Negative Skin Friction in Piles

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 General
Ever since pile foundations were used as foundations for buildings and
structures, geotechnical engineers had to face the problem of pile being dragged down
by settling soils. Instead of positive shaft friction, negative skin friction occurs along the
pile shaft for piles installed in settling soils and would induce additional vertical load and
settlement on the pile. In severe conditions, it may lead to structural failure of the pile.
The Figure 1 shows that when the soil settlement adjacent to the pile is larger than the
pile settlement at the same elevation, negative skin friction would occur. At an elevation
where the pile and the soil settlements are the same, there would be no load transfer and
this elevation is termed as neutral plane. Beneath the neutral plane, there would be the
usual positive skin friction as the pile settles more than the adjacent soil below this
elevation

Fig 1: Negative skin friction in piles

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One common scenario of pile failure due to negative skin friction is lightly loaded short piles
supporting drains or other light structures in soft clay, see Figure 2. In such cases, the pile
may have little resistance left after deduction of negative skin friction from the pile bearing
capacity.

Another scenario that negative skin friction would occur involves cases with piles supporting
bridge abutments in soft soils. As the soft soil beneath the abutment would settle considerably
due to new abutment fill, the settling soils would drag the abutment piles down resulting in
negative skin friction on the piles. Other possible scenarios that negative skin friction would
occur include drawdown of water table due to adjacent soil excavation, under-consolidating
soils, and settlement of soils under newly placed fills at a site.

Fig. 2: Low capacity piles may have little resistance left after deducting Negative Skin
Friction

Although geotechnical engineers had faced the problem of negative skin friction on piles for
a long time, the mechanism of negative skin friction is still not well understood. Design codes
and guides in various countries often provide differing and sometimes conflicting
recommendations on the design of piles subject to negative skin friction. In this report the
technique of centrifuge modelling is first described and the results of centrifuge model tests
on single piles and pile groups are then presented. As piles experiencing negative skin
friction are always subjected to structural loads or at least the permanent building loads under
working condition, the test results on piles subjected to simultaneous negative skin friction
and working load are also evaluated.

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CHAPTER 2

SCENARIOS OF NEGATIVE SKIN FRICTION

Soil Settlement:-

In this section, the results of a centrifuge model test on an end bearing pile subject to soil
settlement caused by different situations are presented. This centrifuge model test involves
multiple sequential stages, soil self-weight consolidation, in- flight installation of pile, soil re-
consolidation after pile installation, underground water drawdown, application of dead load,
and in-flight application of surcharge. The three typical causes of soil settlement, namely re-
consolidation of remoulded clay after pile driving, underground water drawdown as well as
surcharge loading have been incorporated in the model test with application of load at
selected stages.

Fig.3 Increase of pile axial load during soil reconsolidation (left portion) and water
drawdown (right portion) {Ref: Shen et al.2006}

The development of incremental axial loads at various elevations along the pile shaft after
pile installation is presented in the left portion of Figure 3. It can be seen that the pile axial
load keeps on increasing after pile installation as the soil reconsolidates. The increase in

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negative skin friction along the pile shaft is shown in Figure 4 at selected times after pile
installation. A maximum incremental negative skin friction of 620 kN is observed to develop
near the pile tip at the end of soil re-consolidation. The neutral plane persists at the pile tip.
The traditional α and β methods are used to back analyse the negative skin friction along the
pile shaft at the end of reconsolidation. The derived α and β values are 0.95 and 0.24,
respectively. It should be noted that near the neutral plane, negative skin friction appears to
be not fully mobilized since the soil settlement near the neutral plane is expected to be much
smaller. As such, both the α and β methods tend to over-predict the maximum negative skin
friction.

Fig.4 Pile load distribution curves during soil reconsolidation {Ref: Shen et al.2006}

The development of negative skin friction during water drawdown stage is shown in the right
portion of Figure 3. It is interesting to note that negative skin friction is observed to reduce
abruptly upon the first instant of water drawdown and then slowly picks up again after about
4 days. This is against common wisdom that ground water drawdown would increase the

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vertical effective stress in the soil which would incur further soil settlement and drag the pile
down further. By examining the soil settlement plot shown in Figure 5, the soil is noted to
settle during the soil re-consolidation stage after pile installation. Upon water drawdown, an
appreciable amount of soil heave in the magnitude of about 2 mm is observed accompanying
the process of water lowering, as illustrated in Figure 5. It is evident that this temporary
heave of the soil results in the partial relief of negative skin friction on the pile caused by the
earlier soil reconsolidation.

