Throughout the service life of pile-supported infrastructures in soft soil, undrained cyclic loading induces excess pore pressure accumulation, causing soil strength degradation. Conversely, subsequent pore pressure dissipation during reconsolidation leads to soil strength recovery. These competing mechanisms continuously alter pile–soil interaction, yet conventional design approaches often overlook the beneficial effects of reconsolidation. This study proposed a novel analysis framework for evaluating pile–soil interaction under cyclic loading and reconsolidation, integrating critical state soil mechanics with the mobilizable strength design method. The framework explicitly captures strength degradation resulting from the accumulation of excess pore pressure and the strength recovery during reconsolidation, making it applicable to the whole-life design of pile foundations. It facilitates the derivation of both monotonic and cyclic p−y curves, enabling robust assessment of pile response using the established p−y method. Furthermore, by integrating a strain power-law relationship, the framework functions as an explicit computational model, enhancing the efficiency of p−y curve determination for specific cyclic loading histories. The validity of the proposed framework is demonstrated through comparisons with results from two centrifuge model tests. Further simulations highlight the framework’s capability to capture long-term pile behavior by assessing the effects of degree of reconsolidation, cyclic load amplitude, and loading patterns, showcasing its potential advantages for whole-life design of pile foundations in soft soils.
Li et al. (Mon,) studied this question.