Experimental investigation of batter pile groups behaviour subjected to lateral soil movement in sand

A series of laboratory model tests on batter pile groups embedded in the sand was carried out in a specially designed testing box. The lateral responses were investigated for 1 x 2 capped batter pile groups when subjected to lateral soil movements (passive loading) with different configurations; Vertical-Vertical (VVL), Batter-Vertical (BVL), Vertical-Batter (VBL), and Both- Batter (BBL). The effect of pile group arrangement and batter angle on the bending moment, shear force, soil reaction, pile rotation and deflection behaviour of the passive batter pile groups were studied. It is observed that the behaviour of the individual piles in a group was significantly affected by the batter angle and the pile group arrangement. It is also shown that under passive loading, batter pile groups with (BBL) configuration of (-10 degrees, +10 degrees) offered more resistance to the lateral soil movement compared to other pile group arrangements, while (VVL) configuration offered the least resistance.