Influence of pile shape and pile interaction on the crushable behavior of granular materials around driven piles: DEM analyses

This study presents an analysis and a visualization of the effect that the pile shape has on the penetration resistance of driven piles in crushable granular materials. Discrete Element Method (DEM) simulations of single piles with different shapes (flat tip, open pile, triangular tip) being driven into a previously compacted uniform crushable soil are presented. The results from the DEM simulations showed that the shape of the driven piles has a significant influence on the development of penetration resistance and particle crushing. This study also presents the penetration resistance and particle crushing results when a second flat tip pile was driven in a region near a pre-existing single flat tip pile. It was found that considerable high crushing was induced by the second pile. The second pile induced crushing not only on the particles surrounding itself but also on the particles surrounding the pre-existing pile, showing that particle crushing around a driven pile not only takes place when the pre-existing pile is being driven, but it also occurs during the installation of a second pile, in a region closely located to the first one.