|Research Home | Geotechnical Home| |This report is an archived
publication and may contain dated technical, contact, and link
information| Piles are mainly used to support structures under
lateral and vertical loads. Vertical load-bearing capacity of
piles depends mainly on site conditions, soil properties, pile
material properties, pile dimensions, and method of pile
installation. Pile types can be divided into two categories,
according to their method of installation.(3) The first category
consists of driven piles, which displace and disturb the soil,
and the second category consists of piles that are installed
without soil displacement. Steel, precast concrete, wood, and
fiber-reinforced polymer piles belong to the first category. In
the second category, soil is removed by drilling, and concrete
is cast in the borehole to form the pile. Analytical methods(4)
and several design codes(5,6,7) can be used to evaluate the
axial pile capacity, end bearing, and shaft friction along the
pile. Dynamic methods, bas