Measurement of stress and strain development around a pile in a photoelastic granular material

This paper presents the results of model pile penetration in a photoelastic material. The soil in this test is represented by an assembly of photoelastically sensitive glass particles. This allows for the determination of stresses in the assembly by the photoelastic method. Displacements around the pile are measured using digital image correlation. Tests were performed in a medium dense particle assembly. The development of stresses and strains, in particular the development of horizontal stress, around the pile tip and pile shaft is quantified and presented in this paper.