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The influence of partial soil saturation on pile

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DOI: 10.1680/geot.2003.53.1.11

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Georgiadis, K., Potts, D. M. & Zdravkovic, L. (2003). Geotechnique 53, No. 1, 1125
The influence of partial soil saturation on pile behaviour
K . G E O R G I A D I S ,
D. M . P OT T S
a n d L . Z D R AV KOV I C

Finite element analyses of geotechnical problems that
involve partially saturated soils are commonly carried
out using conventional fully saturated soil models. Such
models, however, cannot successfully reproduce partially
saturated soil behaviour. This paper investigates the influ-
ence of partial soil saturation on the behaviour of piles.
A total stress constitutive model for partially saturated
soils has been developed and implemented into the Im-
perial College finite element Program (ICFEP). This
model, which is presented here, was used to perform a
series of single pile analyses. The results of these analyses
show the effect of partial saturation and in particular of
fluctuations of the groundwater table on the behaviour of
single piles. The effects of a rising groundwater table on
pile behaviour are also investigated in the case of a pile
foundation of a high-rise building in London. The paper
indicates where prediction of pile capacity and displace-
ment under different load and groundwater table fluctua-
tions may be very different when using fully or partially
saturated constitutive models.
KEYWORDS: constitutive relations; numerical modelling and
analysis; partial saturation; piles; suction
INTRODUCTION
Many geotechnical problems involve the presence of
partially saturated soil zones, the most common case being
that of a capillary zone above the groundwater table. These
zones are usually ignored in practice, and the soil is
assumed to be either fully saturated or completely dry. This
simplification is in many cases conservative since it does not
take account of the increase in shear strength due to partial
saturation. However, features of partially saturated soil be-
haviour, which can have an impact on the global behaviour,
such as collapse upon wetting, cannot be reproduced. Conse-
quently generalised constitutive models for both partially
and fully saturated soils are required in order to predict real
soil behaviour more accurately.
Early attempts to describe the behaviour of partially
saturated soils made the assumption that the effective stress
principle is applicable to such soils, and that the mechanical
behaviour can be fully described in the conventional (q, p9)
stress space. Generalised effective stress equations were
proposed in order to include partially saturated soils in the
conventional soil mechanics framework, the best known
being that proposed by Bishop (1959):

9
 ua (ua  uw ) (1)
where  is a function of the degree of saturation, ua is the
pore air pressure, and uw is the pore water pressure. This
approach proved capable of reproducing some features of
Manuscript received 1 May 2002; revised manuscript accepted 23
July 2002.
Discussion on this paper closes 1 August 2003, for further details
see p.ii.

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Imperial
College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London.
11
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Les analyses delements finis des problemes geotechniques
qui mettent en cause des sols partiellement satures sont
effectuees generalement en utilisant des modeles de sol
conventionnels entierement satures. Cependant, ces mod-
eles ne peuvent reproduire avec succes le comportement
dun sol partiellement sature. Cet expose etudie linflu-
ence dune saturation partielle sur le comportement de
piles. Nous avons developpe un modele constitutif de
contrainte totale pour des sols partiellement satures et
nous lavons mis en uvre dans le Programme delements
finis du College Imperial (ICFEP). Ce modele, que nous
presentons ici, a ete utilise pour faire une serie danalyses
sur des piles seules. Les resultats de ces analyses mon-
trent leffet dune saturation partielle et en particulier
des fluctuations du niveau phreatique sur le comporte-
ment de piles seules. Nous etudions aussi les effets dune
lelevation du niveau phreatique sur le comportement des
piles dans le cas dune fondation de pile dans une tour
londonienne. Cet expose indique les endroits ou les previ-
sions de la capacite et du deplacement de la pile sous
differentes charges ainsi que les fluctuations du niveau
phreatique peuvent etre tres differentes selon que lon
utilise des modeles constitutifs totalement satures ou
partiellement satures.
the behaviour of partially saturated soils, such as the shear
strength increase, but could not explain others, such as
wetting induced collapse or swelling (e.g. Jennings & Bur-
land, 1962; Bishop & Blight, 1963; Burland, 1965). It is
now generally accepted that two independent stress variables
are necessary in order to explain the behaviour of partially
saturated soils. Fredlund & Morgenstern (1977) suggested
that any pair of stress state variables among the following
(
 ua ,
 uw and s ua  uw ) should be adopted when
describing partially saturated soil behaviour. Recently
Bishops and other generalised effective stress equations have
also been used successfully as stress variables (e.g. Kohgo et
al., 1993b; Bolzon et al., 1996).
One of the first constitutive models to be developed for
partially saturated soils was the Barcelona basic model
(Alonso et al., 1987, 1990). This model was based on the
modified Camclay model for fully saturated soils, and was
extended for partially saturated states through the introduc-
tion of the concept of the loading-collapse yield surface
(Fig. 1). A number of constitutive models for partially
saturated soils based on this concept have been proposed
since (e.g. Kohgo et al., 1993b; Wheeler & Sivakumar,
1995; Bolzon et al., 1996).
A constitutive model for partially saturated soils based on
the loading-collapse yield surface concept is presented here.
This model has been implemented in the Imperial College
Finite Element Program (ICFEP), and was used to investi-
gate the influence of partial soil saturation on the behaviour
of single piles. Two studies are presented in this paper. The
first involves a single pile in a uniform soil subjected to
vertical loading and fluctuations of the groundwater table.
The second study is based on the construction of piles for
the foundation of a high-rise building in Canary Wharf,
London.
 12 GEORGIADIS, POTTS AND ZDRAVKOVIC
2 s3
s
(1  ) 4 4(1  )5
K 1,2 1 1 (4)
2(1  ) (1  )2

