PLAXIS

CONNECT Edition V21.01

PLAXIS 2D - Tutorial Manual - Pile driving [ULT]

Last Updated: March 16, 2021
 Pile driving [ULT]
1
Pile driving is a dynamic process that causes vibrations in the surrounding soil. Moreover, excess pore pressures
are generated due to the quick stress increase around the pile.
In this example focus is put on the irreversible deformations below the pile. In order to simulate this process
most realistically, the behaviour of the sand layer is modelled by means of the Hardening Soil model with small-
strain stiffness.
Geometry
This example involves driving a concrete pile through an 11 m thick clay layer into a sand layer. The pile has a
diameter of 0.4 m.

Clay Pile Ø 0.4 m 11 m

Sand 7m

Figure 1: Pile driving situation

Create new project

To create the new project, follow these steps:

1. Start the Input program and select Start a new project from the Quick start dialog box.
2. In the Project tabsheet of the Project properties window, enter an appropriate title.
3. In the Model tabsheet select the Axisymmetry option for Model and keep the default option for Elements
(15-Noded).

PLAXIS 2 PLAXIS 2D - Tutorial Manual - Pile driving [ULT]

Pile driving [ULT]
Define the soil stratigraphy

4. Keep the default values for units and constants and set the model Contour to xmin = 0 m, xmax = 30 m, ymin = 0
m and ymax = 18 m.

Define the soil stratigraphy

The subsoil is divided into an 11 m thick clay layer and a 7 m thick sand layer. The phreatic level is assumed to
be at the ground surface. Hydrostatic pore pressures are generated in the whole geometry according to this
phreatic line. To define the soil stratigraphy:

1. Click the Create borehole button and create a borehole at x = 0.

2. Create two soil layers extending from y = 18 to y = 7 and from y = 7 to y = 0.
3. Set the Head in the borehole at 18 m.

Create and assign material data sets

The clay layer is modelled with the Mohr-Coulomb model. The behaviour is considered to be Undrained (B). An
interface strength reduction factor is used to simulate the reduced friction along the pile shaft.
In order to model the non-linear deformations below the tip of the pile in a right way, the sand layer is modelled
by means of the Hardening Soil model with small-strain stiffnessmall. Because of the fast loading process, the
sand layer is also considered to behave undrained. The short interface in the sand layer does not represent soil-
structure interaction. As a result, the interface strength reduction factor should be taken equal to unity (rigid).
The layers have the following properties:

Table 1: Material properties of the clay layer and the pile

Parameter Name Clay Pile Unit

General

Material model Model Mohr-Coulomb Linear elastic -

Type of material behaviour Type Undrained (B) Non-porous -

Soil unit weight above phreatic level γunsat 16 24 kN/m3

Soil unit weight below phreatic level γsat 18 - kN/m3

Parameters

Young's modulus (constant) E' 5.0·103 30·106 kN/m2

Poisson's ratio ν' 0.3 0.1 -

Cohesion c'ref - - kN/m2

Undrained shear strength su,ref 5.0 - kN/m2

PLAXIS 3 PLAXIS 2D - Tutorial Manual - Pile driving [ULT]

Pile driving [ULT]
Create and assign material data sets

Parameter Name Clay Pile Unit

Young's modulus increment E'inc 1.0·103 - kN/m2

Reference level yref 18 - m

Undrained shear strength increment su,inc 3 - kN/m2

Reference level yref 18 - m

Interface

Interface strength type Type Manual Rigid -

Interface strength Rinter 0.5 1.0 -

Initial

K0 determination - Automatic Automatic -

Lateral earth pressure coefficient K0,x 0.5000 0.5000 -

Table 2: Material properties of the sand layer

Parameter Name Sand Unit

General

Material model Model HS small -

Type of material behaviour Type Undrained (A) -

Soil unit weight above phreatic level γunsat 17 kN/m3

Soil unit weight below phreatic level γsat 20 kN/m3

Parameters

Secant stiffness in standard drained triaxial test E50ref 50·103 kN/m2

Tangent stiffness for primary oedometer loading Eoedref 50·103 kN/m2

Unloading / reloading stiffness Eurref 150·103 kN/m2

Power for stress-level dependency of stiffness m 0.5 -

Cohesion c'ref 0 kN/m2

Friction angle φ' 31 °

Dilatancy angle ψ 0 °

PLAXIS 4 PLAXIS 2D - Tutorial Manual - Pile driving [ULT]

