Abstract:
Large diameter open-ended pipe piles typically refer to pipe piles with diameter larger than 30 inches. These piles, when properly constructed, provide superior load-carrying capacity compared with traditional pilings and offers significant saving in the construction cost and accelerating the construction speed. The current AASHTO specification for pipe piles is based on database collected from pipe piles of diameter less than 24 inches and therefore is insufficient for the design of large diameter pipe piles. This research aims to study the soil plugging mechanism in large open-ended pipe piles, particularly how soil plug behaviors are affected by pipe pile diameter and restriction plate used to force a soil plug.   The research investigated the behaviors of large diameter open-ended pipe piles with an integrated experimental testing and computational models. The experimental program includes static and dynamic load tests on pipe pile model with a range of diameters. Besides, the testing program is augmented with geotechnical centrifuge experiments, which allows to up-scaling the behaviors of model pile close to the sizes at the field scale.   Computational simulations are also implemented on the soil plugging behaviors with different restriction plates.  Recommendations are provided on the bearing capacity factors based on the results of experimental study and computational simulations.