Proceedings of the Institution of

Civil Engineers
Geotechnical Engineering 159
July 2006 Issue GE3
Pages 233–241

Paper 14420
Received 06/09/2005
Accepted 20/03/2006
Keywords: A. Boominathan R. Ayothiraman
dynamics/field testing & Professor, Department of Civil Assistant Professor, Department of
monitoring/piles & piling Engineering, Indian Institute of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of
Technology, Madras, India Technology, Guwahati, India

Dynamic response of laterally loaded piles in clay

A. Boominathan PhD and R. Ayothiraman PhD

The behaviour of single piles under lateral dynamic refineries and compressor stations, to support a range of
loading is critical, and has been an important field of structures. These piles are subjected to dynamic lateral loads
research since the 1950s. Many analytical or semi- from operating machinery, wind and earthquakes in addition to
analytical linear and non-linear models are available to static loads, and hence the dynamic response of piles and pile
estimate the dynamic lateral stiffness, but it is essential groups to lateral shaking has received considerable attention
to determine the dynamic characteristics of the soil–pile from designers and researchers. The lateral capacity and
system through full-scale lateral dynamic pile load tests stiffness of piles depend mainly on the characteristics of the
for important structures and for validation of existing top layers of soil (within a few metres of the surface), which
models. This paper presents the results of field lateral may be very soft to stiff in nature. At some industrial sites the
dynamic load tests conducted on 33 piles of varying top layer is found to be soft clay or loose sand with a thickness
types–driven precast concrete, driven cast-in-situ that may vary from 5.0 m to 30.0 m or more. Therefore the
concrete and bored cast-in-situ concrete–at different lateral load criterion rather than the vertical load often dictates
petrochemical complexes in India. The results indicate the pile design. Hence evaluation of the lateral stiffness of a
that driven precast concrete piles have stiffnesses that single pile under dynamic loading becomes a crucial step in the
are four to five times higher than those of driven cast in satisfactory design and performance of pile foundations.
situ piles. The lateral stiffness was also estimated using
the computer program PILAY for all piles and compared Although many sophisticated linear and non-linear models—
with the stiffness determined from the field tests. The theoretical, semi-analytical and numerical—have been
estimated stiffness shows good agreement with the field proposed, 1–18 there are scant experimental data available to
values for stiff clay sites, but greatly overestimates the confirm the reliability of these models.
values for soft clay sites.
The limited field testing carried out on piles embedded in clay
NOTATION and sandy clay sites by various authors 19–27 (details are
ax measured horizontal acceleration presented in Table 1) does not provide satisfactory calibration
Ax dynamic displacement amplitude for the existing models. Furthermore, designers have insisted
Am amplitude of vibration at mth cycle upon the need to evaluate dynamic pile parameters by means
A mþ1 amplitude of vibration at (m + 1)th cycle of in situ tests for important and sensitive structures such as
e eccentricity of rotating mass oscillator nuclear power plants and industrial structures. This paper
f forcing frequency discusses the results of lateral dynamic vibration tests carried
fn natural frequency of soil–pile system out on 33 piles located at various petrochemical complex and
Fd magnitude of dynamic force oil refinery sites in India: the motor spirit quality (MSQ) unit
Gmax maximum dynamic shear modulus and cogeneration (COGEN) sites at Mathura (Uttar Pradesh), the
khp dynamic lateral stiffness of soil–pile system independent power producer (IPP) plant site at Panipat
me mass of eccentrically rotating body (Haryana), the MSQ unit and hydro cracker unit (HCU) sites at
N uncorrected SPT-N value Haldia (West Bengal), and the pure teriphthalic acid unit 3
Navg average uncorrected SPT-N value (PTA-3) site for Reliance at Hazira near the city of Surat
Vs shear wave velocity (Gujarat). The dynamic lateral stiffnesses determined from the

st static displacement amplitude field tests are also compared with stiffness estimated from the
ì magnification factor computer program PILAY. 28
r mass density of soil
x damping factor 2. SOIL PROFILE
ø frequency of rotating mass oscillator Table 2 summarises the site conditions explored through a
subsoil investigation, together with the measured average
1. INTRODUCTION standard penetration test (SPT) values (Navg ) for the various
Pile foundations are commonly employed in industrial sites. It can be seen from the table that the MSQ unit and
situations, such as power plants, petrochemical complexes, oil COGEN sites at Mathura consist predominantly of stiff silty

