Effects of varying ground water levels on laterally loaded bored piles

As Australia's population continues to grow so will the demand for affordable and liveable space. As liveable space becomes scarce the traditional construction standards will be pushed to the limits with high rise structures becoming more complex. As deep foundation design starts to get pushed to its limits, it is going to be important to understand the effects that ground water will have on the design and construction of such piles. To further investigate and analyse the effects of ground water on the axial and lateral bearing capacity of bored piles, a simulation was created using the Strand7 software package. The adopted soil properties for both drained (no ground water) and undrained soil (ground water present) conditions were determined through the literature review with the cohesion strength of the clay soils and the friction angle of the granular soils adjusted to help investigate the effects of ground water. When considering the undrained conditions of the clay soil two sce­narios were adopted, the first scenario was that the cohesion strength was not adjusted when the soil became undrained. The second scenario was that the cohesion strength was adjusted when the soil became undrained. Similarly when considering the undrained conditions of the granular soil two scenarios were adopted, the first scenario was that the friction angle was reduced to zero when the soil be­ came undrained. The second scenario was that the friction angle was halved when the soil became undrained. From the results it was found that the presence of ground water had a greater impact on granular soils than clay soils