LC (loading-collapse) f (1  )(K 1  K 2 ) (5)

yield surface
and  are parameters that control the shape of the
surfaces, p9c is the isotropic effective yield stress,  is the
generalised normalised stress ratio:
s
J 2
 (6)
J 2f
and J 2 is the square of the stress ratio:
p0*
p
 2
J
J 2 (7)
Fig. 1. Loading-collapse yield surface p9
J 2f is the failure value of J 2 and is obtained by solving
the following cubic equation, which is based on the
CONSTITUTIVE MODEL MatsuokaNakai criterion:
The constitutive model is formulated in (J , p, , seq ) 2
stress space, where J is the generalised deviatoric stress: p C  sin(3)  J 3=2
2f (C  3)  J 2f  (C  9) 0 (8)
27
1
J p in which
2
9  M2
3 [(
x  p)2 (
y  p)2 (
z  p)2 22xy 22xz 22yz ]1=2 C  (9)
2M 3 M 2
(2)  1
27 3
If the value of suction, s, is higher than the air entry value The parameters ,  and M are equal to f , f and M f
of suction, sair , then seq s  sair , p is the mean total stress, when the yield surface is being calculated, and equal to g ,
and
x,
y and
z are total stresses. If s < sair , then g and M g when the plastic potential surface is being
seq 0, p is the mean effective stress, and
x,
y and
z calculated.
are also effective stresses. seq is the equivalent suction and A major advantage of the above yield surface and plastic
defines the point at which the model switches from fully potential equation is that by suitable adjustment of the
saturated to partially saturated behaviour is the Lodes parameters and  a wide range of surface shapes, includ-
angle. ing the shapes given by more commonly used yield surface
Two yield surfaces are defined in (J , p, , seq ) stress and plastic potential functions, can be achieved (Fig. 3).
space: the primary surface and the secondary surface. The The Lagioia et al. (1996) equation can be extended to the
soil behaviour is assumed to be elastic within these surfaces equivalent suction, seq , space by substituting po kseq for
(see Fig. 2). The primary yield surface, F1 (loading-col- the isotropic effective yield stress, p9c , and p kseq for the
lapse), and its associated plastic potential surface, G1 , are mean effective stress, p9:
given by a modified version of the following equation  
 K2 =f
proposed  1
by Lagioia et al. (1996) for fully saturated soils: F1 p k  seq K2
  0 (10)
  G1 po k  seq  K1 =f
 K2 =f 1
 1 K1
F1 p9 K2
  0 (3)
G1 p9c  K1 =f where po is the isotropic total yield stress at the current
1 value of suction, and k is a parameter that controls the
K1
increase in apparent cohesion due to suction. Fig. 4 shows
where the constants K 1 , K 2 and f are given by

50 Mod. Cam Clay

Generalised deviatoric stress: kPa

J Cam Clay
Sinfonietta Classica
40 Single Hardening YS
Single Hardening PP
30

20

seq
10

p0* F2
0
0 20 40 60 80 100
Mean effective stress: kPa
p F1
Fig. 3. Examples of yield surface and plastic potential functions
Fig. 2. Primary and secondary yield surfaces reproduced from Lagioia et al. (1996)

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 INFLUENCE OF PARTIAL SOIL SATURATION ON PILE BEHAVIOUR 13
curves based on equation (10) and using the same para-
pm In p
meters as those used to derive the curves in Fig. 3.
The shape of the primary yield surface in the isotropic-
stresssuction ( p  seq ) space is defined by the relationship
between the current yield stress, po , and the equivalent fully
saturated yield stress, po
(hardening parameter). Alonso et Equation (11)
al. (1990) proposed the following equation:

Specific volume: v
seq2 > seq1
![(0)k]=[(seq )k]
c po
1
po p  (11) (seq2)
pc
Typical soil 1
where pc is a characteristic pressure, (0) is the fully behaviour (seq1)
saturated compressibility coefficient, k is the compressibility 1
coefficient along elastic paths and is independent of suction, (0)
and (seq ) is the partially saturated compressibility coeffi- Equation (13)
cient, given by the following empirical equation (Alonso et
seq = 0
al., 1990):
(seq ) (0)[(1  r)eseq r] (12) Fig. 5. Assumed isotropic compression lines