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 Reference(s) Details of experiments

19 Single steel pile 61 mm in diameter and 2.1 m long. Pile group consists of 102 piles 26.70 mm in diameter and
1.06 m long
20, 21 Single steel tube pile 273 mm in diameter and 13.4 m long
22 Group of six model piles 102 mm in diameter and 3.05 m long, and group of six larger piles 320 mm in diameter
and 7 m long
23 450 mm diameter and driven to a depth of 17 m
24 200 mm diameter and pile length equal to 15 m embedded in soft saturated peat
25 Thin-walled steel pipe pile with inside diameter 98.3 mm and wall thickness 1.65 mm
26 Driven precast concrete square pile of 400 mm size and driven cast in situ concrete piles 400 and 500 mm in
diameter with length about 30 m
27 High-strength aluminium; consisted of solid rod with lengths of 136–142 mm, radii 4.5–4.8 mm

Table 1. Summary of reported experimental investigation on lateral dynamic response of pile foundations

clay mixed with kankars, having a minimum Navg of 9.0 even
at the shallow depth, except for the third (III) stratum of the
COGEN site, which has a low Navg of 3. The IPP plant site at
Panipat also consists of stiff brown clayey silt 4 m thick at
shallow depth, followed by loose to medium dense sandy silt or
sand deposits. The MSQ unit site at Haldia (Haldia I) consists
predominantly of moderate stiff silty clay, with minimum Navg
¼ 9.0 and thickness of 3.6 m even at shallow depth, followed
by soft silty clay (Navg ¼ 3) 3.9 m thick. But at the Haldia II
(HCU) site there is a very soft to soft clay layer 5.7 m thick
(underlain by a thin stiff clay layer 1.5 m thick from pile cut-
off level followed by loose to medium dense sandy silty clay
(4.7 m thick) and soft clay (6.3 m thick). At the Hazira site
medium dense silty sand and soft to medium stiff clayey silt
layers are found up to a depth of 10 m below pile cut-off level.
Seismic cross-hole or down-hole tests were not performed at
these sites, and so the shear wave velocity Vs of each layer,
required for using in PILAY to estimate the pile stiffness, was
evaluated by using the following correlation between shear
wave velocity Vs (m/s) and the uncorrected SPT N-value. 29
: motor and a speed control unit. The forced vibration response
1 V s ¼ 91N 0 337
The low-strain shear modulus Gmax was then estimated using
the shear wave velocity Vs and mass density of the soil r by
the following equation. 30
2 Gmax ¼ rV 2s
As the routine soil parameters such as void ratio and plasticity
index were available, based on undisturbed samples collected
at particular depths for a few sites, the low-strain shear
modulus was evaluated using the equation proposed by Hardin
and Drnevich. 31 For these soil layers, the shear wave velocity
has been back-calculated from the low-strain dynamic shear
modulus determined from the routine soil parameters. The
shear wave velocities and low-strain shear modulus of soil
layers determined for the various sites considered are also
provided in Table 2.
3. PILE DETAILS
The details of the various piles tested at the different
petrochemical complex and oil refinery sites are given in Table
3. The pile cap had dimensions of 750 mm 3 750 mm 3
750 mm and was cast monolithically with the pile head for
mounting the oscillator assembly for dynamic testing. A curing
period of 1 month was allowed for the pile before testing. The
pile cap was not in direct contact with the soil and a minimum
clearance of 150 mm was provided from the pile cut-off level.
4. DYNAMIC TESTING OF PILES
Free vibration or plucking tests and steady-state forced lateral
vibration tests were carried out on the 33 piles located at the
various sites listed in Table 3, in accordance with the procedure
recommended in India Standard 9716. 32 The test set-up for
both forced and free lateral vibration tests and the test
procedure are discussed below.
4.1. Forced vibration tests (FVT)
A typical set-up for the steady-state forced lateral vibration
tests is shown in Fig. 1. A steady-state sinusoidal force was
generated by an eccentrically rotating mass oscillator of 5 t
capacity. The speed of the oscillator was controlled by a d.c.
of the piles was measured using two accelerometers, one fixed
at the mid-height of the pile cap and the other close to the pile
cut-off level, as shown in Fig. 1.
A data acquisition system consisting of a multi-channel carrier
frequency amplifier system and a digital storage oscilloscope
was used to monitor and record the time history of response of
the pile measured by the accelerometers. Each accelerometer
was calibrated before and after conducting the test. At the
conclusion of the first steady-state lateral vibration test, the
eccentricity of the oscillator was increased to raise the dynamic
force, and the test was repeated. The magnitude of the dynamic
force is related to the eccentricity of the oscillator as follows.
3 Fd ¼ me eø2 sin øt
where Fd is the dynamic force, me is the mass of the
eccentrically rotating body in the mechanical oscillator, e is the
eccentricity of the rotating mass, and ø is the frequency. To
cover the wide range of lateral displacements expected as a
result of dynamic loading, the tests were repeated for three to
five levels of eccentricity.

