Effects of cyclic vertical loading on bearing and pullout capacities of piles with continuous helix wing

Laboratory and field tests were conducted to investigate the bearing and pullout capacities of steel piles with a continuous helix wing during cyclic loading. Both continuous helix and straight-sided piles were subjected to monotonic compressive, monotonic tensile, and cyclic reversal loading in the laboratory, while only the continuous helix pile was tested in the field. Both the laboratory and the field tests showed that the bearing and pullout capacities of the continuous helix pile under cyclic reversal loading decreased to approximately 60–80% of those of the pile under monotonic loading, with a larger reduction seen in the laboratory tests. The decrease in resistance was mainly due to the reduction in shaft friction, which was likely to be the result of soil disturbance and loosening around the pile with cyclic loading. The laboratory tests also showed that the tip resistance of the straight-sided pile under cyclic reversal loading was reduced, similarly due to the loosening of the soil, particularly underneath the pile tip. The tip resistance of the continuous helix pile, in contrast, did not degrade with cyclic loading, owing to the presence of the wing immediately above the pile tip that inhibited the loosening of the soil. These findings were supported by similar field test observations.