Acknowledgements

During the course of working on this thesis project, it has been been my pleasure to interact with many people. Although at times the task at hand was difficult, these people were always friendly and willing to help out if possible. I need to express my thanks to them for what they have done.

I would like to start by thanking Dr. Loren R. Anderson for convincing me to get a master's degree in geotechnical engineering and for providing direction, encouragement, and unbounded enthusiasm along the way. My thanks also to the following people for help in many different ways: Becky, Carolyn, Marlo, Ken, Rene, Dr. Folkman, Dr. Fullmer, Dr. Halling, Dr. Haycock, Dr. Swenson, Dr. Watkins, Dr. Womack, and Steve Dapp. Thanks to Amy Jones for designing the data acquisition system. A special thanks to Clark Steed for taking on the LabVIEW programming when he already had too many other things happening. Clark was a true asset to the project. I believe that Robb E. S. Moss and I worked as a team on this project as few people could have. I am proud to call Robb a great friend and look forward to watching him become prominent in the geotech community because he is as good an engineer as he is a friend. Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to Dr. Joe Caliendo. His flexible style of leadership made working on this project enjoyable. His sincere concern for the personal well-being of his students is a trait that has endeared him to many, and I feel privileged to have been able to work with him and to be able to call him a dear friend. He always wanted me to address him this way, so, thanks a lot, Joe.

Disclaimer

The contents of this report reflect the views of the authors, who are responsible for the facts and the accuracy of the information presented herein. This document is disseminated under the sponsorship of the Department of Transportation, University Transportation Centers Program, in the interest of information exchange. The U.S. Government assumes no liability for the contents or use thereof.

This report is part of an ongoing investigation on the response of individual piles and pile groups to various types of lateral loadings. This research has been undertaken on behalf of the Utah Department of Transportation and the Mountain Plains Consortium. Phase 1 of the study was completed in March 1996 and involved design and construction of a model test facility. A model pile was designed, instrumented, and laterally loaded under monotonic conditions.

This is the report for Phase 2A of the project. This report addresses the design, construction, calibration, and preliminary test results for a pile group subjected to cyclic lateral loading.

The report for Phase 2B of the project also has been completed. This report presents an in-depth analysis and design applications for pile groups subjected to the cyclic lateral loadings developed in the previous phase.

A much briefer executive summary of the two phases will be submitted as Phase 2C.

Abstract

Lateral loading on pile groups often controls the design of these foundation systems, but their behavior when subjected to lateral loading is extremely difficult to predict. To compensate for this, factors of safety are increased, thus increasing the overall cost of a project. The purpose of this research project was to design and build a model pile group according to similitude parameters and test it under cyclic lateral loading conditions to obtain data that will expand the knowledge on the behavior of pile groups when subjected to cyclic lateral loads.

Detailed descriptions are given regarding design and construction of the instrumented model piles, other instrumentation, and the data acquisition system. Step-by-step procedures are given for calibration of all instrumentation as well as for the testing setup and procedure. Great detail is used in covering these topics in the event that some of this effort must be duplicated in the future. Results covering four types of test output are explained and discussed, as are comparisons of the test output with predictions made using computer software.