PROJECT REPORT

SUBMITTED TO:
SIR.MUHAMMAD ARSHAD

SUBMITTED BY:
AQIB HUSSAIN

(2012-GE-03)

BURHAN ALI

(2012-GE-16)

ASAD YOUSAD

(2012-GE-18)

MUHAMMAD AWASIS

(2012-GE-21)

Improving the performance of piles by ring arm arrangement and small

diameter piles

Introduction
The purpose of any foundation is to transmit loads to the ground without excessive settlement. A
piled foundation is used mainly where it is necessary to distribute the load to an underlying weak
soil layer or to tie the load to firm strata through a layer of compressible material or water. In a
typical case the decision to use piling would be made if the site investigation and/or design
calculation showed that any other type of foundation will not be sufficient.
The main components of the foundation are the pile cap and the piles. Piles are long and slender
members which transfer the load to deeper soil or rock of high bearing capacity avoiding shallow
soil of low bearing capacity the main types of materials used for piles are Wood, steel and concrete.
Piles made from these materials are driven, drilled or jacked into the ground and connected to pile
caps. Depending upon type of soil, pile material and load transmitting characteristic piles are
classified accordingly.
To improve the pile capacity it is necessary to change the properties of the near surface layers of
soil or to change the pile geometry.
The technique we are applying is using a monopile along with four small diameter pile in ring arm
arrangement to increase the bearing capacity of the pile thus reducing the settlement.

Literature review
Dhrkop and Grabe (2008) investigated the effectiveness of different shapes of wings attached
to the monopile through small scale tests in sand. They found that different shapes of wings can
increase the ultimate lateral load-carrying capacity of the conventional monopile by up to 60%.
Peng et al. (2011) performed small scale tests on a regular monopile and three winged model piles
with different wing lengths. They used dry sandy soil with a relative density value of
approximately 71.7%, and applied 10000 load cycles in each test in the lateral direction. The results
show that wings reduce the lateral displacement by at least 50% provided they are at least half the
length of the regular pile.
Bienen et al. (2012): Increasing the effective pile cross-section by attaching wings close to the
pile head is shown to reduce pile head deflections by approximately 50%, when compared with a
regular monopile without wings for the same load level.
Nasr (2014) investigated the effect of wings on the performance of laterally loaded piles by running
small scale model tests and numerical simulations using finite element analysis. Results reveal that
there is a significant increase in lateral resistance of the piles after mounting the wings close to the
pile head.

When triangular wings were attached to the pilehead, the ultimate lateral load-carrying capacity of
the pile increased by about 64%, and when it rectangular wings were used, the capacity was
increased by 86%. At the same time, the lateral head deflection decreased by about 37% and 70%
respectively. Therefore, using rectangular fins was found more effective in improving the lateral
behaviour of piles.
Small diameter piles (SDPs) are commonly known as micropiles have been used for structural
support and less frequently for in-situ reinforcement. Structural support includes new foundations
(Juran et al., 1999; Alsaleh and Shahrour, 2009), underpinning of existing foundations (Ousta and
Shahrour, 2001), seismic retrofitting applications (Russo, 2004; Sadek and Shahrour, 2004) and
earth retention (Misra et al., 2004; Shields, 2007). Under this category the micropiles directly
support the applied loading and/or behave as an integral part of the main foundation system.
Unnikrishnan and Sachin (2009) are of the opinion that the formation of arches of soil grains
between the spacing of the SDPs may be the reason for the reduction in the settlement and a
consequent increase in the ultimate load carrying capacity of the sand deposit.

Experimental study of ring arm arrangement:

A diagram of the ring-arm arrangement (RA-arrangement) is shown in Figure, which consists of a
central split-able ring and four steel arms, each one containing one smaller diameter ring (sleeve
ring) at their far end. The two halves of the central ring were clamped through their side collars,
making a circular ring around the monopile.
The central split-able ring (to hold the monopile), and the four arms with the smaller diameter
sleeve rings containing the SDPs, will be collectively termed as the RA-arrangement.

RA-arrangement containing the monopile and small diameter piles

RA-arrangement installation in sand bed

After the preparation of the sand bed and the installation of the monopile, the central split-able
ring containing the four arms was clamped around the monopile using the four M4 nut-bolts, two
of which were used on the either side collar of the central ring. The height of the central ring was
adjusted in such a way that the arms were just above the finished sand surface level in the sand
tank. In the next step, the SDPs were pushed into the sand bed through the smaller rings.

First of all ring arm arrangement will be at 900.then we will rotate it to 450 and apply
the load to test the result. Then we will check the results at 15 0 as shown in figure
below.