of jacked piles is then realized using of an instrumented pile. The pile is loaded monotonically, then a thousand cycles are applied. A new methodology has been developed for determining of the constants needed in the integration procedure to identify the lateral displacement profile of the pile. The installation method influences directly the global (maximum moment and lateral displacement) and local behaviour (p-y curves) of the piles. The effect of the load eccentricity and sand saturation on the behaviour of the piles is also presented. In each case a comparison with the p-y curves extracted from the DNVGL code is realized.
Stakeholders or Phd/Writer name
- Ismat EL HAFFAR
Scientific and technical limitations
- Development of new instrumented model pile using strain gages installed from inside the pile which permit the installation as well as the loading of the model pile in flight without damaging the gages.
- Development of a new experimental set-up which permits the installation and lateral loading of the model pile without stopping the centrifuge.
