AN EXACT DISPLACEMENT BASED FINITE ELEMENT MODEL FOR AXIALLY LOADED PILE IN ELASTO-PLASTIC SOIL

Abstract

A displacement based finite element method for analyzing axially loaded pile embedded in
finite depth of elasto-plastic soil is presented. The investigation herein is conducted on the condition of shape
function by which exact value may be reproduced at the nodal point regarding to a few number of element.
The examined shape functions which satisfy the homogeneous governing equations in elastic and plastic soil
are introduced to obtain the so-celled exact element stiffness matrix via total potential energy principle.
Numerical examples of elasto-static pile, embedded in elasto-plastic Winkler foundation illustrates the
accuracy of proposed element compare with conventional finite element shape functions. Axial force and
displacement solutions show very good agreement with data from the available literature. Then the proposed
shape functions are also used to conduct free vibration analysis of axially loaded pile embedded in elastic
soil. The results from finite element modal analysis show fairly accurate compare with analytical solutions.