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Geomechanics and Engineering
  Volume 23, Number 2, October25 2020 , pages 139-149
DOI: https://doi.org/10.12989/gae.2020.23.2.139
 


Effect of water content on near-pile silt deformation during pile driving using PIV technology
Tong Jiang, Lijin Wang, Junran Zhang, Hang Jia and Jishun Pan

 
Abstract
    Piles are widely used in structural foundations of engineering projects. However, the deformation of the soil around the pile caused by driving process has an adverse effect on adjacent existing underground buildings. Many previous studies have addressed related problems in sand and saturated clay. Nevertheless, the failure mechanism of pile driving in unsaturated soil remains scarcely reported, and this issue needs to be studied. In this study, a modeling test system based on particle image velocimetry (PIV) was developed for studying deformation characteristics of pile driving in unsaturated silt with different water contents. Meanwhile, a series of direct shear tests and soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC) tests also were conducted. The test results show that the displacement field shows an apparent squeezing effect under the pile end. The installation pressure and displacement field characteristics are sensitive to the water content. The installation pressure is the largest and the total displacement field is the smallest, for specimens compacted at water content of 11.5%. These observations can be reasonably interpreted according to the relevant unsaturated silt theory derived from SWCC tests and direct shear tests. The variation characteristics of the soil displacement field reflect the macroscopic mechanical properties of the soil around the pile.
 
Key Words
    particle image velocimetry (PIV); model test; unsaturated; pile driving; displacement field; soil-water characteristic curve
 
Address
Tong Jiang, Lijin Wang, Junran Zhang, Hang Jia and Jishun Pan: Henan Province Key Laboratory of Geomechanics and Structural Engineering, North China University of Water Resources and Electric Power, Zhengzhou, Henan 450045, China
 

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