Pu-based solutions for slope stabilizing piles

This paper proposes an equivalent load transfer approach for simulating the response of passive piles owing to soil movement. The approach is elaborated for two commonly seen (normal and deep) sliding modes. In terms of compatibility conditions across sliding and stable layers, new coupled elastic (sliding layer)-elastic (stable layer) (E-E) solutions, and plastic (sliding layer)-elastic-plastic (stable layer) (P-EP) solutions are developed. The solutions are implemented into a program called GASMove operating in the mathematical software Mathcad. They are compared with available numerical analyses, and employed to the predict response of eight instrumented piles. The study reveals the proposed equivalent load-soil movement relationship works well along with the solutions; the E-E solution generally offers good prediction for piles with infinite lengths in both sliding and stable layers (deep sliding mode); the P-EP solution is good for piles rotating rigidly in a sliding layer (normal sliding mode); and similar predictions may be gained from different sets of p(u) and k profiles, as with laterally loaded piles, but a linear p(u) should be used for the stable layer to gain the smallest pile resistance. Design charts are generated to facilitate the prediction of a nonlinear response of passive piles, for which example predictions are elaborated. (C) 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.