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Constructing Load Transfer Q-z and T-z Curves

from Pile Loading Test for 3D FE Analysis
Conference Paper November 2011

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Constructing Load transfer Q-z and T-z curves from pile loading test for 3D FE Analysis
1

Omar El-Kadi and A.S.K. Elkadi

Teacher assistant, The American University in Cairo, Cairo, Egypt
2
TNO DIANA BV, Delft, the Netherlands

Synopsis: Pile systems analysis is a common problem for geotechnical engineers, which have seen a
huge development in the methods and techniques of analysis, starting with empirical formulas based on
laboratory test results in a form of load transfer curves for both pile shaft and base resistance, to
theoretical equations for load resistance of both pile shaft and base, A.El RAMLI & F.EL KADI 1974 (1),
moreover numerical analysis techniques have been widely implemented specially with the high
development in computing capabilities and commercial software.
The numerical analysis techniques allowed the study of pile group effect not only in terms of spacing and
numbers, but also considering the effect of piles distribution geometry, non uniform pile length, structuresoil interaction and ability to simulate the heterogeneous soil within the pile group or piled raft.
in spite of the capabilities of numerical analysis technique, obstructions such as time and computer
memory were against the non linear analysis, which lead the software developers to introduced
embedded pile for modeling the pile as a line elements instead of solid elements with line to solid interface
in order to reduce degrees of freedom in the model and deduct the time of modeling as the nodal
connectivity between the pile beam element and the surrounding soil elements is not required, however
pile loading test is still a mandatory step in most of reference standards and regulations.
accordingly in this research a pile load test results were implemented in a form of load transfer curves
using embedded pile elements presented by TNO DIANA - MIDAS GTS 1997 to get the advantage of
simulating the non linear pile behavior and reduce the needed time and computing demands.
this technique allowed a good simulation of pile behavior with the ability of modeling large number of piles
and the effect of super structure on the foundation

Keywords: pile, pile group, load transfer curves, load transfer mechanism, Q-z curve, T-z curves,
embedded pile element, numerical analysis of pile group, numerous large pile systems, non linear
analysis.
1.
Pile loading test
The pile load test was conducted by Sommer & Hammabach (1974) to optimize the foundation design of
Alzey Highway Bridge in Germany. The subsoil consists of tertiary sediments, which are stiff clay with a
plastic limit of Wp= 0.2, a liquid limit of WL=0.8 and a water content of W=0.22. The ground water table is
3.5m below ground surface.
The tested pile has a diameter of 1.3m and a length of 9.5m, the loading system consists of two hydraulic
jacks and a reaction beam, which is supported by 16 Anchor .The applied load, pile head settlement and
base resistance were measured, M.WEHNERT &P.A.VERMMER (3).

Figure 1. pile load test configuration and results after EL MOSALLAMY 1999 (4)

2. calibrating the model using solid elements.

2.1

Selecting the suitable parameters for interface elements

in order to be able to construct load transfer curves from pile loading test it is mandatory to separate the
pile settlement due to load transferred by pile base from the pile settlement due to load transfer by pile
shaft, in this favor a 3D finite element model for the pile using solid elements to represent pile volume and
Mohr-Coulomb interface (plate interface) were used.
The interface properties where examined according to different theories and recommendations to reach
satisfactory representation for the load transfer mechanism of the pile compared to the field results.
The pile shaft interface stiffness was calculated based on different theories and methods as the elastic
settlement of pile M.Das (5),Kraft et.al 1981, Abdul Muqtadir and Jahangir Morshed(6), Vesic empirical
analytical method(1977) M.Das (5), Randolph and worth 1978 US department of transportation FHWA (2)
and the software developers recommended values in which the normal interface stiffness is considered to
be 10 times the soil modulus of elasticity, while the interface shear stiffness in considered equal to the soil
modulus of elasticity, however the last method gave good results for simulating pile shaft behavior
compared to field results therefore it was implemented in the analysis.
The base interface stiffness was calculated based on the elastic settlement of pile M.Das (5) and
Boussinesqs solution for a rigid footing resting on elastic half space Poulus and Davis (7) , Boussinesqs
solution presented in equation (1) showed better results and were implemented in the analysis.
(1)

Where:
: Pile tip displacement,
: Pile radius,

: stress at pile tip

: empirical factor = 1 for long piles

Poissons ratio
: Soil elastic modulus

Hence:
where Kb is the base stiffness then:
(2)

, where d is the pile diameter

Figure 2. Finite elements results compared to field test results ,where measured field test results were
indicated by M in the legend.

