Embedded beam element with interaction surface for lateral loading of piles

Abstract

This paper presents a numerical formulation of a three-dimensional embedded beam element for the modeling of piles, which incorporates an explicit interaction surface between soil and pile. The formulation is herein implemented for lateral loading of piles but is able to represent soil-pile interaction phenomena in a general manner for different types of loading conditions or ground movements. The model assumes perfect adherence between beam and soil along the interaction surface. The paper presents a comparison of the results obtained by means of the present formulation and by means of a previously formulated embedded pile element without interaction surface, as well as reference semi-analytical solutions and a fully 3D finite element (FE) model. It is seen that the proposed embedded element provides a better convergence behavior than a previously formulated embedded element and is able to reproduce key features of a full 3D FE model.