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 Site Stratum Thickness of Description Navg Vs : m/s Gmax : MN/m2
layer: m

Mathura I I 3.0 Grey silty clay mixed with kankars 9 190.82 64.08
(MSQ unit site) II 6.50 Yellowish silty clay mixed with kankars 12 210.24 84.86
III 11.50 Silty sand in yellowish colour mixed with kankars 32 292.60 170.37
Mathura II I 0.70 Filled up soil – – –
(COGEN site) II 6.80 Stiff brownish clayey silt 10.5 201.0 74.74
III 3.00 Loose brownish grey sandy silt 3 131.77 32.12
IV 3.50 Brownish grey sandy clayey silt 15.5 220.60 92.95*
V 1.0 Grey clayey silt with kankars – 240.15 110.15*
VI 7.50 Dense to very dense grey brownish silty sand/ 43 234.68 110.15*
sandy silt with kankars
VII 4.50 Very stiff brownish clayey silt with kankars and 28 250.44 124.19*
fine sand
Panipat I 4.0 Stiff brown clayey silt, medium plastic (ML) 8 183.39 60.54
(IPP plant site) II 0.5 Loose to medium dense light brown sandy silt 8 183.39 60.54
with traces of gravel, low plasticity (CL)
III 5.5 Loose to medium dense light brown silty fine 9 190.82 66.63
sand (SM)
IV 0.5 Loose light brown sandy silt with traces of gravel, 6 166.45 50.70
low plasticity (CL)
V 1.0 Loose to medium dense light brown silty fine 9 190.82 66.63
sand (SM)
VI 4.5 Medium dense light brown sandy silt, low 10.7 202.08 80.45
plasticity (CL)
VII 1.5 Dense light brown silty fine sand (SM) 33 295.65 174.82
VIII 3.0 Very dense light brown silty sand (SM) 47.5 334.26 223.46
Haldia I I 1.50 Filled up soil – – –
(MSQ unit site) II 0.80 Moderate stiff brownish grey silty clay 9 190.82 75.00
III 2.80 Soft to medium stiff brownish grey silty clay 4 87.03 14.09*
IV 3.90 Soft bluish grey silty clay 1 102.89 19.69*
V 5.50 Medium dense bluish grey silty fine sand 17.7 241.03 106.31
VI 5.50 Moderately stiff light grey silty clay 5.5 186.85 56.21*
VII 3.30 Moderately stiff to stiff greyish brown silty clay 22 147.82 45.67*
VIII 6.15 Medium dense to dense/very dense brownish 31.3 289.49 175.15
yellow fine sand
Haldia II I 1.5 Firm to stiff brownish clay 8 183.39 62.50
(HCU site) II 5.7 Very soft to soft silty clay 3 131.77 29.64
III 4.7 Loose to medium dense sandy silty clay 12 210.25 77.23
IV 6.3 Soft to moderate stiff clay 3 131.77 30.20
V 3.7 Stiff to very stiff sandy silty clay 13 215.99 91.52
VI 12.1 Medium dense to very dense silty sand 20 249.74 112.35
VII 1.9 Very stiff to hard silty clay 34 298.64 168.42
Hazira I 0.60 Filled up soil – – –
(PTA-3 site) II 2.00 Medium dense black silty sand 16 231.65 101.42
III 6.90 Soft to medium stiff clayey silt 7 175.32 51.64
IV 3.00 Medium dense black silty sand 16.5 234.06 104.09
V 4.00 Dense dark brown silty sand 52 344.62 237.53
VI 1.50 Hard black clayey sand with silt and kankar 76.5 392.49 323.50
VII 2.00 Very dense black silty sand 89 413.03 358.25

*Dynamic shear modulus determined using method of Hardin and Drnevich 31

ML, silt with low plasticity; CL, clay with low plasticity; SM, silty sand.

