Simulation of cyclic laterally-loaded piles in undrained clays accounting for soil small-strain characteristics

The performance of pile foundations subjected to cyclic lateral loading is central to offshore geotechnical engineering. Although non-linearity and path-dependence of soil mechanical behavior at small strains are widely recognized, the influences of these local behavior on global response of pile foundations are less explored. This work presents numerical analyses of cyclically-loaded piles in undrained clays that explicitly account for soil small-strain characteristics. By using intergranular strain (IGS) elasticity method, a soil model proposed by the authors for undrained clays during cyclic loading is extended to include non-linear small-strain behavior. Via comparing against element tests, the constitutive relation is shown capable of representing the observed variation of soil stiffness and damping with strain magnitudes, as well as the dependence of such non-linearity on stress paths. Based on the above soil model, finite element simulations are performed to interpret the response of laterally loaded piles from geotechnical centrifuge tests. The impacts of soil small-strain behavior on pile force–displacement relations, hysteric loops, and the ability of a pile–soil system to dissipate energy are investigated. This work highlights that the sensitivity of these foundation responses to small-strain non-linearity of soils can vary considerably, depending on pile geometry features and head constraint conditions.