where  and r are model parameters that also control the

shape of the primary yield and plastic potential surfaces.
Equation (11) implies a linear partially saturated isotropic
compression line constantly diverging from the fully satu-
rated isotropic compression line, as shown in Fig. 5. The
amount of collapse due to wetting therefore increases lin-
early with the increase of the logarithm of the confining
stress, p. This is a realistic assumption for low confining
stresses at which most laboratory tests on partially saturated
soils are performed, but may give unrealistically high values
of the yield stress, po , and the wetting-induced volumetric
plastic strains at high confining stresses.
The characteristic pressure, pc , is an arbitrary parameter
max , which is given by
the value of which is selected such that the shape of the
loading-collapse yield curve matches the experimental data,
and is assumed to be constant and unique for a particular
max [(0)  (seq )] ln c  ks  ln
soil. However, to avoid inconsistencies at high stress levels
it would appear that pc must be dependent on stress level.
An alternative approach is to assume that the ratio p
o = pc is
constant for confining stress ranges higher than those at
which the experiments were performed. If this approach is
adopted, the equation for the primary yield surface in the
isotropic stresssuction space becomes
p p
 [(0)(seq )]=[(seq )k]
o o c (13)
where c po
= pc . The partially saturated isotropic com-
pression line assumed in this model is shown in Fig. 5. At
low confining stresses equation (11) is adopted, giving a
60
Generalised deviatoric stress: kPa
linear increase of the amount of collapse with stress,
whereas at high confining stresses equation (13) is adopted,
giving a constant amount of collapse. The switch from
equation (11) to equation (13) takes place when the two
equations are equal. It can be shown that the confining
stress, pm , at which this switch takes place is given by
pm pc  c[(0)k]=[(seq )k] (14)
pm depends on the parameter c, as does the amount of
maximum collapse, expressed in terms of specific volume,
(0)  k seq patm
(seq )  k patm
(15)
This approach by no means reproduces soil behaviour accu-
rately, but it is much closer to experimental results at high
confining stresses, which show that the amount of potential
collapse increases with stress at low confining stresses,
reaches a maximum, and then reduces slowly at very high
stresses, as indicated by the dashed line in Fig. 5. Further-
more, as shown later in this paper, this approach gives much
more realistic predictions of the yield stress ratio,
YSR po = p.
The cohesion increase parameter, k, can either have a
constant value with suction, thus giving a linear increase of
Mod. Cam Clay
apparent cohesion with suction, or be set equal to the degree
Cam Clay of saturation. In the latter case the apparent cohesion ini-

50
Sinfonietta Classica tially increases with suction, reaches a peak at some value
Single Hardening YS of suction that depends on the adopted soilwater character-
Single Hardening PP
40
istic curve, and then reduces to zero at very high values of
suction (Fig. 6). The critical-state line in this case is given
30 by the following equation:

q M( p Sr  seq ) (16)
20

This option is more realistic, but requires knowledge of the

10
relationship of the degree of saturation with suction.
The secondary yield surface (suction increase) is given by
0
40 20 0 20 40 60 80 100 the following equation:
k Seq seq
Mean total stress: kPa F2 10 (17)
so
where so (yield suction) is a limit value of suction beyond
Fig. 4. Examples of yield surface and plastic potential shapes which plastic strains occur.
reproduced by the model The volumetric elastic strains are given by

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14 GEORGIADIS, POTTS AND ZDRAVKOVIC
J shearing resistance of the soil, 9. Different depths of the
Variation of apparent cohesion
Fig. 6. Cross-section of F1 yield surface at zero mean total
stress, p (for k Sr )
k ks
dev d p d seq
 p
(seq patm )
The elastic shear strains are given by
1 The soil parameters used in the analyses are shown in
des
3G
Finally, the hardening rules are the following:
d p
o po
d p
(0)  k v
Potts (1982) and Maswoswe (1985). A Poissons ratio, v, of
d so (so patm ) d p
s  ks v
where ks and s are the coefficients of compressibility along
constant mean total stress elastic and elastoplastic paths
respectively, and G is the shear modulus. With appropriate
selection of the model parameters (f 0:4, f 0:9 and
sair 0 kPa) and by selecting the option of a constant value
for the cohesion increase parameter, k, and equation (11) for
the shape of the yield surface in the isotropic-stresssuction
( p  seq ) space, the model becomes equivalent to the Barce-
lona basic model. These parameters and options were used
for the initial validation of the model implementation. The
model predictions for a variety of stress paths presented in
Alonso et al. (1990) were compared with analytical solutions
and experimental data and were found to be in excellent
agreement. The model predictions can be seen in Alonso et
al. (1990). Further validation exercises were performed using
a variety of model parameters and all model options (k equal
to the degree of saturation, Sr , and equation (13) for the
shape of the yield surface in the isotropic stress space).
SINGLE PILE ANALYSES
As mentioned in the introduction, in many cases a capil-
lary zone exists above the groundwater table where the soil
is partially saturated. The presence of such a zone has been
found to be of significant importance in the case of shallow
foundations (Nesnas, 1995; Georgiadis et al., 2002), giving
high values of bearing capacity, but also the danger of
collapse upon wetting. This section investigates the influence
of the presence of a capillary zone above the groundwater
table and of fluctuations of the groundwater table on the
behaviour of a single pile in a uniform soil.
Details of analyses
All analyses involved a wished-in-place single pile in
uniform soil. The pile was 20 m long and 1 m in diameter.
No interface elements were used: therefore the concretesoil
angle of friction was taken to be equal to the angle of
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groundwater table were considered: 0 m (fully saturated
soil), 2 m, 4 m, 6 m, 8 m, 10 m and 25 m. Two
sets of analyses were performed. Set 1 involved loading the
pile to failure for each one of the groundwater table depths,
assuming two different pore pressure profiles for each depth
(except for the fully saturated case). The pore pressure
profiles are shown in Fig. 7. Profile 1 is the typical profile
used in effective stress conventional analyses assuming that
the soil is completely dry above the groundwater table,
whereas profile 2 assumes a hydrostatic pore pressure profile
up to the ground surface. An air entry suction value of zero
seq
was used in all the profile 2 analyses, and therefore the soil
in these analyses was considered to be partially saturated
from the water table to ground surface. In the second set of
analyses the pile was loaded to different loads for both pore
pressure profiles, with the water table at different depths
from the ground surface; subsequently the water table was
raised to ground level. The finite element mesh used in the
(18) analyses is shown in Fig. 8. Eight-noded axisymmetric
isoparametric quadrilateral elements with reduced integration
were used.
(19) Table 1. The yield function and plastic potential parameters
f , g , f and g were selected such that the model in the
fully saturated case becomes equivalent to the modified
(20) Cam-clay model. The soil properties are for Lower Cromer
till and are taken from the studies of Gens (1982), Gens &
(21) 02 was used instead of a value for the shear modulus, G, in
order to have a varying value of G with depth. For simpli-
city a constant value of the parameter k was selected. None
of the analyses involved depression of the water table (dry-
ing), and consequently the secondary yield surface was not
relevant. A high value of the yield suction, so , was therefore
selected.
A constant value with depth of 15 was assumed for the
OCR for the fully saturated case. In the partially saturated
cases OCR has no practical significance. Instead the YSR
(yield stress ratio) po = p is introduced. YSR is expressed
in terms of total stresses, and varies with depth. The yield
stress increases with suction, giving high YSR values close
to the ground surface. The variation of YSR with depth
depends on the relationship adopted between the current
yield stress, po , and the equivalent fully saturated yield
stress, po
. For the partially saturated analyses at which small
depths of the groundwater table were considered (D 0
 10 m) equation (11) was used, and a value of 12 KPa was
taken for the characteristic pressure, pc . However, use of
this equation in the analyses with D 25 m, where the
partially saturated zone extended to high stress regions,
Conventional Partially saturated
analyses: analyses:
Profile 1 Profile 2
1m
uw = 0 kPa uw = Dw
D
GWT
20 m
pwp
Fig. 7. Single pile analysis: pore water pressure profiles (pwp)
 INFLUENCE OF PARTIAL SOIL SATURATION ON PILE BEHAVIOUR 15
Yield stress ratio
0 100 000 200 000 300 000 400 000 500 000 600 000
0

10

Depth: m
15

20

Fig. 8. Finite element mesh 25

Table 1. Soil properties: single pile in uniform soil analyses

f 04 k 00077 30
f 09 r 035
Mf 12  00164 kPa1 Fig. 9. Predicted yield stress ratio profile for D 25 m from
g 04 ks 0001 equation (11)
g 09
1 20
Mg 12 k 08
pc 120 kPa v 02
(0) 0066 sair 00 kPa

Yield stress ratio

0 5 10 15 20 25
0
resulted in an unrealistic YSR profile with depth, as shown
in Fig. 9. Equation (13) was used instead in these analyses.
The characteristic stress ratio, c , was taken equal to 1667.
The YSR profile obtained in this way is shown in Fig. 10.
The concrete pile behaviour was modelled as linear 5
elastic. A Youngs modulus of 20 GPa and a Poissons ratio
of 015 were chosen.

10
Results
Figure 11 shows the loadsettlement curves for some
cases in the first set of analyses, which involved drained
Depth: m

loading of the pile. Curves P2, P6 and P10 are for the
analyses with the groundwater table at 2 m, 6 m and 15
10 m respectively and pore pressure profile 2, curves D2,
D6 and D10 are for the groundwater table at 2 m, 6 m
and 10 m respectively and pore pressure profile 1, and
curve S0 is for the fully saturated analysis (groundwater 20
table at 0 m). As can be seen in this figure the bearing
capacity of the pile increases with increase of the depth of
the groundwater table. This increase is due mainly to the
increase of the shaft resistance. Once the shaft resistance is
exceeded, at approximately 20 mm displacement, the load 25
displacement curves for all analyses are close to parallel.
Although the shaft resistance for all analyses is reached at
small displacements (less than 2% of the pile diameter), the
base resistance continues to increase even at high values of 30
vertical displacement. As stated in Potts & Zdravkovic
(2001), it can be assumed that the ultimate load for practical Fig. 10. Predicted yield stress ratio profile for D 25 m from
purposes is reached at vertical displacements of 10% of the equation (13)

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16 GEORGIADIS, POTTS AND ZDRAVKOVIC
9000

8000

7000

6000 S0

D2
Load: kN

5000

P2
4000
D6

3000
P6

2000 D10

P10
1000

0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200
Vertical displacement: mm

Fig. 11. Loadsettlement curves for drained loading analyses

pile diameter. This definition of ultimate load will be
adopted for this study.
As seen in Fig. 11 the influence of partial soil saturation
is insignificant for small depths of the groundwater table
(curves P2 and D2 are almost identical), and becomes more
important at larger depths of the groundwater table. For the
groundwater table at 10 m from the ground surface (curves
P10 and D10) the conventional analysis underestimates the
load-carrying capacity by approximately 17%. However, for
the factors of safety used in practice (usually FOS > 2) the
predictions of the partially saturated and conventional ana-
lyses are very similar. The results of the analyses with the
groundwater table at 4 m and 8 m have been omitted
from this figure for clarity, but gave similar results.
The ultimate loads for different depths of the groundwater
table predicted by the conventional (profile 1) and partially
saturated (profile 2) analyses are shown in Fig. 12. The
increase of the ultimate load with the depth of the ground-
water table and, more importantly, the increase of the effect
of partial soil saturation with the increase of the depth of
the groundwater table can be seen. The ultimate loads
predicted by the partially saturated analyses depend on the
choice of the loading-collapse yield surface and the variation
of the cohesion increase parameter, k, with suction. In the
extreme case where the loading-collapse yield surface is a
straight vertical line in p  seq stress space ( po p
o ) and
k 0, the partially saturated and conventional predictions
are identical.
Figure 13 shows the loaddisplacement curves predicted
by the conventional (curve D25) and partially saturated
(curve P25) analyses for the groundwater table at 25 m
below ground level. The partially saturated analysis predicts
approximately 75% higher ultimate load than the conven-
tional analysis. Although these analyses appear to represent

8000

Conventional
7000 analyses
Partial saturated
6000 analyses
Ultimate load: kN

5000

4000

3000

2000

1000

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Depth of groundwater table.: m

Fig. 12. Influence of depth of groundwater table on ultimate pile load

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 INFLUENCE OF PARTIAL SOIL SATURATION ON PILE BEHAVIOUR 17
16 000

14 000

12 000

10 000
Load: kN

8000

6000

Partially saturated
4000 analyses
conventional
analyses
2000

0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
Displacement: mm

Fig. 13. Loaddisplacement curves for D 25 m

an extreme case, such as situation may occur when dewater-
ing or underdrainage takes place, causing suppression of the
groundwater level to great depths. In these cases it may be
important to understand the likely overprediction of capacity
that a pile load test may show, compared with the capacity
when the groundwater table returns to a smaller depth. In
this particular case an overprediction of approximately 320%
would be made if the groundwater table was to return to
ground level. Depending on the pile load at which the rise
of the groundwater table takes place large settlements may
also occur.
Conventional fully saturated analyses accounting for suc-
tions by using pore pressure profile 2 predict higher ultimate
loads than do partially saturated analyses (with the same
pore pressure profile). This is clearly not conservative, and
is due to the fact that, while for fully saturated soils strength
increases linearly with suction, this increase is non-linear for
partially saturated soils.
The second set of analyses was performed in order to
investigate the potential for pile movements associated with
changes in the groundwater table depth. These analyses
involved loading the pile to different loads for a range of
groundwater table depths and then raising the water table to
ground level. None of the analyses involving small depths of
the groundwater table (D 0  10 m) predicted additional
settlement of the pile due to wetting. In fact, in all cases
upward movement of the pile was observed. The response of
the soil to wetting was mostly elastic. The reduction of the
effective stresses in the fully saturated region caused only
elastic swelling, whereas in the partially saturated region the
wetting paths at constant total stress intersected the loading-
collapse yield surface only in a small region close to the
soilpile interface. A typical pile response to wetting is
shown in Fig. 14 for a partially saturated analysis with an
initial D 10 m and a constant load of 4 MN (approxi-
mately 50% of ultimate load).
A different response was predicted, however, for the case
where the groundwater table was initially at 25 m. Raising
the water table at a constant load of 10 MN (approximately
two thirds of the ultimate load) caused the pile to collapse,

16

14

12
Vertical displacement: mm

10

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Rise of water table: m

Fig. 14. Progression of vertical movement of pile during rise of groundwater table (D 10 m, L 4 MN)

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18 GEORGIADIS, POTTS AND ZDRAVKOVIC
as shown in Fig. 15. Also shown in this figure is the
response predicted by a conventional (pore pressure profile
1) analysis in which the pile was initially displaced by the
same amount as in the partially saturated analysis (14 mm).
The conventional analysis is not able to reproduce a realistic
behaviour, and predicts small upward movement of the pile.
The vectors of incremental displacement close to failure for
the partially saturated analysis are plotted in Fig. 16.

ANALYSIS OF CANARY WHARF PILES

The behaviour of bored piles end-bearing in partially
saturated soil is investigated in this section. The study is
based on the pile construction for the foundation of a multi-
storey building in Canary Wharf in London.

Ground profile and pore pressure conditions

The ground profile assumed in the finite element analyses
comprised (from top to bottom) 10 m of fill, 38 m of terrace
gravel, 39 m of Lambeth Group clay, 65 m of Lambeth
Group sands and 128 m of Thanet sands, underlain by chalk
(Fig. 17).
The pore water pressure conditions in the vicinity of the
site are complex. Two aquifers exist: the upper aquifer in the
terrace gravel and above, and the lower aquifer in the
Lambeth sands, Thanet sands and chalk. The piezometric
levels in the lower aquifer have changed significantly in the
past. Large-scale water abstraction during the 19th century
reduced water levels by as much as 70 m in places. The
abstraction rate reduced during the 1960s, and the piezo-
metric level of the lower aquifer rose to about 6 to
10 m OD. During the construction of Canary Wharf Station
for the Jubilee Line Extension between 1994 and 1997, the
piezometric level in the lower aquifer was again depressed
Fig. 16. Vectors of incremental displacements at failure
to 22 to 25 m OD, but it returned to the previous state of
approximately 6 to 10 m OD after the end of construc-
tion. Prior to the construction of the piles at the site consid-
ered in this study local dewatering was carried out in both
aquifers. The water level was reduced to 55 m OD in the
upper aquifer and 28 m OD in the lower aquifer. After the analyses are shown in Fig. 18.
cessation of local dewatering the piezometric level in the
upper aquifer remained unchanged, whereas in the lower
aquifer the level was expected to rise to 55 m OD in the Material properties
short term. The pore water pressure profiles considered in The concrete pile behaviour was modelled as linear

Rise of water table: m

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
50

0
Vertical displacement: mm

50

Partially saturated
100 analyses
Conventional
analyses

150

200

250

Fig. 15. Progression of vertical movement of pile during rise of groundwater table (D 25 m, d
14 mm)

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 INFLUENCE OF PARTIAL SOIL SATURATION ON PILE BEHAVIOUR 19
Table 2. Soil properties for terrace gravel, Lambeth clay and
15 m 10 m chalk
50 mOD
Terrace gravel Terrace gravel Lambeth clay Chalk
88 mOD
9: degrees 33 29 34
Lambeth clay
127 mOD v 02 02 02
L = 205 m Lambeth sands E: MPa 30 30 1000
192 mOD
GWT at
time of Thanet sands
construction
plastic behaviour is also in accordance with experimental
results on other sands as reported by Coop (1999). The
model parameters corresponding to the selected yield func-
320 mOD tion and plastic potential surfaces are given in Tables 3 and
Chalk
4. The values of the slope of the critical-state line, M g , were
Fig. 17. Canary Wharf pile analyses: ground profile calculated from the angles of shearing resistance, given from
the site investigation as 146 for the Thanet sands and 133
for the Lambeth sands. The corresponding M f values are 10
for the Thanet sands and 09 for the Lambeth sands.
5

Hardening and softening parameters

10 The partially saturated parameters c , ks , r and  were
taken from the study of Maswoswe (1985) on Lower Cromer
till, owing to the lack of partially saturated experimental
15
data on Lambeth sand and Thanet sand. The use of para-
meters for till in place of sands was decided after compari-
son of the grading curves of these soils with those for which
partially saturated experimental data were available. As this
Elevation (m OD)

20
study is for illustrative purposes it was thought reasonable to
proceed with these values. The compressibility coefficient
along constant suction elastic paths, k, was calculated from
25 Cessation of
the assumed Poissons ratio, , and Youngs modulus, E, as
dewatering
0005. The fully saturated compressibility coefficient, (0),
was assumed to be 12 times larger than k, equal to 006.
30
Pile construction
Initial hardening parameters
35 The specific volume at unit confining stress, v1 , was
assumed equal to 1826 for Lambeth sand and 1872 for
Thanet sand. An estimate of the OCR value was obtained
40 from the relationships among OCR, K0 and PI (plasticity
20 15 10 5 0 5 10 15 20 25 index) presented by Brooker & Ireland (1965). For a very
Piezometric level (m) low plasticity soil with a K0 value of 115 a value of 6 was
selected for the OCR. This value refers to the original fully
Fig. 18. Assumed pore water pressure profiles
saturated sate.

elastic. A Youngs modulus of 20 GPa and a Poissons ratio Other parameters

of 015 were chosen.
The following K 0 values were assigned to each soil layer:
05 for the terrace gravel, 115 for the Lambeth clay,
Lambeth sands and Thanet sands, and 10 for the chalk.
The terrace gravel, Lambeth clay and chalk layers were
modelled with the generalised MohrCoulomb model. The
soil properties adopted for the analyses are shown in Table
Because of the large suctions involved in this problem the
cohesion increase parameter, k, was set equal to the degree
of saturation, Sr . The variation of the degree of saturation
with suction was obtained from the particle size distribution
curves of the materials using the Arya & Paris (1981)
method. These were in turn fitted into the Van Genuchten
(1980) equation for the soilwater characteristic curve:
2. The Lambeth clay was assumed to behave undrained. 
m
1
The Thanet sand and Lambeth sand layers were modelled Sr (1  Sro ) Sro (22)
1 (seq  ) n
with the generalised constitutive model presented earlier in
this paper. The following model parameters were assumed: where , m and n are fitting parameters, and Sro is the
residual degree of saturation at very high values of suction.
The obtained soil-water characteristic curves are shown in
Yield function and plastic potential parameters Fig. 20. The full list of parameters for the Thanet sands and
The best estimate of the shapes of the yield and plastic Lambeth sands is given in Tables 3 and 4.
potential surfaces for fully saturated conditions based on
triaxial tests on Thanet sand is shown in Fig. 19 (Coop,
personal communication, 2002). Also shown in the figure Details of analyses
are the implied plastic strain increment vectors for the The ground level at the beginning of the analyses was
particular choice of shapes. The assumed yield and elasto- taken at 5:0 m OD and the piezometric level for both

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20 GEORGIADIS, POTTS AND ZDRAVKOVIC
20

Deviatoric stress normalised by critical state stress

Yield
surface
Plastic potential surface
15

10

05

0
0 05 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
Net mean stress normalised by critical state stress

Fig. 19. Yield and plastic potential surfaces

Table 3. Soil properties for Lambeth Sand the first stage of each analysis to simulate the excavation of
f 008  002 kPa 1 the cofferdam. The pile analysed was 15 m in diameter and
f 20 ks 0001 205 m long, and was wished in place. The finite element
Mf 09 v1 1826 mesh used was similar to that used in the previous study
g 001
02 (Fig. 8). Two types of analysis were performed: the first type
g 057 sair 150 kPa involved vertical loading of the pile to failure, and the
Mg 132 003 kPa1 second type loading of the pile to a certain load and then
c 1667 m 035 raising of the water table in the lower aquifer. Both conven-
(0) 006 n 45 tional and partially saturated analyses were carried out, using
k 0005 Sro 015 the best estimate for the model parameters from the avail-
r 025
able data. However, partially saturated analyses were also
performed using different values for some parameters in
order to investigate their influence on the pile behaviour.
The parameters that were varied were the overconsolidation
aquifers at 55 m OD. Before the construction of the pile ratio, OCR, and the parameters r and , which control the
the piezometric level in the lower aquifer was reduced to expansion of the primary yield surface with suction. The set
280 m OD and the top 10 m of fill was excavated. The fill of parameters given in Tables 3 and 4 will be referred to as
layer was simulated as a uniform surcharge acting through- the reference set in this paper. Note that, because of the
out the top of the finite element mesh and was removed at relatively high stresses in the partially saturated region