Fig.5 Soil settlement during soil reconsolidation (left portion) and water drawdown
(right portion) {Ref: Shen et al.2006}

After the soil consolidation is completed, the vertical hydraulic actuator is activated to move
down to engage the lower flange of the connector so as to apply additional 700 kN permanent
dead load on the pile head. A number of existing field tests reveal that the application of dead
load would reverse the negative skin friction developed prior to the application of the load
such that the applied load is resisted by the reversed negative skin friction and never reaches
the neutral plane of the pile (Fellenius 1972; Bozozuk 1981). However, contrary to what was
observed by the above mentioned case histories, quite a large portion of the applied load is
transferred to the neutral plane, contributing to the maximum axial load of on the pile as
shown in Figure 6 (2nd curve from left) with negative skin friction still prevails along the pile

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shaft. verified by examining the load distribution along the pile shaft shown in Figure 6. It
can be seen that the load along the pile shaft increases substantially along the entire length of
pile shaft. By assuming that all this load increment occurs under undrained condition and the
effective stresses in the soil remain the same as that prior to the application of the surcharge,
a β value of 0.24 appear to fit the test data reasonably well, thus supporting the above
postulation.

Fig.6 Pile load transfer curves along an end bearing {Ref: Shen et al.2006}

2.1 Pile subject to simultaneous negative skin friction and vertical load

Piles are installed to support superstructure loads in the field and they are normally subject to
axial loads and negative skin friction concurrently. The mechanism and performance of a pile
subject to simultaneous negative skin friction and vertical load is reported in detail in Leung
et al. (2004). The leftmost curve in Figure 7 shows that at the end of self- weight re-
consolidation, the magnitude of negative skin friction is about 780 kN. After the clay has
completely reconsolidated, an axial load of 4750 kN has gradually been applied to the pile.

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Negative Skin Friction in Piles

Fig.7 Performance of Pile subjected to simultaneous Negative skin friction and vertical
load {Ref: after Leung et al.2004}

Figure 7 reveals that as the axial load increases, the ‘locked- in’ negative skin friction of 780
kN has gradually been overcome and the neutral plane gradually shifts upwards along the pile
shaft. When the axial load reaches 2400 kN, which is about 3 times that of negative skin
friction developed on the pile prior to the application of axial load, the ‘locked-in’ negative
skin friction is completely overcome. Upon further loading, the pile shaft moves further
downwards relative to the surrounding soil and the shaft resistance acts upwards relative to
the pile and thus the load transfer at the pile-soil interface becomes positive.
After the relatively small magnitude of excess pore pressure generated during axial loading
has fully dissipated, sand surcharge is placed in-flight to induce consolidation settlement of
the clay. The right hand curves in Figure 7 show that upon application of surcharge, negative
skin friction again develops along the upper pile shaft and increases with time as the clay
consolidates. The neutral plane is observed to shift gradually downwards along the pile and
finally stabilizes at about 12 m below the original ground surface. This observation is
contrary to that observed for the case of pile subject to negative skin friction only in which
the elevation of the neutral plane rapidly reaches its final position of around 90% depth of
clay layer upon a relatively small magnitude of soil consolidation settlement.

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2.2 MAGNITUDE OF NEGATIVE SKIN FRICTION

Johannessen and Bjerrum (1965) showed that negative skin friction is proportional to the
effective overburden stress in the soil surrounding the pile. This was later confirmed by
Bjerrum et al. 1969) and Bozozuk 1972). The constant of proportionality is called beta-
coefficient, β, and it is a function of the earth pressure coefficient in the soil Ks, times the soil
friction, tan ϕ', times the ratio of the wall friction, M = tan δ'/tan ϕ'. (Bozozuk, 1972). Thus,
the negative skin friction, qn, follows the following relation.

q n = β σ'v = M Ks tan ϕ'

Bjerrum et al. (1969) found that the beta-coefficient in soft silty clay ranged between 0.2 and
0.3. Bjerin (1977) reported that in a clay of medium to firm consistency the beta-coefficient
ranged between 0.20 and 0.25. Zeevaert (1959; 1972) presented a method of calculating the
negative skin friction based on the reduction of the effective overburden stress caused by the
soil "hanging" on the pile. DeBeer (1966) developed design charts based on Zeevaert's
method.

Axial pile-soil interaction is not simple. It is necessary to discuss it in some detail, as

follows.

