Study of the behavior of piles under lateral loading in clay using the p-y curve method.

Abstract

Investigations of piles subjected to axial and lateral loads have resulted in the development of specialized software for modeling pile behavior to estimate possible displacements and effects on the structure. However, these softwares have a high cost that makes them inaccessible to university students or young civil engineers. Considering this, the objective of the research is to present the methodology used for the analysis of piles subjected to axial-lateral loads, with the possibility of being implemented in programs such as Microsoft Excel or Matlab programming languages.  The methodology is conceptualized in different texts that deal in depth with the subject of lateral loads in piles, so some relevant aspects are presented together with the governing equations that must be applied by means of the finite difference method. The results generated from the above methodology were compared between the Matlab programming language and the Microsoft Excel program, and subsequently with the results of a centrifugal test published in a doctoral thesis. Within the different characteristics of each technique used, favorable results were obtained in the curves obtained. The purpose of this article is to provide a reference source for the analysis and calculation of lateral loads, which play an important role in the design of civil buildings, coastal and oceanic structures.