Development of p-y Curves from Experimental Studies on Piles near Sloping Ground

There are many situations in which piles have to be provided near slopes. Design procedure based on the p-y approach is well established for piles in level ground. However, the available p-y curves for level ground condition can not be extended directly for sloping ground conditions. Experimental model tests in the laboratory have been undertaken in the present study to investigate the lateral pile response near sloping ground. The paper discusses about the investigation in a series of laboratory tests in dense sand at 72% relative density. The main purpose of the study was to examine the effect of slope angle and edge distance on the pile response. Ground slope was varied as n=1.5, 1.75, and 2 for sloping ground condition. Pile response was obtained for three different positions of pile from the crest of the slope for a specified relative density. The present study was performed to develop a series of p-y curves for single piles through experimental investigations. Pile response for horizontal ground condition was also obtained for quantification of the effect of sloping ground. Displacement and bending moments in the pile increased significantly when the ground surface changes from horizontal to slope. An increase in the edge distance from the slope crest causes reduction in the pile displacement and maximum bending moment.