In order to facilitate the integration of pile's internal forces a beam element with small stiffness- once over
thousand from concrete's stiffness- was modeled inside the pile solid elements and following are the
material properties used in modeling. EL MOSALLAMY 1999 (4),H.K.ENGIN (8).
Table 1. Material properties used in the finite element simulations.

Parameter
2

Modulus of Elasticity (MN/m )

Angle of internal friction ( )
2
Cohesion (KN/m )
Ko
3
Density (KN/m )
Passions ratio

Over
consolidated
clay
60
o
22.5
20
0.8
20
0.3

Pile
concrete

Embedded
pile beam

30000
---25
0.2

30
---0
0.2

3. Constructing the load transfer curves from the 3D finite elements model.
As the load transfer curves are relation between the ratio of shear stress to the maximum shear stress
and the corresponding relative displacements, the displacement cause by load transferred through pile
shaft should be separated than that induced by pile base, then the ratio of relative displacement to total
displacement is extracted at each load increment.

3.1.1

Extracting displacement due to load transferred by pile base

When calibrating the 3D FE model using solid elements for pile volume, the base interface stiffness driven
from Boussinesqs solution showed good compatibility to the field measured base behavior, hence
substituting in Boussinesqs solution (eq. 1) the displacement induced by pile base load can be calculated.
Table 2. calculated displacement induced by pile base load transfer at each load increment.

load at pile tip

(MN)
0
0.1218
0.1239
0.1262
0.139
0.1629
0.1644
0.1655
0.2321
0.3868
0.4105
0.4919
0.5018
0.6111

Tip displacement
(m)
0
0.001421
0.0014455
0.001472333
0.001621667
0.0019005
0.001918
0.001930833
0.002707833
0.004512667
0.004789167
0.005738833
0.005854333
0.0071295

load at pile tip

(MN)
0.763
0.7696
0.8562
0.95
1.0106
1.1188
1.136
1.1962
2
3
4
5
6

Tip displacement
(m)
0.008901667
0.008978667
0.009989
0.011083333
0.011790333
0.013052667
0.013253333
0.013955667
0.023333333
0.035
0.046666667
0.058333333
0.07

3.1.2 Extracting displacement due to load transferred by pile shaft

The field measured settlement of pile head is the summation of settlement due to pile load transferred to
the soil and the pile's elastic deformation, in1992 W.G.K FLEMING (9) introduced a method that can
accurately calculate the elastic deformation of pile where

for P< Us

(3)

for P> Us

(4)

where:
S1 : Pile elastic deformation
,D: Pile Diameter
P: Load applied on pile
,L0: length of zero or neglected skin friction
Lf: Length of effective skin friction
,Ec: Elastic modulus of concrete
Us: ultimate skin friction
,KE: factor of skin friction Centroid to Lf

Figure 3. Pile's elastic deformation after W.G.K FLEMING (1992).

For simplicity the equation introduced by M.Das (5) for pile's elastic deformation can be applied where
(5)

QWP: pile base load

,QWS: Skin Friction
: Factor based on skin friction distribution

=0.5

=0.67

,L: Pile length

,AP: pile's cross sectional area

=0.5

By applying equations (1) and (5) to the field measured results, the settlement induced by skin friction can
be calculated by subtracting both pile's elastic deformation and displacement due to pile base load from
total displacement.
Table 3. calculated displacement induced by pile Shaft load transfer at each load increment.

Applied
Load (MN)

measured
Pile head
displacement
(m)

measured
load at pile
Base (MN)

Pile base
displacement
due to end
bearing(m)

Load carried
by skin
friction (MN)

s1 (m)

0
1.3602
1.4562
1.4845
1.6398
1.9298
1.948
1.9556

0
0.003152
0.003375
0.003626
0.005
0.007568
0.007728
0.007848

0
0.1218
0.1239
0.1262
0.139
0.1629
0.1644
0.1655

0
0.001421
0.0014455
0.001472333
0.001621667
0.0019005
0.001918
0.001930833

0
1.1145
1.1931
1.2819
1.4135
1.6593
1.6634
1.6664

0
0.000535
0.000573
0.000616
0.000679
0.000797
0.000799
0.0008

displacement
due to load
transferred
by skin
friction (m
0
0.001195539
0.00135633
0.001537895
0.002699348
0.004870445
0.005010966
0.005116685

2.0926
2.4111
2.4597
2.7167
2.7297
2.8159
2.9336
2.9456
3.064
3.1835
3.1898
3.2011
3.2056
3.2213

