Design of Piles Under Cyclic Loading: SOLCYP Recommendations

Recent developments in the fields of energy, transport and industrial engineering have led to the emergence of new types of structures and infrastructures subject to variable stresses, for which the usual methods for designing pile foundations are now inadequate. The recommendations presented in this book will help to partly fill this technical gap by proposing a methodological approach and calculation methods to take account of the effects of cyclic loads in the design of foundations on piles. These are based on both laboratory and full scale experiments, and on modeling carried out within the framework of the national SOLCYP project.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wiley
• Release date: Nov 30, 2017
• ISBN: 9781119468943

Book preview

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SOLCYP Project

1.1. Motivations

In the fields of civil engineering and marine engineering, the works and structures being designed, calculated and constructed are subjected to actions which can generally be described as variable over time. These actions are added to the constant actions (typically the forces of gravity).

The variable actions may have a significant influence on the behavior and stability of the constructions throughout their lifetime and, in the medium- and long term, lead to major defects and problems, potentially causing significant dysfunction or even the complete breakdown of the structure.

The oil industry has developed procedures to deal with the effects of powerful waves on the foundations of offshore structures. They are set out in the professional codes or recommendations (API RP2GEO [API 11]; DnV Foundations [DNV 92]; ISO 19901-4 [INT 03]). The wind power industry is gradually adapting these procedures to the case of offshore wind turbines (DnV-OS-J101 [DNV 14]; BSH [BSH 11]).

In parallel and surprisingly, the effect of cyclic stresses on the behavior of foundations is largely unknown in the domain of construction. There are a few wellknown exceptions such as the study of liquefaction of soils under seismic stresses, fatigue of roadways or railway banks. Generally speaking, though, there is – nationally, at the European (CEN) or international level (ISO) – no specific document (be it a standard, a regulatory text, a professional recommendation) explicitly discussing the risks linked to cyclic stresses and putting forward a methodological approach to take them into account when designing the