Table 2. Soil profile at different sites

4.2. Plucking tests (PT)
Plucking or free vibration tests were generally carried out on one
set of piles. When one pile was tested, another one was used as a
dummy pile to create lateral load. The set-up for plucking tests,
which is shown in Fig. 2, consists essentially of a suitably
calibrated rotating pulling screw with a clutch-type
arrangement. The horizontal load was applied by suddenly
releasing the clutch. A load cell of 2 t capacity connected
between the rotating screw and the releasing system was used to
measure the horizontal load applied to the pile. The free vibration
response of the piles was measured using two accelerometers,
fixed as in the previous case. The applied load and the free
vibration response of the pile were recorded using the data
acquisition system, as for the forced lateral vibration tests.
5. ANALYSIS OF TEST RESULTS
5.1. Free vibration response
A typical free vibration record measured at the pile cut-off
level at the Panipat site is shown in Fig. 3. The natural
frequency of the soil–pile system was determined from the free
vibration records by the fundamentals of vibration. The natural
frequencies obtained for the various sites are presented in Table
4. The damping factor  x was computed from the time history

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 Site Pile size: mm Pile type Pile grade Length*: m No. of piles Cut-off level
from GL: m

Mathura I (MSQ unit site) 500 (circular) Driven M25 11 to 15.5 4 1

Cast in situ
Mathura II (COGEN site) 450 (circular) Bored M25 21.5 4 3.5
Cast in situ
Panipat (IPP plant site) 500 (circular) Driven M25 19.50 4 1
Cast in situ
450 (circular) Driven M25 20.05 4 1
Cast in situ
Haldia I (MSQ unit site) 500 (circular) Driven M25 28.58 4 1.4
Cast in situ
Haldia II (HCU site) 400 (circular) Driven M30 30.0 3 1.5
Cast in situ
400 (square) Driven M30 30.0 3 1.5
Precast
500 (circular) Driven M30 30.0 3 1.5
Cast in situ
Hazira (PTA-3 site) 400 (square) Driven M35 17.0 4 0.6
Precast

* Pile length from cut-off level of pile.

Table 3. Details of piles tested

Mechanical oscillator

MS template

Concrete pile cap

750

750 mm
Acceleration pick-ups
150

Pile cut-off level

Concrete pile

Fig. 1. Set-up for forced lateral vibration test (dimensions in mm)

of acceleration using the logarithmic decrement method, as ax

given by the following equation. 5 Ax ¼
42 f 2


1 Am
4 x ¼ ln where a x is the measured horizontal acceleration of vibration
2 A mþ1
(mm/s2 ) at a particular frequency f (Hz). The computed values
of displacement amplitude corresponding to pile cut-off level
at each frequency for different eccentricities of the oscillator
where A m and A mþ1 are the maximum amplitude of vibration
were plotted as frequency response curves. A typical frequency
in two successive cycles. The damping factor estimated using
response curve obtained for the COGEN site at Mathura is
the above equation for piles located at different sites is also
given in Fig. 4. It can be easily seen from the figure that the
provided in Table 4.
resonant frequency is practically the same at low eccentricities
(e ¼ 16.48 and 24.68), which indicates that the soil–pile system
5.2. Dynamic response curves behaves linearly at low magnitudes of dynamic force. However,
The displacement amplitude of the vibrations, A x , was the resonant frequency decreases as the magnitude of the
computed from the measured acceleration using the following dynamic force increases, indicating a non-linear response of
relationship, the soil–pile system due to degradation of the stiffness of soil.

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 Releasing clutch Pulling screw
Clamp
Clamp
around
around
pile
pile

Acceleration Piles under test Acceleration

pick-ups Piles under test pick-ups

Elevation

Clamp around
pile
Clamp around
pile Adjustable

Plan

Fig. 2. Set-up for free lateral vibration test (not to scale)

Channel 1 – Pile
Acceleration

Channel 2 – Pile cap

Channel 1 Channel 2 Time

Horizontal axis: 1 unit 5 50·0 ms Horizontal axis: 1 unit 5 50·0 ms
Vertical axis: 1 unit 5 10·548 cm/s2 Vertical axis: 1 unit 5 9·795 cm/s2