100

90
Thanet sand
80
Lambeth sand
70
Degree of saturation: %

60

50

40

30

20

10

0
1 10 102 103 104 105
Suction: kPa

Fig. 20. Soilwater characteristic curves for Thanet sands and Lambeth sands

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 INFLUENCE OF PARTIAL SOIL SATURATION ON PILE BEHAVIOUR
(Thanet sands and Lambeth sands), equation (13) was used
for the relationship between po and po
in all partially
saturated analyses.
Results
Figure 21 shows the loaddisplacement curve obtained
using the reference set of parameters. Also shown in this
figure is the loadingunloading path measured during the
load test of the pile under consideration. It can be seen that
the predicted and measured loading paths are in reasonable
agreement. Fig. 21 also shows the loaddisplacement curve
predicted from a conventional analysis assuming that the
Thanet sands and Lambeth sands switch from fully saturated
to completely dry behaviour at values of suction equal to
their respective air entry values of suction. The conventional
analysis predicts an ultimate load approximately 20% lower
than that predicted by the partially saturated analysis.
Although the test pile did not reach an ultimate load the
comparison in Fig. 21 indicates that, if it had been loaded
further, it would probably have agreed better with the
partially saturated analysis.
Using the same set of parameters the pile was loaded to
three different loads19 MN (approximately 50% of the
ultimate load predicted by the partially saturated analysis),
26 MN (approximately 65% of the ultimate load) and
32 MN (approximately 80% of the ultimate load)and then
the water level of the lower aquifer was raised, simulating
the rise of the water table after the end of construction in
the real case. Fig. 22 shows the progression of vertical
movements with the rise of the groundwater table predicted
by the partially saturated analyses. It can be seen that the
pile behaviour is very much dependent on the load at which
wetting takes place. For the analysis with the lower load,
upward movement of the pile is predicted, which increases
linearly with the rise of the water table. The analysis with
02
the 26 MN load also predicts heave initially but seems to
have levelled off after the groundwater table has risen by
approximately 8 m. However, the analysis at which wetting
took place at the high load of 32 MN predicted large
settlements, larger than those induced by the pile loading.
Also shown in Fig. 22 is the progression of vertical move-
21
ments predicted by a conventional analysis. The pile was
displaced vertically by the same amount as in the partially
saturated 32 MN analysis (d 30 mm), and subsequently
the groundwater table was raised. It can be seen that the
conventional analysis predicts a response to wetting very
different from that predicted by than the equivalent partially
saturated analysis, giving heave even at a very high load
(L 26:1 MN).
The results of the analyses described above do not in-
dicate any danger to the structure under consideration due to
the rise in the groundwater table for the given working load
of the pile (1335 MN) and the assumed set of material
properties. The results obtained by changing some of the
material properties will now be discussed. In particular the
influence of OCR, r and , which control the position and
shape of the primary yield surface, is investigated.
The influence of OCR is first examined assuming pore
pressure profile 2 (partially saturated analyses only). Note
that OCR is a measure of the distance of the soil stress state
from the yield surface, but is in effective stress terms and
refers to the original fully saturated state. The distance from
the yield surface at the beginning of the pile loading (the
soil is now partially saturated) is given by the yield stress
ratio YSR ( po = p), which is in total stress terms and depends
not only on the initial OCR value but also on the suction
values and the shape of the loading-collapse yield surface.
YSR values are higher for higher OCR values, and therefore
the soil is less likely to collapse upon wetting. Fig. 23 shows
the loaddisplacement curves obtained for values of the
OCR in the Thanet sand and Lambeth sand layers of 6
Table 4. Soil properties for Thanet Sand
f 008  002 kPa1
f 20 ks 0001
Mf 10 v1 1872
g 001
g 057 sair 130 kPa
Mg 146 0014 kPa1
c 1667 m 04
(0) 006 n 50
k 0005 Sro 013
r 025

45

40

35

30
Load: MN

25

20

15

Measured
10 Partially saturated
(OCR = 6)
Conventional
5 (OCR = 6)

0
0 20 40 60 80 100
Settlement: mm

Fig. 21. Loaddisplacement curves

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22 GEORGIADIS, POTTS AND ZDRAVKOVIC
Rise of water table: m
0 25 50 75 100 125 150
0

10

20
Vertical displacement: mm

30

40

Partially saturated
50
(L = 19 MN)
Partially saturated
(L = 26 MN)
60 Partially saturated
(L = 32 MN)
Conventional
70 (L = 261 MN)

80

Fig. 22. Progression of vertical movement with rise of groundwater table

45

40

35

30
Load: MN

25

20

15

Partially saturated
10 (OCR = 6)
Partially saturated
(OCR = 2)
5 Partially saturated
(OCR = 15)

