Pile-Soil Interaction in Unsaturated Soil Conditions

Author

Megan Hamilton, University of New Hampshire - Main CampusFollow

Date of Award

Spring 2014

Project Type

Senior Honors Thesis

College or School

CEPS

Department

Civil Engineering

Program or Major

Civil Engineering

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science

First Advisor

Majid Ghayoomi

Abstract

The degree of saturation has been proven to significantly affect geotechnical engineering designs for foundations. The changes in water content will influence the way the soil behaves, including its strength and stiffness parameters. These characteristics were analyzed for a uniform silty sand by developing P-Y curves, which relate lateral loading to lateral deformations. These P-Y curves were input into FB-Multipier, a software developed by the Bridge Software Institute. The software is capable of generating deformations as a result of user-defined loading cases. The results indicated that the middle range of degrees of saturation produced the least amount of deformation. This is in accordance with stiffer response in partially saturated soils due to the presence of inter-particle suction stresses.

Recommended Citation

Hamilton, Megan, "Pile-Soil Interaction in Unsaturated Soil Conditions" (2014). Honors Theses and Capstones. 180.
https://scholars.unh.edu/honors/180