Soil plug behaviour of open-ended model piles jacked in cohesionless soil

ABSTRACT

The objective of this study is to investigate the behaviour of soil plugging of open-ended pipe piles under various soil and pile conditions. Extensive laboratory tests were conducted on small-scale model pipe piles installed in sand with varying soil conditions. The diameter of the pile, soil density, rate of penetration and the degree of saturation all influenced the soil plugging behaviour. The laboratory test results indicated that the length of the soil plug typically increases as the diameter of the pile increases and the relative density of the soil decreases. Additionally, the plug length decreases as the matric suction value increases. The jacking force was found highly dependent on the plugged length and particle properties of the soil. The effect of penetration speed on soil plugging and load settlement behaviour were also investigated. Finally, a correlation has been developed between the plug length ratio (PLR) and the incremental filling ratio (IFR).

KEYWORDS:

• soil plugging
• jacked pile
• open-ended pile
• plug length ratio
• incremental filling ratio
• cohesionless soil

Disclosure statement

The authors certify that they have no affiliations with or involvement in any organisation or entity with any financial or non-financial interest in the subject matter or materials discussed in this manuscript.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author

Author’s contributions

Islam MA conceived and presented the idea. Islam MA contributed sample preparation, carried out the experiments, and critically reviewed all the steps. Jeet AA and Islam T aided in analysing and interpreting the results. All authors provided critical feedback and helped shape the research, analysis, and manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

The research was funded by the Academic Research Grant of the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET).