Influence of the cyclic loading of very large number of cycles on the pile capacity

Abstract

The paper presents a study of the bearing capacity of a pile model in calibrationchamber, under a cyclic axial loading, up to very large number of cycles. The experimental study isaimed to the evolution of the bearing capacity of pile obtained after a cyclic loading up to 105cycles. Firstly, we present briefly the experimental device and then the results of cyclic testsperformed on the pile model in the calibration chamber. Several parameters which have asignificant influence on the cyclic behavior of piles have been investigated, such as the cyclicdisplacement amplitude and the density of the soil. The analysis of results indicated that themechanism of densification of the soil around the pile leads to improve pile capacity.