THE DEFLECTION OF PILES DURING DRIVING

The Paper describes a method for calculating the path followed by a pi le, conductor or string of sounding rods as they are driven or jacked into the ground. The path is shown to depend on the initial lack of st raightness, eccentricity in the driving mechanism and asymmetric failu re of the soil at the toe, Experience indicates that the induced curva tures can be significant, and in such cases conventional beam-column t heory much be replaced by a more general theory for the torsional/flex ural behaviour of thin rods due to Kirchoff, Using this in conjunction with conventional subgrade reaction theory, the path taken can be cal culated and the stresses determined, The method is applied to a cone p enetrometer which deviates from the vertical during pushing.