An analytical expression for the nonlinear evaluation of the soil-pile interaction

Pile foundations are commonly used for many types of structures and vertical and/or lateral loading design considerations are very important because the performance of the piles significantly influences the integrity of the structures supported by them. Current design methods of pile foundations often involve an estimation of a constant stiffness as an input, to model the soil-foundation interaction. Nevertheless, pile lateral response is nonlinear. It is therefore desirable to analyze the behavior of the foundation considering this nonlinearity. In the paper an analytical expression to predict the nonlinear behavior of a pile foundation is presented. To validate this closed form solution, computed results were compared with measures derived from loading tests, and it has been shown, that this solution can be used successfully for a provision of the nonlinear response of a soil-pile system.