Investigations on Pile-Soil Interaction Using Image Analysis

A pile can collapse due to buckling, shear failure, overturning forces from winds or waves, lateral loads from the impact of berthing ships or from waves, vertical, and horizontal loads from retaining walls, bridge piers or abutments, and machinery foundations. This paper studies the possibility of using particle image analysis to study the pile-soil interaction behavior in homogenous soil deposits using GeoPIV software. The experimental studies are carried out in a steel tank of dimensions 600 × 200 mm in plan and 450 mm depth. Two aluminum piles of same flexural rigidity with different cross sections namely, solid and hollow half-section piles, are used for the experimental studies. Under axis-symmetric conditions, the piles are driven at a uniform rate and the deformations of the infill surrounding the pile are seized using a high resolution digital camera which is used as input in Geo-PIV software and analysis is performed using MAT LAB code to capture soil-pile interaction.