Published · First author · 2024
A modified strain wedge model for plastic development of reinforced concrete piles in sand
A modified strain-wedge model that incorporates plastic development in reinforced-concrete piles and is validated against tests and finite-element analysis.
Research question
Reinforced-concrete piles can crack and develop plasticity under lateral loading, changing their flexural stiffness as the response evolves. Conventional strain-wedge models often rely on simplified pile-deformation assumptions and do not fully couple structural nonlinearity with compatible pile–soil deformation.
This work asks a focused question: how can the plastic development of a reinforced-concrete pile be incorporated into a strain-wedge model to better calculate its lateral response in sand?
My contribution
I am the first author. According to the journal’s public CRediT statement, my contributions were conceptualization, methodology, validation, and writing the original draft.
Method
The study modifies the relationship between pile displacement and soil strain through layer-by-layer area equivalence. This accounts for both the global compression of the soil and the local rotation of the pile, and leads to corresponding changes in the subgrade-reaction modulus and the finite-difference form of the pile governing equation.
The model also incorporates the change in flexural stiffness as the reinforced-concrete section enters the plastic range, enabling analysis of material behavior, pile geometry, and pile-head boundary conditions.
Validation
The model was compared with published centrifuge tests, field tests, and finite-element analysis. The purpose of the validation was not merely to obtain an output, but to test whether the method could represent plastic development and pile–soil interaction across different cases.
Publication
Maolin Sun, Chong Jiang, Pan Liu. A modified strain wedge model for plastic development of reinforced concrete piles in sand. Ocean Engineering, 306 (2024), 118054.