Energy pile displacements due to cyclic thermal loading at different mechanical load levels

Abstract The effect of the load level on long-term thermally induced pile displacements and the impact of cyclic thermal loads on the bearing capacity of energy piles are investigated via a full-scale in situ test in Delft, The Netherlands. The pile was loaded to a specific target of 0, 30, 40, or 60% of its calculated ultimate bearing capacity. At the end of each loading step, up to ten cooling–natural heating cycles were applied. The pile behavior during monotonic cooling and cyclic cooling–natural heating in terms of the displacement along the pile is reported, with a focus on permanent displacements. During monotonic (pile/ground) cooling, a settlement of the pile head and an uplift of the pile segment near the pile tip were observed in all four tests. In addition, under higher mechanical load, the pile head displacement was larger while the uplift was lower due to the imposed mechanical load. During cyclic thermal load, under zero mechanical load, pile head displacement was fully reversible while permanent uplift of the lowest pile segment was observed and attributed mainly to the permanent dragdown of the surrounding soil. Under moderate mechanical loads (30 and 40%), thermal cycles induced an irreversible pile head settlement, which stabilized with an increasing number of cycles. In addition, a permanent pile settlement along the pile was observed at the end of these tests. Under high mechanical load (60%), the irreversible settlement along the pile continued to increase with only a slight reduction in rate, being higher compared to moderate mechanical loads. In this test, a normalized pile head settlement of 0.124% was observed after ten thermal cycles. The permanent settlement of the pile under thermo-mechanical loads was mainly attributed to the contraction of sand beneath the pile tip and thermal creep at the soil–structure interface. The pile bearing capacity was observed to increase after thermo-mechanical tests, mainly due to the residual/plastic pile head displacement, which in turn densified sand leading to an increase in tip resistance.