Effect of bedrock depth on the lateral behavior of monopiles

Abstract

This paper presents the effect of bedrock depth on the lateral behavior of monopiles in terms of load-displacement curve at pile head, displacement and moment along the pile. Finite difference analysis program, FLAC3D, was adopted to create a 1-m-diameter monopile embedded into sands. The bedrock depth was varied from 5 m to 30 m from ground surface. In this study, it was observed that the lateral behavior of monopile was significantly affected when the bed was as shallow as 5 m deep. The differences were negligible for other cases with depth greater than 10 m. © 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.