Pile driving [ULT]
Define the structural elements

Parameter Name Sand Unit

Shear strain at which Gs = 0.722 G0 γ0.7 0.1·10-3 -

Shear modulus at very small strains G0ref 120·103 kN/m2

Poisson's ratio νur 0.2 -

Interface

Interface strength - Rigid -

Initial

K0 determination - Automatic -

1.
Create the material data sets according to Table 33 (on page 3) and Create and assign material data sets
(on page 3)

Define the structural elements

The pile is defined as a column of 0.2 m width. The Interface elements are placed along the pile to model the
interaction between the pile and the soil. The interface should be extended to about half a meter into the sand
layer. Note that the interface should be defined only at the side of the soil. A proper modelling of the pile-soil
interaction is important to include the material damping caused by the sliding of the soil along the pile during
penetration and to allow for sufficient flexibility around the pile tip.

Note: Use the Zoom in feature to create the pile and the interface.

Pile

Interface

Clay
(0.2, 7.0)
(0.0, 7.0)
Extended interface
Sand
(0.2, 6.6)

Figure 2: Extended interface

Define the pile

To define the concrete pile:

PLAXIS 5 PLAXIS 2D - Tutorial Manual - Pile driving [ULT]

Pile driving [ULT]
Define the structural elements

1. Click the Structures tab to proceed with the input of structural elements in the Structures mode.
2. Select the Create line feature in the side toolbar and draw a line from (0.2 6.6) to (0.2 18).
3.
Assign a negative interface to the line to model the interaction of the pile with the surrounding soil.
The pile is made of concrete, which is modelled by means of the linear elastic model considering non-porous
behaviour. In the beginning, the pile is not present, so initially the clay properties are present in the area the
represents the pile.

Define a load

In order to model the driving force, a distributed unit load is created on top of the pile. To create a dynamic load:

1.
Define a distributed load by clicking on Create load > Create line load from the tool bar and then on (0
18.0) and (0.2 18.0).
2. The load components will be defined in the Selection explorer. Note that the static component of the load
will not be used in this project. The program will neglect the static components of the load if it (static load) is
not activated.
3. Expand the Dynamic load subtree and specify a unit load in the gravity direction.
4. Click the Multiplier_y drop down menu and click on the appearing plus button .
The Multipliers window pops up and a new load multiplier is automatically added.
5. Define a Harmonic signal with an Amplitude of 5000, a Phase of 0° and a Frequency of 50 Hz and as shown
in the figure below. During the pile driving phase, we will only consider half a cycle (0.01 s) of this signal.

Figure 3: Definition of an Harmonic multiplier

Note:
Note that dynamic multipliers can be defined by right-clicking the Dynamic multipliers subtree under
Attributes library in the Model explorer.

PLAXIS 6 PLAXIS 2D - Tutorial Manual - Pile driving [ULT]

Pile driving [ULT]
Generate the mesh

Note that dynamic multipliers are attributes and as such it is possible to define them in all the program's
modes.

The final geometry model is shown in the following figure:

Figure 4: The geometry model

Generate the mesh

1. Proceed to the Mesh mode.
2. Click the Generate mesh button to generate the mesh. Use the default option for the Element
distribution parameter (Medium).
3. Click the View mesh button to view the mesh.
The resulting mesh is shown. Note that the mesh is automatically refined under the footing.

PLAXIS 7 PLAXIS 2D - Tutorial Manual - Pile driving [ULT]

Pile driving [ULT]
Define and perform the calculation

Figure 5: The generated mesh

4. Click the Close tab to close the Output program.

Define and perform the calculation

The calculation consists of 3 phases. In the Initial phase, the initial stress conditions are generated. In the Phase
1 the pile is created. In the Phase 2 the pile is subjected to a single stroke, which is simulated by activating half a
harmonic cycle of load. In the Phase 3 the load is kept zero and the dynamic response of the pile and soil is
analysed in time. The last two phases involve dynamics calculations.