0.01
0.015
0.015763
0.018395
0.018529
0.02
0.022045
0.022253
0.025
0.027998
0.03
0.033578
0.035
0.04

0.2321
0.3868
0.4105
0.4919
0.5018
0.6111
0.763
0.7696
0.8562
0.95
1.0106
1.1188
1.136
1.1962

0.002707833
0.004512667
0.004789167
0.005738833
0.005854333
0.0071295
0.008901667
0.008978667
0.009989
0.011083333
0.011790333
0.013052667
0.013253333
0.013955667

1.721
1.8477
1.867
1.9337
1.9371
2.0031
2.0947
2.104
2.1435
2.1842
2.18
2.1726
2.1696
2.1592

0.000827
0.000889
0.000899
0.000931
0.000933
0.000966
0.001011
0.001015
0.001035
0.001055
0.001054
0.001051
0.00105
0.001045

0.006464946
0.009598064
0.010075111
0.011724779
0.011741566
0.011904837
0.012132477
0.012258962
0.013975964
0.01585933
0.017155838
0.01947415
0.020696778
0.024998929

3.1.3 Calculating Relative displacement due to load transferred by pile shaft and pile
base
Relative displacement is defined as the difference between both pile's surface and adjacent soil
elements,to calculate the relative displacement corresponding to certain displacement at a certain
load, the outputs of the FE 3D model in part 2.1 were used and the ratio of relative displacement to
the displacement at certain load was extracted for both pile shaft by using elements at the middle of
the pile's length and at pile's base as shown in the following graphs.

Figure 3. Extracted ratio between relative and total displacement VS pile base load (Qb) and pile's
skin friction(T).
3.1.4 Constructing load transfer curves
Applying the relation obtained in figure 3 to the displacements calculated in table 3 ,the relative
displacement induced due to certain base load and due to load transferred by skin friction for each load
increment measured in field can be calculated and plotted VS(Q/Qmax) and (T/Tmax) respectively to obtain
load transfer curves.

Figure 4. Constructed load transfer curves

4. Implementing load transfer curves in 3D finite elements model using embedded pile
elements.
The embedded pile element reduces the pile solid element to beam elements replacing the plate interface
element between pile solid elements and surrounding soil elements by line to solid elements, which does
not only reduce the model's degrees of freedom, the needed time and computing ability but also reduces
the modeling time as no nodal connectivity is required between the pile and soil elements. On the other
hand bi-linear behavior(elastic -perfect plastic), and concentration of stresses specially when refining the
mesh size around the pile occurs which lead to early failure for the pile.
implementing the load transfer curves allowed the simulation of nonlinear behaviour of the load transfer
mechanism, while for concentration of stresses using large mesh size or implementing elastic region
approach introduced by Engin et al. 2007 H.K.ENGIN (8),(10). is recommended.
The elastic region approach models the actual pile's volume when using embedded pile elements using
concrete material to allow better load transfer simulation.

Figure 5. elastic region approach introduced by Engin et al. 2007

4.1.1 FE analysis results for single pile using embedded pile elements with different
approaches
For the sake of comparing the effect of implementing the load transfer curves, the 3D FE analysis was
performed using embedded pile elements with and without applying the elastic region approach and
using refined mesh at pile zone of element size equal about 0.25m,then a 3D model with large element
size at pile's zone (about 0.5m) was analysed in order to examined different approaches, the analysis
outputs were represented in form of load VS settlement curves compared to the field measured data.
Load (MN)
Load (MN)

settlement
(mm)

settlement
(mm)

Figure 6. Load VS settlement curves for 3D FE models using embedded pile element with interface
properties calculated based on Randolph and Worth 1978 without and with implementing zone approach
respectively compared to field measured data.

Load (MN)

settlement
(mm)

Figure 7. Load VS settlement curves for 3D FE models using embedded pile element with interface
properties calculated based on Randolph and Worth 1978 and using elements of mesh size about 0.5m at
pile's zone.

4.1.2 FE analysis results for single pile implementing load transfer curves with embedded
pile elements
load transfer curves were implemented to the FE 3D model with embedded pile elements and refined
meshing at pile zone and the elastic zone approach was applied ,following figures represents the load
transfer mechanism compare to field measured data ,shear force distribution over pile shaft interface at
intermediate loading stage and vertical displacement distribution at intermediate loading stage

Figure 8. Load VS settlement curves for 3D FE models using embedded pile element with elastic zone
approach when implementing load transfer curves compared to field measured data.

