Behavior of Laterally Loaded Piles: I-Single Piles

An analysis is presented for the horizontal displacement and rotation of a vertical pile subjected to lateral loading and moment, and situated in an ideal elastic mass. Influence factors are presented for a wide range of pile flexibilities and length-to-diameter ratios, for both free-head and fixed-head piles. Comparisons between the elastic solutions and the corresponding solutions obtained from the subgrade reaction theory show that the latter considerably overestimates the displacement and rotation of the pile, but gives a reasonable estimate of the moments in the pile. The elastic analysis is extended to include the effect of local yield between the soil and the pile; the load-displacement relationship for relatively flexible piles is found to be markedly influenced by local yield. The characteristics of behavior indicated by the theoretical solutions agree reasonably well with those reported from measurements on full-scale piles.