Axial Load Capacity Prediction of Single Piles in Clay and Sand Layers Using Nonlinear Load Transfer Curves

The present study has extended OpenSees, which is an open-source software framework DOS program for developing applications to idealize geotechnical and structural problems, for the static analysis of axial load capacity and settlement of single piles in MS Windows environment. The Windows version of OpenSees as improved by this study has enhanced the DOS version from a general purpose software program to a special purpose program for driven and bored pile analysis with additional features of pre-processing and post-processing and a user friendly graphical interface. The method used in the load capacity analysis is the numerical methods based on load transfer functions combined with finite elements. The use of empirical nonlinear T-z and Q-z load transfer curves to model soil-pile interaction in skin friction and end bearing, respectively, has been shown to capture the nonlinear soil-pile response under settlement due to load. Validation studies have shown the static load capacity and settlement predictions implemented in this study are in fair agreement with reference data from the static loading tests.