Battered minipile response to low-frequency cyclic lateral loading in very dense sand

This experimental study investigates the response of vertical and battered minipiles to two-way symmetrical low-frequency (0.1 Hz) cyclic lateral loading. Laboratory (1-g) tests were performed on scaled-down minipiles in very dense cohesionless soil, for batter angles of 0°, 25° and 45°. The cyclic loading is classified into two categories: multi-amplitude and long-term single amplitude, where force-controlled load was applied at a constant frequency. The minipiles were instrumented with optic fibres, and strain profiles were obtained at each loading stage, in both compression and tension stroke. The results are presented in terms of hysteresis loops, variation of normalised stiffness, minipile strain and bending moments under cyclic loading. In the multi-amplitude loading category, backbone curves show a stiffer force–displacement response in tension stroke than in compression stroke. For the single-amplitude category, the area of the hysteresis loop is largest for 45° battered minipiles with the lowest accumulated deformation. The normalised stiffness at the end of 50 cycles is highest for 25° minipiles with a value slightly greater than one. The strain profiles along the minipiles show stabilisation of measured strain before the number of cycle reaches 50, for all three battered conditions. A multi-surface hardening constitutive model is used to explain the effect of shearing and cyclic loading, with increasing loading amplitude on 25° battered minipiles. These test results are indicative of better performance capability of 25° battered minipiles, in terms of secant stiffness, compared to the vertical and 45° battered cases.