SENSITIVITY AND ACCURACY OF THE PILE WAVE EQUATION.

The dynamic wave equation provides a means of evaluating pile capacity that is mathematically well-founded, and probably provides the most realistic mathematical model available for depicting actual behavior of the hammer-pile-soil system. Numerical integration of this equation, with the aid of a digital computer, appears to be the most rational analytical means of evaluating pile capacity. This has been accomplished by several investigators and excellent correlations between predicted and measured failure loads have been observed. A computer program solution of the wave equation was utilized in the investigation reported in this article, to judge the sensitiviy of program generated P-n curves to the program input soil parameters, and the accuracy of the program in predicting pile capacity.