Expanded superposition method for impedance functions of inclined-pile groups

Abstract

This paper presents a superposition method expanded for computing impedance functions (IFs) of inclined‐pile groups. Closed‐form solutions for obtaining horizontal, vertical, and rocking IFs, estimated by using pile‐to‐pile interaction factors, are proposed. IFs of solitary inclined piles, crossed IFs, and explicit incorporation of compatibility conditions for pile‐head movements are also appropriately taken into consideration. All of these factors should be known in advance and will be computed and shown for the most relevant cases. The accuracy of the proposed closed‐form solutions is verified for 2 × 2 and 3 × 3 square inclined‐pile groups embedded in an isotropic viscoelastic homogeneous half‐space soil medium, with hysteretic damping. The pile‐to‐pile interaction factors are computed by means of a three‐dimensional time‐harmonic boundary elements–finite elements coupling formulation. The results indicate that the IFs obtained from the proposed method are in good agreement with those obtained from the coupling formulation. Furthermore, crossed vertical‐rocking IFs of solitary piles need to be appropriately considered for obtaining rocking IFs when the number of piles is small.