Fig. 3. Typical free vibration record observed at Panipat site

Site Pile size: Pile Natural frequency: Hz Damping factor

mm length:
m FVT PT FVT PT

Mathura I (MSQ unit Site) 500 (circular) 11–15.5 19.7–23.5 23.8–25.77 0.05–0.09 0.07–0.09
Mathura II (COGEN site) 450 (circular) 21.5 10.5–20.0 24.04–26.6 0.03–0.07 0.02–0.06
Panipat (IPP plant site) 500 (circular) 19.50 22.0–34.2 32.5–33.3 0.07–0.18 0.06–0.20
450 (circular) 20.05 20.0–28.5 23.8–30.12 0.08–0.14 0.07–0.16
Haldia I (MSQ unit site) 500 (circular) 28.58 9.7–19.33 14.1–15.87 0.13–0.16 0.10–0.11
Haldia II (HCU site) 400 (circular) 30.0 9.5–20.0 10.0–13.3 0.11–0.18 0.06–0.09
400 (square) 30.0 20.0–27.5 20.0–25.0 0.07–0.30 0.09–0.16
500 (circular) 30.0 18.0–29.0 25.0 0.15–0.23 0.07–0.12
Hazira (PTA-3 site) 400 (square) 17.0 9.0–12.2 10.6–16.7 0.11–0.17 0.08–0.16

Table 4. Natural frequency and damping factor

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1·2
e 5 16·4°
e 5 24·6°
e 5 32·8°
e 5 49·2°
0·9
e 5 65·6°
Dynamic displacement: mm
0·6
0·3
0
0 10 20 30
Frequency: Hz
Fig. 4. Typical frequency response curve (COGEN site,
Mathura)
This observation is consistent for almost all piles tested at the
various sites. Similar observations were reported by
Boominathan and Ayothiraman 33 based on experiments
conducted on model piles embedded in soft clay.
5.3. Natural frequency and damping factor
The range of natural frequencies of the soil–pile system
obtained from the frequency response curves for the various
sites is presented in Table 4. The damping factor of the soil–
pile system determined from the frequency response curve
using the bandwidth method is also given in Table 4.
It could be inferred from the table that the natural frequencies
obtained from forced vibration tests and plucking tests fall
almost in the same range, except for a few cases: the COGEN
site at Mathura, and one pile in the HCU site at Haldia II.
However, the lower value of natural frequency—that is, the
natural frequency at high magnitudes of dynamic force
obtained from the forced lateral vibration test—is always less
than the natural frequency obtained from the free vibration
tests owing to degradation of stiffness resulting from the strong
non-linear behaviour of the soil at high magnitudes of
dynamic force.
It can also be seen from Table 4 that the MSQ unit site at
Mathura I has a higher natural frequency than the COGEN site,
even though the pile length in the MSQ site is less than that at
the COGEN site. This may be attributed to the fact that the pile
diameter is slightly larger, and the soil contains kankars with
high stiffness. For the IPP plant site at Panipat, the natural
frequency of the 500 mm diameter pile is 10–20% higher than
that of the 450 mm diameter pile from the forced vibration test
data, and about 10–35% higher from the free vibration test
data, even though both piles are embedded at the same site and
have nearly the same pile length. This clearly demonstrates the
effect of pile diameter on the natural frequency of the soil–pile
system.
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It can also be inferred from the table that the natural frequency
of the soil–pile systems with nearly the same length of about
30 m at both the MSQ unit site and the HCU site at Haldia is
less than that of the soil–pile system with length 20 m at the
Panipat site. This may be because the site conditions at both
Haldia locations consist of a thick, very soft clay layer below
the cut-off level of the pile, which thus leads to soil stiffness
degradation due to the strongly non-linear behaviour of the
soft clay layer.
It can also be seen from Table 4 that the 400 mm square driven
precast pile has a relatively high natural frequency compared
with the 400 mm diameter driven cast in situ pile, even though
both were driven at the same location in Haldia II. This may be
due to irregularities or defects in the pile, which is often
possible in cast-in-situ piles but not in precast piles, and thus
substantiates the effect of pile installation method on the
40 natural frequency of the soil–pile system. Table 4 also
indicates that the natural frequency of the 400 mm square pile
(30 m length) at the Haldia II site is nearly twice that of the
400 mm square pile (17 m length) at the Hazira site, even
though the Haldia II site consists of comparatively soft soil.
This clearly indicates the effect of pile length on the natural
frequency of the soil–pile system.
It can be seen from Table 4 that the damping factors
determined from forced and free vibration test data are fairly
well matched for almost all the sites. However, for the Haldia I
and Haldia II sites and the Hazira site, the damping factors
determined from forced vibration tests are always higher than
those determined from free vibration tests. This may be caused
by additional hysteretic damping due to the non-linear
behaviour of the soft soil layers present at shallow depths of
these sites, at the high magnitude of dynamic forces applied to
the pile.
5.4. Dynamic lateral stiffness
The soil–pile stiffness was evaluated in accordance with Indian
Standard 9716. 32 It is based on the assumption that, for all
practical purposes, there is a unique variation in the static
displacement amplitude
st and dynamic force Fd , irrespective
of variation in the forcing frequency f and natural frequency
fn , as these are taken corresponding to larger amplitudes. In
accordance with this procedure, the equivalent static
displacement amplitude
st corresponding to different dynamic
force Fd and forcing frequency was calculated from the
frequency response curves by using the following formula.
Ax
6
st ¼

