EFFECT OF BATTER PILES ON STATIC BEHAVIOR OF PILE GROUPS

Pile group are vastly used in marine structures for several applications. Loadings exerted to these structures are divided into two main categories: lateral loading and vertical loading. All researchers agree to use vertical piles in the case of pure vertical loading where as the use of batter piles in the case of lateral loading is still in doubt. The behavior of batter piles in a pile group is somehow two-faced. Although batter piles reduce the lateral displacement of the pile group under lateral loading but they also cause stress concentration in batter pile and pile head. Thereby complete understanding of batter and vertical piles is of great importance. In our research, different pile group configurations are analyzed numerically that based on the finite difference method. Soil is modeled as a mohr-coulomb continuous medium obeying model and piles and pile head are assumed to be elastic concrete. To validate the simulation, results from numerical modeling are compared to those from available experimental data and analytical solution.