The above defined separation of the terms for shear stress along a pile on negative, or
positive, skin friction as different from negative, or positive, shaft resistance is justified by
the different behavior of a pile under different types of axial loading. In fact, as illustrated in
Fig. 1, a pile can be loaded axially in six different ways. Fig. 1 shows the upper portion of six
piles marked A through F. The pile toes are at the elevation of a plane Z-Z. Pile A, or Mode
A, indicates the behavior mode of a pile subjected to a push load applied at the pile head.
The result is a downward deformation of the soil layers, as shown to the left of the pile, and
an upward directed shaft resistance. As also indicated, the pile is in compression, which
results, theoretically, in a Poisson's ratio effect, the pile diameter increases, and the result is
that the earth pressure coefficient Ks, increases. Furthermore, the positive shaft resistance
transfers load from the pile to the soil, and because of this, the effective overburden stress
increases in the soil. Both the Poisson's ratio effect and the increase of effective overburden
stress will have the result of increasing the shaft resistance. Mode B indicates a pile subjected
to a pull load applied at the pile head. The pull load results in an upward deformation of the
soil layers and a negative shaft resistance. This mode is characterized by a decrease of lateral

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pressure and a decrease of effective stress. Mode B, the uplift testing mode, is often thought
representative for a drag load mode. However, while the resistance appears in the negative
direction and the effective overburden stress is reducing, in contrast to the pile in the drag
load mode, Mode C, Pile B is in tension not compression. Therefore, an attempt to predict
the drag load from static uplift testing might underestimate the drag load.

Were one to run an uplift test to study the magnitude of drag load, the arrangement should be
as shown in Mode D, where the pull load is applied at the pile toe and, therefore, all three
aspects are similar to the drag load mode. Mode E indicates a push test with the load applied
to the pile toe. The purpose of such a test would be to simulate the behaviour mode of Pile F,
which is affected by swelling soil above Plane Z-Z.

To complete the modes of axial pile-soil interaction, a seventh mode, that of a pile subjected
to a torque, could have been shown. However, this mode is of no practical significance.

2.3 Distribution of load in pile and neutral plane

There must always be equilibrium between the sum of the dead load applied to the pile head
and the drag load, and the sum of the positive shaft resistance and the toe resistance. The
depth where the shear stress along the pile changes over from negative skin friction into
positive shaft resistance is called the neutral plane. This plane is where there is no relative
displacement between the pile and the soil.

Provided the shear stress along the pile does not diminish with depth, the neutral plane lies
below the mid-point of a pile. If the soil below the neutral plane is strong, the neutral plane
lies near the pile toe. The extreme case is for a pile on rock, where the location of the neutral
plane is at the bedrock elevation. For a pile with embedment length D floating in a
homogeneous soil with linearly increasing shear resistance, the neutral point lies about the
lower third point (assuming the negative skin friction is equal to the positive shaft resistance,
that the toe resistance is zero, and that there is no load applied to the pile head). If the soil
strength increases with depth, for instance, due to a transition from soft compressible soil to a
dense competent soil, and if a toe resistance is present, the neutral plane moves deeper into
the soil. If a dead load is applied to the pile head, the neutral plane moves up. Fig. 2
illustrates the distribution of load in a pile subjected to a service load, Qd, and installed in a
relatively homogeneous soil deposit, where the shear stress along the pile induced by a
relative displacement is a function of the effective overburden stress. It is assumed that any

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Negative Skin Friction in Piles

excess pore pressure in the soil has dissipated and the pore pressure is hydrostatically
distributed. For reasons of simplicity, the shear stress along the pile is assumed to be
independent of the direction of the displacement, i.e., the negative skin friction, qn, is equal
to the unit positive shaft resistance, rs. Assume, also, that a toe resistance, Rt, is available.
The drag load, Qn, is the sum of the negative skin friction along the pile, and the total shaft
resistance Rs, is the sum of the unit shaft resistance. These conditions determine the location
of the neutral plane as shown in the diagram.

2.4 Settlement of a pile

The neutral plane is, as mentioned, the location where there is no relative displacement
between the pile and the soil. Consequently, whatever the settlement in the soil is as to
magnitude and distribution, the settlement of the pile head is equal to the settlement of the
neutral plane plus the compression of the pile caused by the applied dead load plus the drag
load.

The left hand side diagram in Fig. 3 illustrates how the location of the neutral plane for the
pile in Fig. 2 changes with a variation of the load applied to the pile head. Notice also how
the magnitude of the drag load changes as the service load, Qd, increases. Assume that the
distribution of settlement in the soil around the pile is known and follows the diagram on the
right hand side in Fig. 3. As illustrated in the diagram for the case of the middle service load,
by drawing a horizontal line from the neutral plane to intersection with the settlement curve,
the settlement of the pile at the neutral plane can be determined. The settlement of the pile
head is this settlement value plus the compression of the pile under the load. The
construction is made both for a small settlement that reduces quickly with depth and for a
large settlement. If the settlement is small, it is possible that the toe movement is not large
enough to mobilize the full toe resistance. In such a case, the neutral plane moves to a high
location as determined by the particular equilibrium condition.

