Influence of soil mass on the vertical dynamic characteristics of pipe piles

A new soil-pile interaction model, called 'additional soil model', is developed to investigate the influence of soil mass on the dynamic characteristics of pipe piles. The soil is divided into an inner region in the immediate vicinity of the pile and an outer region at greater distance. The soil in the inner region is assumed to be an additional mass to participate with the vibration of the pile. The viscous damping at the soil-pile interface and the radiation damping in the soil are calculated separately. An analytical solution for the vertical dynamic characteristics of pipe piles is derived based on the developed soil model. The rationality and accuracy of the additional soil model have been validated through comparison of theoretical predictions and measured driving stress waves of two full-scale steel pipe piles. The approach makes a useful improvement of soil-pile interaction modeling for dynamic applications. The main conclusions of this study include: 1) both the soil plug and the pile surrounding soil can lead to a decrease of apparent wave velocity of pipe piles; 2) the pile impedance will be underestimated if calculated without the consideration of soil mass; 3) the resonant amplitude and natural frequency of piles will be significantly overestimated if the soil mass is ignored.