Initial phase

Initial effective stresses are generated by the K0 procedure, using the default values. Note that in the initial
situation the pile does not exist and that the clay properties should be assigned to the corresponding cluster. The
phreatic level is assumed to be at the ground surface. Hydrostatic pore pressures are generated in the whole
geometry according to this phreatic line.

Phase 1: Pile activation

1. Click the Add phase button to create a new phase.

2. In the General subtree in the Phases window, the Plastic option is selected as Calculation type.
3. The Staged construction option is by default selected as Loading type.
4. In the Staged construction mode assign the pile properties to the pile cluster.
5. Activate the interface in the Clay layer only. The model for the Phase 1 in the Staged construction mode is
displayed below.

PLAXIS 8 PLAXIS 2D - Tutorial Manual - Pile driving [ULT]

Pile driving [ULT]
Define and perform the calculation

Figure 6: Configuration of Phase 1 in the Staged construction mode

Phase 2: Pile driving

1. Click the Add phase button to create a new phase.

2. In the General subtree in the Phases window, select the Dynamic option as Calculation type.
3. Set the Dynamic time interval to 0.01 s.
4. In the Deformation control parameters subtree select Reset displacements to zero.
5. In the Staged construction mode activate the dynamic component of the distributed load.
The activated dynamic component of the load in Selection explorer is shown in the figure below.

Figure 7: The dynamic load component in the Selection explorer

6. Expand the subtree Model explorer > Model conditions > Dynamics.

PLAXIS 9 PLAXIS 2D - Tutorial Manual - Pile driving [ULT]

Pile driving [ULT]
Define and perform the calculation

Figure 8: Boundary conditions for dynamics calculations

7. Specify viscous boundaries at xmax and ymin.

The result of this phase is half a harmonic cycle of the external load. At the end of this phase, the load is back to
zero.

Phase 3: Fading

1. Click the Add phase button to create a new phase.

2. In the General subtree in the Phases window, select the Dynamic option as Calculation type.
3. Set the Dynamic time interval to 0.19 s.
4. In the Staged construction mode de-activate the dynamic load.

Execute the calculation

1. Click the Select points for curves button in the side toolbar and select a node at the top of the pile for
load displacement curves.
2. Click the Calculate button to calculate the project.
3.
After the calculation has finished, save the project by clicking the Save button .

PLAXIS 10 PLAXIS 2D - Tutorial Manual - Pile driving [ULT]

Pile driving [ULT]
Results

Results
Figure 187 (on page 11) shows the settlement of the pile (top point) versus time. From this figure the following
observations can be made:
• The maximum vertical settlement of the pile top due to this single stroke is almost 14 mm. However, the final
settlement is about 9.5 mm.
• Most of the settlement occurs in phase 3 after the stroke has ended. This is due to the fact that the
compression wave is still propagating downwards in the pile, causing additional settlements.
• Despite the absence of Rayleigh damping, the vibration of the pile is damped due to soil plasticity and the fact
that wave energy is absorbed at the model boundaries.

Figure 9: Pile settlement vs. time

When looking at the output of the second calculation phase (t = 0.01 s, i.e. just after the stroke), it can be seen
that large excess pore pressures occur very locally around the pile tip. This reduces the shear strength of the soil
and contributes to the penetration of the pile into the sand layer. The excess pore pressures remain also in the
third phase since consolidation is not considered.
Figure 188 (on page 12) shows the shear stresses in the interface elements at t = 0.01 s. The plot shows that
the maximum shear stress is reached all along the pile, which indicates that the soil is sliding along the pile.

PLAXIS 11 PLAXIS 2D - Tutorial Manual - Pile driving [ULT]

Pile driving [ULT]
Results

Figure 10: Maximum shear stresses in the interface at t = 0.01 s

When looking at the deformed mesh of the last calculation phase (t = 0.2 s), it can also be seen that the final
settlement of the pile is about 9.5 mm. In order to see the whole dynamic process it is suggested to use the
option Create Animation to view a 'movie' of the deformed mesh in time. You may notice that the first part of
the animation is slower than the second part.

PLAXIS 12 PLAXIS 2D - Tutorial Manual - Pile driving [ULT]