Uplift Capacity of Inclined Underreamed Piles Subjected to Vertical Load

Many offshore structures are subjected to overturning moments due to wind load, wave pressure, and ship impacts. Inclined (batter) piles are used to support such structures, and to carry the horizontal and vertical loads resulted from the overturning moments. Though studies have been done with inclined piles having no underream bulb, little information is available in the literature about estimating the uplift capacity of inclined underreamed piles. In the present study laboratory experiments have been done with vertically loaded model piles having no underream as well as with one and two underreams. The piles were positioned at angle of inclination of θ = 0°, 10°, 20°, 30° (with vertical); and placed in locally available sand under vertical uplift load. Three different pile stem diameters (D = 20, 25, and 35 mm) were used. The corresponding pile length to stem diameter (l/D) ratio were 18, 14, and 10 respectively. Experiments had been conducted with two relative different densities (45 and 70%) of sand. The failure uplift loads were obtained in each case. It had been found that for inclined piles increase in number of underream bulbs from 0 to 2 was quite effective in resisting uplift loads corresponding to piles having l/D equals to 10. The percentage decreases in uplift capacity corresponding to increase in inclination angle were more pronounced for piles with double underreams. © 2017, The Institution of Engineers (India).