TY - JOUR

T1 - Evaluation of p-y Approaches for Large-Diameter Piles in Layered Sand

AU - Thieken, Klaus

AU - Achmus, Martin

AU - Terceros, Mauricio

AU - Lemke, Katrin

N1 - Funding Information: This study has been carried out within the ForWind joint research project “Ventus efficiens – Joint research for the efficiency of wind energy converters within the energy supply system,” financially supported by the Ministry for Science and Culture in Lower Saxony, Germany. The authors thank the Ministry for Science and Culture in Lower Saxony for funding and all project partners for the constructive cooperation. Publisher Copyright: © by The International Society of Offshore and Polar Engineers. Copyright: Copyright 2018 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

PY - 2018/9

Y1 - 2018/9

N2 - The p-y method according to the offshore guidelines is usually applied for the design of laterally loaded piles. However, a number of modified p-y approaches for piles in noncohesive soils were proposed in the recent years to account for the effect of the pile diameter. These approaches were developed for piles in homogeneous soil but are used in current engineering practice for piles in layered sand as well. Concerning this matter, this paper presents a comparative evaluation of the existing p-y approaches for piles in layered sand by means of three-dimensional numerical simulations. Two large-diameter piles in widely varied layered sand representing a monopile and a pile of a lattice structure for the foundation of an offshore wind energy converter are considered. It is demonstrated that the effect of the layering is limited; that is, the deviations of the analytical results from the numerical results are predominantly associated with the deviations obtained for homogeneous sand. An occasionally used overlay procedure to adapt the p-y curves depending on the adjacent soil layers is shown to have not only a small impact on the analytical results but also some major deficiencies with regard to a reliable consideration of the layering.

AB - The p-y method according to the offshore guidelines is usually applied for the design of laterally loaded piles. However, a number of modified p-y approaches for piles in noncohesive soils were proposed in the recent years to account for the effect of the pile diameter. These approaches were developed for piles in homogeneous soil but are used in current engineering practice for piles in layered sand as well. Concerning this matter, this paper presents a comparative evaluation of the existing p-y approaches for piles in layered sand by means of three-dimensional numerical simulations. Two large-diameter piles in widely varied layered sand representing a monopile and a pile of a lattice structure for the foundation of an offshore wind energy converter are considered. It is demonstrated that the effect of the layering is limited; that is, the deviations of the analytical results from the numerical results are predominantly associated with the deviations obtained for homogeneous sand. An occasionally used overlay procedure to adapt the p-y curves depending on the adjacent soil layers is shown to have not only a small impact on the analytical results but also some major deficiencies with regard to a reliable consideration of the layering.

KW - Layered soil

KW - P-y method

KW - Pile

KW - Sand

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85053669486&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.17736/ijope.2018.tm84

DO - 10.17736/ijope.2018.tm84

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85053669486

VL - 28

SP - 318

EP - 327

JO - International Journal of Offshore and Polar Engineering

JF - International Journal of Offshore and Polar Engineering

SN - 1053-5381

IS - 3

ER -