For a driven pile, the toe movement necessary to mobilize the toe resistance is about 1 % to 2
% of the pile-toe diameter. For bored piles, the movement is larger. However, in cases
where the toe movement is too small for the full toe resistance to be mobilized, the settlement
is normally not an issue.

Blanchet et al. (19870) reported measurements on a group of 27 shaft bearing piles

supporting a bridge pier. The soil consisted of a firm silty clay and the pile embedment depth

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was 15 metre. The piles were of wood, had an average diameter of 280 mm, and were
installed at a 5 diameter centre-to-centre spacing. During 260 days of observation, 40 mm
settlement occurred in the soil outside the pile group. The pile cap settled 22 mm during the
same time. Settlement observations with depth are given in Fig. 4 and show that a neutral
plane developed at a depth of about 12 metre. The observations confirm the qualitative
behaviour outlined in the foregoing

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Negative Skin Friction in Piles

CHAPTER 3

DESIGN OF PILES CONSIDERING NEGATIVE SKIN

FRICTION

3.1 Fundamentals:-

The design principle outlined in the following is essentially the same for all piles,
whether single or in a group, whether installed in a soil that settles significantly under the
influence of a surcharge, groundwater lowering, or other cause, or installed in a soil that does
not experience appreciable settlement, and whether they are essentially toe bearing, shaft
bearing, or both toe and shaft bearing.

To understand the design principle, it is important to realize that the live load and the drag
load do not combine and that two separate loading cases must be considered dead load plus
drag load, but no live load and dead load and live load, but no drag load. Furthermore, a
rigid, high capacity pile will experience a large drag load, but small settlement, whereas a less
rigid smaller capacity pile will experience a smaller drag load, but larger settlement.
Moreover, the drag load is caused by settlement or rather relative displacement, but the drag
load does not generate settlement, and no pile will settle more than the ground surface nearest
the pile, indeed no more than the soil settlement at the location of the neutral plane.

The design has to consider three aspects separately: The structural strength of the pile, the
settlement, and the geotechnical capacity (the bearing capacity

3.1.1 Neutral Plane

As a first step in the design, the neutral plane must be determined. The neutral plane is
located where the negative skin friction changes over to positive shaft resistance (the point of
equilibrium). Its location is determined by the requirement that the sum of the applied dead
load plus the drag load is in equilibrium with the sum of the positive shaft resistance and the
toe resistance of the pile. It can be found at the intersection of two load distribution curves
construed as follows. First, as illustrated in Fig. 2, above, a load distribution curve (forcing
load curve) is drawn from the pile head and down with the load value starting with the
applied dead load and increasing with the load due to negative skin friction taken as acting
along the entire length of pile.
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Negative Skin Friction in Piles

The determination of the load distribution in a pile is subject to large uncertainty. To

correctly determine the distribution requires reliable information on the soil strength
parameters. The theoretical analysis using the above mentioned method of beta-coefficient
on the effective overburden stress is preferred over any total stress method. The analysis
should be supplemented with information from static cone penetrometer tests. For driven
piles, the analysis should be combined with results from analysis of dynamic monitoring data
aimed toward the calculation the distribution of resistance along the pile.

3.1.2 Structural Strength

The structural capacity is the structural strength of the pile material at the neutral
plane for the combination of dead load plus drag load - live load is not be included. (At or
below the pile cap, the structural strength of the embedded pile is determined as a short
column subjected to dead load plus live load, but drag load is not included).

At the neutral plane, the pile is confined and it is suggested that the limiting value of
maximum combined load be determined by applying a safety factor of 1.5 on the pile
material strength (steel yield and/or concrete 28-day strength and long term crushing strength
of wood).

It should be realized that if both the negative skin friction and the positive shaft resistance as
well as the toe resistance values are determined assuming soil strength values "erring" on the
strong side, the calculated maximum load in the pile will be on the conservative side (and the
neutral plane located deep down in to the soil).

A reduction of the dead load on the pile will result in a lowering of the location of the neutral
plane, but have proportionally smaller effect on the magnitude of the maximum load in the
pile.

