Prediction of load-settlement relationship for large-diameter piles

An analytical solution for the bearing capacity of a large-diameter pile is proposed based on the load transfer function in this paper. The load-settlement relationship or the P-S curve of such a pile can be determined by the proposed method for practical application. Comparison is made between the results obtained by the proposed method and the test data, and close agreement has been found, thus verifying the accuracy of the proposed method. It is noted that the most reliable approach to the determination of the vertical load capacity of a pile is to use the P-S curve, which is usually obtained through on-site load test. However, for a large-diameter pile (e.g. a diameter over 3 m), this kind of test requires a thousand tons of test load, which sometimes is impossible to provide. It is expected that the proposed method can be used in this kind of situation. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.