Figure 9. shear force distribution along pile shaft interface and cross section for vertical displacement at
intermediate loading stage of FE model .

4.1.3 FE analysis results for piled raft system implementing load transfer curves with
embedded pile elements and using elastic region approach
To study the performance of implementing load transfer curves in group analysis, piled raft was analyses
using the previously illustrated technique using the same material properties as per ALZEY bridge loading
test and with the following geometrical properties, number of piles = 9 piles ,diameter of pile (D) = 1.3m,
L/D ratio = 5 , pile length (L) = 6.5m, piles spacing = 2.6m, S/D ratio = 2 ,Raft dimension= 9.1*9.1*3 m.
A total load of 72 MN was uniformly spread over the raft , and the analysis was preformed based on 40
load increments beside the step of initial stress and own weight activation, following are some of the
analysis outputs.

Figure 10.Cross section for vertical displacement at Last loading stage of FE model, the elastic zones
occupying the pile volume are shown surrounding the embedded pile element.

Figure 11. shear force distribution along piles shaft interface and bending moment at Y axis for piled raft
system respectively.

5. Conclusions
Implementing load transfer curves with 3D finite element analysis showed consistent results to that
measured in field increasing the confidence in the analysis results, applying load transfer curves also
overcame the problems of soil sampling and parameters assessment as this technique doesn't only count
on the soil shear parameters as ordinary FE analysis, but it implement relative displacement at certain
stress level as that measured in field.
applying load transfer curves to 3D FE analysis showed good results for group analysis, as the different
interaction factors affect appeared in the analysis results, where in the piled raft the most outer pile in the
group had the maximum shat resistance and so the maximum normal force while the inner pile had the
minimum values and that is the effect of pile-soil-pile interaction, while the raft-soil-pile interaction
encountered bending moments on the outer piles.
using load transfer curves with the embedded pile elements allowed the benefits of embedded pile
elements in reducing the model size and time needed for both modeling and computing, meanwhile
simulate the pile nonlinear behavior as observed in field test. that allows modeling of large pile group
systems of even structure-foundation interaction.
Both elastic region approach and using relative large element size at pile zones techniques overcame the
problems induced by concentration of stresses, while for the second technique more research is required
to state the suitable mesh size in terms of pile diameter, stress levels, material properties,..etc
Although the advantages of using load transfer curves with embedded pile elements in group analysis,
this technique is not suitable if failure load of pile group or piled raft is needed, as the embedded pile
elements interface is not stress depended in failure load ,so the failure load of pile group will always be
the failure of single pile multiply the number of piles

6. Acknowledgement
the authors would like to thank Prof.Dr.Ing Farouk EL Kadi, Prof.Dr.Ing Y. EL .Mosallamy for their help
and gaudiness in related research, Engineer Z.Zayed for her help in related researches.

7. References
1. A.El Ramli & F.El Kadi 1974 "Capacity of piles", paper 4, Bulletin of the faculty of engineering,
Cairo University
2. US Department of transportation federal highway administration (FHWA)," A Laboratory and Field
Study of Composite Piles for Bridge Substructures" ,FHWA-HRT-04-043.
th
3. M.Wehnert & P.A. Vermeer "Numerical Analyses of Load Tests on Bored piles", NUMOG 9 2527 August 2004,Ottawa,Canda.
4. El-Mossallamy Y. 1999 "Load-settlement behavior of large diameter bored piles in overconsolidated clay" , Proc. 7th Int. Symp.on Numerical Models in Geotechnical Engineering NUMOG VII, Graz, 1-3 September 1999, 443-450. Balkema. Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
5. Braja M.Das, Text book "Principles of foundation engineering" ,Sixth edition.
6. Abdul Muqtadir & Jahangir Morshed "Prediction of load -deformation behavior and load carrying
capacity of piles in sand" ,Journal of civil engineering, The institution of Engineering, Bangladesh ,
Vol CE 26 No.1, 1998
7. H.G.Poulos & E.H.Davis, Text Book " Pile foundation analysis and design" ,1980.
8. H.K. Engin & R.B.J.Brinkgreve "Investigation of pile behavior using embedded piles" , ICSMGE,
Alexandria, Egypt 2009.
9. W.G.K Fleming (1992) "A new method for single pile settlement prediction and analysis"
,Geotechnique 42 ,No. 3 , 411-425.
10. H.K. Engin & E.G. Septanika and R.B.J. Brinkgreve "Estimation of pile group behavior using
th
embedded piles " , The 12 International Conference of IACMAG 1-6 October, 2008, Goa, India.