where A x is the dynamic displacement amplitude (mm) and 
is the magnification ratio, given by
1
7  ¼ qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
2 2
½1
ð f = f n Þ  þ ½2 x ð f = f n Þ2
in which  x is the damping factor, obtained from free vibration
Boominathan • Ayothiraman
records; f is the forcing frequency (Hz); and fn is the natural
frequency under lateral vibration (Hz).
The dynamic force was plotted against the static displacement
amplitude for piles tested at different sites, and a typical plot of
dynamic force against static displacement amplitude plot is
shown in Fig. 5 for a 450 mm diameter pile tested at the
COGEN site, Mathura. The tangent modulus of this plot gives
the soil–pile stiffness khp under dynamic loading conditions.
The dynamic lateral stiffness of the soil–pile system obtained
by this procedure for the various different sites is summarised
in Table 5. It can be seen from the table that the MSQ unit site
at Mathura has a lateral stiffness that is nearly 12 times higher
than that at the COGEN site, even though the pile length at the
MSQ site is very small. This is due to the presence of kankars
in the soil, and the very high shear modulus of the soil at
shallow depth. The low stiffness of the COGEN site at Mathura
may be due to the pile installation by boring, in which defects
and irregularities are often possible.
For the IPP plant site at Panipat the lateral stiffness is
practically the same for both the 500 mm and the 450 mm
diameter piles. This indicates that, although the pile diameter
affects the natural frequency of the soil–pile system, it does
not significantly influence the dynamic lateral stiffness of the
soil–pile system of the piles tested.
10·0
e 5 16·4°
e 5 24·6°
e 5 32·8°
8·0 e 5 49·2°
e 5 65·6°
Dynamic force: kN
It can also be inferred from the table that the stiffness of the
500 mm circular pile embedded at the MSQ unit site is nearly
half that of the 500 mm pile at the HCU site in Haldia. This is
due to the low shear modulus (less than 20 MN/m2 ) of the soft
grey silty clay layer, about 6.7 m thick, at shallow depth at the
MSQ unit site, Haldia. Similarly, the lateral stiffnesses of long
piles embedded at both the MSQ and HCU sites at Haldia are
much lower than the stiffness of the short piles embedded at
the IPP plant site, Panipat. This may be attributed to the soil
conditions at both Haldia sites, which consist of a thick, very
soft clay layer below the pile cut-off level, and the low shear
modulus values within the shallow depth.
It can also be seen from Table 5 that the 400 mm square driven
precast pile has four to five times higher stiffness than the
400 mm diameter driven cast in situ pile, even though both
were driven at the same location at Haldia II. This is due to the
good quality of the precast concrete pile, which is always
controllable in the casting yard. Also, the stiffness of the
400 mm square pile (30 m length) at the Haldia II site is about
three to five times higher than that of the 400 mm square pile
(17 m length) at the Hazira site, even though the Haldia II site
consists of very soft soil in comparison.
6. COMPARISON OF FIELD DATA WITH PILAY
The dynamic lateral soil–pile stiffness was estimated using the
PILAY program, 28 and was compared with the stiffness
obtained from the field vibration tests. PILAY is a computer
program developed by extending the Novak elastic continuum
approach 34 to layered soil 35 for evaluation of the dynamic
impedance of a single pile. The variation of shear wave
velocity and the corresponding dynamic shear modulus with

respect to depth listed in Table 2 were used in the PILAY

6·0 program. The various other input parameters representing the
pile characteristics are the pile length, the pile unit weight, the
4·0 Poisson’s ratio of the pile, the coefficient of rigidity in shear
for the pile material, Young’s modulus of the pile and the static
2·0 load on the pile (weight of the pile cap and oscillator). The
respective values for piles embedded at the various sites were
0 adopted in the PILAY program.
0 0·30 0·60 0·90 1·20
Static displacement: mm
The single pile stiffness for the pinned head condition was
computed considering a layered soil profile for the various
Fig. 5. Typical plot of dynamic force against static
displacement (COGEN site, Mathura) sites, and the results are summarised in Table 5. It can be seen
from the table that the lateral stiffness estimated by PILAY for

