Abstract

The contribution of this paper is a simple method to predict the higher moment capacity of a monopile in dense silica sand after drained cyclic loading. The method accounts for the effect of cyclic load magnitude, symmetry and number of cycles, and is calibrated against a series of single gravity and centrifuge tests. The agreement between the model test data and the predictions is typically within 2%. Application of the method shows that the moment capacity of a monopile in dense sand, for the conditions tested here, is up to 36% higher after cycling. This contrasts with a 10% reduction that would be predicted using the existing industry standard p–y approach for cyclic loading in sand.

Abstract

This paper presents the implementation into the open-source finite element simulation framework OpenSees of the new Unified CPT-based method for driven piles in sands. The formulation incorporates the maximum skin friction and endbearing CPT values based on the new ISO-19901-4 under development, within the non-linear load-transfer curves calibrated against the measured responses from the static pile tests in the unified database. Special attention was paid to maintaining an open-source philosophy during the implementation. The important EURIPIDES research tests in highly dense sands are considered as a worked example to illustrate the application of the implemented method. The numerical benchmark shows good agreement between the model and full-scale measurements.