3.2 Special Considerations

All piles will be subjected to negative skin friction and experience drag load. However,
unless the structural strength of the pile is exceeded, piles where the soil settlement is small
will not constitute a problem. Where the settlement is large, the maximum drag load induced
in a straight and vertical pile is not going to be significantly different to the drag load where
the settlement is small. However, large settlement will cause an inclined pile to bend. For
this reason, it is advisable to avoid inclined piles in the foundation, or, at least, to limit the

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inclination of the piles to values which can follow the settlement without excessive bending
being induced in the piles.

Piles which are bent, doglegged or damaged during the installation will have a reduced ability
to support the service load in a down drag condition. Therefore, the design according to the
above approach postulates that the pile installation is subjected to stringent quality control
directed toward ensuring that the installation is sound and that bending, cracking, and local
buckling does not occur.

3.3 Means for Reducing Negative Skin Friction

When the design calculations indicate that the pile settlement could be excessive, solutions
such as increasing the pile length or decreasing the pile diameter, could improve the situation.
When the calculations indicate that the pile structural capacity is insufficient, solutions such
as increasing the pile section, or increasing the strength of the pile material could improve the
situation. When such methods are not practical or economical, the negative skin friction can
be reduced by the application of bituminous coating or other viscous coatings to the pile
surfaces before the installation (Fellenius, 1975; 1979, and Clemente, 1981). For cast-in-
place piles, floating sleeves have been used successfully.

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Negative Skin Friction in Piles

CHAPTER 4

CONCLUSION
For piles subject to simultaneous negative skin friction and vertical load, a large applied
vertical load can overcome the locked-in negative skin friction on a pile provided there is no
further soil settlement under working condition. Hence negative skin friction needs not be
considered in such case. However, it should be noted that negative skin friction will
redevelop as long as there will be soil settlement under working condition. Hence the key is
that the pile designers must make appropriate judgement on the ongoing soil settlement under
pile working situations in considering negative skin friction on pile. Large pile groups (pile
number larger than 5) can be beneficial in the reduction of negative skin friction. However,
preliminary studies reveal that the amount of reduction decreases with increasing soil
settlement. In addition, the magnitude of negative skin friction along corner piles of a large
pile group is considerably larger than that of the inner piles due to inner piles shielded from
large soil settlement. The distribution of loads among piles in a large pile group and the
reduction of negative skin friction of a large pile group against magnitude of soil settlement
certainly deserve further studies

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REFERENCES
[1]Avgherinos, P.J. and Schofield, A.N. (1969). “Drawdown Failures of Centrifuged
Models”, Proc 7th International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering,
Mexico City, Vol. 2, 497–505.

[2] Bolton, M.D., Gui, M.W. and Phillips, R. (1993). “Review of Miniature Soil Probes for
Model Tests”, Proc 13th Southeast Asian Geotechnical Conference, Singapore, 85–90

[3]Bozozuk, M. (1981). “Bearing Capacity of Pile Preloaded by Downdrag”, Proc. 10th

International Conference of Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, Vol. 2, 631~636.

[4] Craig, W.H. (1995). “Geotechnical Centrifuge: Past Present and Future”, in Geotechnical
Centrifuge Technology, Chapter 1, edited by R.N. Taylor, Blackie Academic and
Professional, London, 1–18.

[4]Fellenius, B.H. (1972). “Downdrag on Piles in Clay Due to Negative Skin Friction”,
Canadian Geotechnical Journal, Vol. 9, No. 4, 323~327.

[5]Fellenius, B.H. (1984). Negative Skin Friction and Settlement of Piles”, Proc. 2nd
International Seminar on Pile Foundations, Nanyang Technological Institute, Singapore, p.

[5]12. Inoue, Y., Tamaoki, K. and Ogai, T. (1977). “Settlement of Building Due to Pile
Downdrag”, Proc 9th International Conference of Soil Mechanics and Foundation
Engineering, Tokyo, Japan, Vol. 1, 561~564.

[6] Kimura, T. (1998). “Development of Geotechnical Centrifuges in Japan”, Proc.

International Conference Centrifuge 98, Tokyo, Vol. 2, 945–954.

[7]Ko, H.Y. (1988). “Summary of the State-of-the-Art in Centrifuge Model Testing”, in

Centrifuges in Soil Mechanics, Edited by W.H. Craig, R.G. James and A.N. Schofield,

[8]Balkema. Kog, Y.C. (1987). “A Case Study of Downdrag and Axial Load on Timber Piles
in Layered Soil”, Proc. 5th Inter- national Geotechnical Seminar on Case Histories in Soft
Clay, Nanyang Technological Institute, Singapore, 269~276.

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