Centrifuge Modelling of the Load-Deflection Response of Single Piles in Sand Under One-Way Cyclic Lateral Loads

This article aims to present the experimental results of one-way cyclic lateral loading tests on centrifuged small-scale models of piles in sand, carried out in the IFSTTAR centrifuge, center of Nantes (France). After a literature review, the pile models, their instrumentation, the experimental devices, as well as the construction of the sand mass were described. Cyclic P-Y lateral reaction curves were derived and the effect of the number of cycles, the soil density, the pile/soil interface roughness, as well as the pile/soil stiffness ratio on their parameters were analyzed. The experimental evolution of the pile top deflection as well as the bending moment along the pile were compared to the usual formulations of the cyclic degradation law.