Site Pile size: Pile length: Lateral stiffness: kN/m

mm m
Field test PILAY

Mathura I (MSQ unit site) 500 (circular) 11 to 15.5 12.8–13.7 3 104 14.5 3 104
Mathura II (COGEN site) 450 (circular) 21.5 0.60–1.67 3 104 2.3 3 104
Panipat (IPP plant site) 500 (circular) 19.50 26.5–29.4 3 104 31.5 3 104
450 (circular) 20.05 22.6–30.4 3 104 29.8 3 104
Haldia I (MSQ unit site) 500 (circular) 28.58 1.47–2.45 3 104 4.2 3 104
Haldia (HCU site) 400 (circular) 30.0 0.50–1.23 3 104 16.2 3 104
400 (square) 30.0 3.9–4.9 3 104 17.1 3 104
500 (circular) 30.0 2.9–5.0 3 104 18.4 3 104
Hazira (PTA-3 site) 400 (square) 17.0 0.69–1.77 3 104 8.9 3 104

Table 5. Dynamic lateral stiffness of soil–pile system

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 the MSQ unit site at Mathura and the IPP plant site at Panipat
matches the field test values closely , even though PILAY has
considered only the linear behaviour of the soil. This is because
the site conditions at the MSQ site, Mathura, are predominantly
stiff silty clay with kankars, particularly at shallow depths, and
hence the soil is expected to behave in a linear fashion under
dynamic working load (which is normally 20–30% of the
maximum static load). This also holds true for the Panipat site.
However, for the COGEN site at Mathura and the MSQ unit site
at Haldia, PILAY overestimates the stiffness by about two
times. This may be due to the presence of a loose sandy silt
layer, 3 m thick, at the COGEN site, Mathura, and a soft silty
clay layer 6.7 m thickness at the MSQ unit site, Haldia, which
may behave non-linearly. Though PILAY considered the
layered soil profile nature, it has not accounted for the soil
non-linearity of each layer. Similarly, for piles embedded at the
HCU site at Haldia and the PTA-3 site at Hazira, PILAY greatly
overestimates the lateral stiffness: by about four to five times
for the 400 mm square and 500 mm circular pile embedded in
the Haldia II site, and by about seven times for the 400 mm
square pile embedded in the Hazira site. For the 400 mm
circular bored cast in situ pile PILAY overestimates the lateral
stiffness by about 18 times, because the program did not
account for the effect of the pile installation procedure.
It can be concluded here that, for very stiff clay and dense
sand sites, the PILAY program, which is based on the linear
elastic continuum approach, can be utilised for the estimation
of lateral stiffness. However, for soft clay and loose sand
deposits, in which soil non-linearity prevails, PILAY may be
used for a rough estimation of lateral stiffness, but field
dynamic lateral load tests must be conducted on test piles for a
realistic determination of lateral pile stiffness.
6. CONCLUSIONS
Based on lateral dynamic pile loads tests carried out on 33
piles located at different sites in India, it is found that the site
conditions and, in particular, the properties of the top soil
layers greatly influence determination of the dynamic lateral
stiffness of the soil–pile system. It can also be concluded that
the natural frequency of the soil–pile system is significantly
influenced by the size of the pile (diameter and length), the pile
installation procedure, and the stiffness of the top soil layers.
Driven precast piles have four to five times higher stiffness
than driven cast in situ piles. PILAY accurately estimates the
dynamic lateral stiffness constant of piles embedded in stiff
clay sites, but grossly overestimates the stiffness of piles
embedded in soft clay sites. It can be concluded that PILAY can
be used for estimation of the stiffness of quality-assured
(precast) piles embedded in stiff or dense soil deposits, but
immense care is required when using it for soft or loose soil
deposits and for cast in situ piles. Under these circumstances,
lateral dynamic load tests on full-scale piles must be carried
out along with the use of PILAY for practical recommendation
of dynamic parameters that can be used for design of piles
subjected to lateral dynamic loads.
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