Numerical analysis of kinematic response of single piles

Recent destructive earthquakes have highlighted the need for increased rese arch into the revamping of design codes and building regulations to prevent further catastrophic losses in terms of human life and economic assets. Th e present study investigated the response of single piles to kinematic seis mic loading using the three-dimensional finite element program ANSYS. The o bjectives of this study were (i) to develop a finite element model that can accurately model the kinematic soil-structure interaction of piles, accoun ting for the nonlinear behaviour of the soil, discontinuity conditions at t he pile-soil interface, energy dissipation, and wave propagation; and (ii) to use the developed model to evaluate the kinematic interaction effects on the pile response with respect to the input ground motion. The static perf ormance of the model was verified against exact available solutions for ben chmark problems including piles in elastic and elastoplastic soils. The geo static stresses were accounted for and radiating boundaries were provided t o replicate actual field conditions. Earthquake excitation with a low predo minant frequency was applied as an acceleration-time history at the base be drock of the finite element mesh. To evaluate the effects of the kinematic loading, the responses of both the free-field soil (with no piles) and the pile head were compared. It was found that the effect of the response of pi les in elastic soil was slightly amplified in terms of accelerations and Fo urier amplitudes. However, for elastoplastic soil with separation allowed, the pile head response closely resembled the free-field response to the low -frequency seismic excitation and the range of pile and soil parameters con sidered in this study.