0
0 20 40 60 80 100
Settlement: mm

Fig. 23. Loaddisplacement curves for different OCR values

(reference set of parameters), 2 and 15. It can be seen that,
by reducing the value of OCR, much lower ultimate loads
are predicted. Fig. 24 shows the pile response to the rise of
the groundwater table at a constant load of approximately
19 MN for OCR 1:5 and OCR 6. Whereas for OCR
6 the pile moved upwards, as mentioned before, for the
lower OCR case very large settlements were predicted, more
than 10 times larger than those induced by the pile loading.
Also shown in this figure are the responses of the pile to
wetting for OCR 1:5 and for loads of 135 MN and
202 MN. As can be seen, the response to wetting is highly
dependent on the load at which it takes place. Similar results
were obtained from the OCR 2 analyses. The pile experi-
ences large additional settlements due to wetting only at
high loads, close to or after the shaft resistance has been
exceeded.
Loading and wetting partially saturated analyses were also
performed using different values for the parameters r and ,
which control the compressibility coefficient (seq ) and con-
sequently the isotropic yield stress, po , through equation
(13). Fig. 25 shows the loaddisplacement curve predicted
for r 0:35 and  0:01, compared with the curve pre-
dicted with the reference parameter set. This choice of r and
 gives a smaller increase of yield stress with suction than
the reference values (Fig. 26) and, as expected, predicts a
lower ultimate load of the pile. It is interesting to see that a

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 INFLUENCE OF PARTIAL SOIL SATURATION ON PILE BEHAVIOUR 23
Rise of water table: m
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18
0

50

100
Vertical displacement: mm

150

200

Partially saturated
250 (OCR = 6, L = 19 MN)
Partially saturated
(OCR = 15, L = 135 MN)
300 Partially saturated
(OCR = 15, L = 19 MN)
Partially saturated
350 (OCR = 15, L = 202 MN)

400

Fig. 24. Progression of vertical movement for different OCR values

45

40

35

30
Load: MN

25

20

15 Partially saturated (reference set)

10 Partially saturated
(modified parameters)

0
0 20 40 60 80 100
Settlement: mm

Fig. 25. Loaddisplacement curves for different partially saturated parameters

small change of these two parameters (from 025 to 035 for 600
r and from 002 to 001 for ) affects the predictions so
significantly (the reference set gives an ultimate value 500
approximately 16% higher).
400
Suction: kPa

300
CONCLUSIONS
A generalised constitutive model for partially and fully 200 Reference
saturated soils has been presented in this paper. The model parameters
100 Modified
incorporates a versatile equation for the yield and plastic Air entry suction parameters
potential surfaces, which allows the behaviour of a wide
0
variety of soils to be modelled. Basic features of partially 0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000
saturated soil behaviour such as collapse or swelling upon Mean total stress: kPa
wetting can be reproduced. The model also predicts realistic
values of yield stress at high stresses and a realistic variation Fig. 26. Primary yield surfaces in isotropic stress space for
of shear strength with suction. different partially saturated parameters

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24 GEORGIADIS, POTTS AND ZDRAVKOVIC
The model was used to perform a series of finite element p
o equivalent fully saturated isotropic total yield stress
analyses in order to investigate the behaviour of single piles q triaxial deviatoric stress
in partially saturated soils. Two studies were carried out, a r parameter controlling the partially saturated
study of single piles in uniform soil and a case study of a compressibility coefficient
single pile end-bearing in partially saturated soil. s suction (s ua  uw )
sair air entry value of suction
The first study showed the expected increase of ultimate
seq equivalent suction
pile load with the increase of the groundwater table depth. so yield suction
The partially saturated finite element analyses predicted Sr degree of saturation
larger ultimate load increase than the conventional finite Sro residual degree of saturation
element analyses, which significantly underpredicted the pile ua pore air pressure
capacity for large depths of the groundwater table. Raising uw pore water pressure
the water table was found to be important for the pile v specific volume
behaviour only when the pile tip was in partially saturated YSR yield stress ratio
soil. In this case the collapse experienced by the soil under , f , g yield function and plastic potential parameters
the tip led to excessive pile settlements. The conventional c characteristic stress ratio
 parameter controlling the partially saturated
analyses could not reproduce this behaviour. compressibility coefficient
The second study confirmed most of the above observa- f yield function and plastic potential constant
tions. In addition, it was shown that the pile response to a w unit weight of water
rising groundwater table depends strongly on the load at vmax maximum potential change of specific volume due
which the rise takes place. At low pile loads only heave was to wetting
predicted, whereas at high loads excessive settlements oc- es elastic shear strains
curred. The OCR of the soil was found to influence the pile ev elastic volumetric strains
behaviour greatly. The finite element predictions were also pv plastic volumetric strains
found to be sensitive to the choice of the partially saturated  generalised normalised stress ratio
Lodes angle
model parameters r and . The results of the finite element
k compressibility coefficient along constant suction
analyses of the pile loading were compared with the meas- elastic paths
ured response during a pile load test. The partially saturated ks compressibility coefficient along constant mean
analysis was in good agreement with the field measurements, total stress elastic paths
whereas the conventional analysis appeared to underpredict (0) fully saturated compressibility coefficient
the pile capacity. (seq ) compressibility coefficient along constant suction
elastoplastic paths
s compressibility coefficient along constant mean
total stress elastoplastic paths
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS , f , g yield function and plastic potential parameters
The authors would like to acknowledge Dr M. Coop for
Poissons ratio
his assistance and discussions on issues presented in this
total stress
paper. The first author acknowledges gratefully the financial
9 effective stress
support received by the Greek State Scholarships Founda-
x ,
y ,
z direct stresses
tion. xy , xz , yz shear stresses
j9 angle of shearing resistance
 Bishops effective stress parameter
 fitting parameter for soil-water characteristic curve
NOTATION equation
d vertical pile displacement
C constant used in the expression defining J 2f
D depth of ground water table
E Youngs modulus REFERENCES
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