Ultimate lateral capacity of single piles in cohesionless soils

Most scholars investigate the ultimate lateral capacity of rigid piles (poles) embedded in sands focusing on soil failure while undermining the effects of structural failure. In this paper, emphasis is placed on implementing structural failure within the methods available in the literature. By comparing the reported test results with the proposed methods for calculating the ultimate lateral capacity of a pole installed in cohesionless soil, it is evident that the methods, which account for pile rotation, have higher accuracy compared to other methods. Equations provided for estimating a pole’s pivot point depth are compared and an equation is derived on the background of the reported test results. The method adopted by Zhang et al. (J Geotech Geoenviron Eng 131(1):78–83, 2005), is discussed and corrected with respect to pile length, pile shape, and structural failure in this paper. Furthermore, it is illustrated that the method of Broms (J Soil Mech Found Div ASCE 90(SM3): 123–156, 1964a) produces the least error for calculating the ultimate lateral capacity of intermediate and flexible piles installed in sands. This conclusion is derived by comparing the test results reported in the literature with the available methods. This comparison involved both soil, pile failure, and included large pile diameters, which are used for offshore structures.