Determination of p-y curves for offshore piles based on in-situ soil investigations

Abstract

Offshore piles are subjected to complex loads with considerable lateral component. The pile-soil response to lateral loads can be described with the p-y method. For a given depth the load–deflection relationship is built to simulate the surrounding soil stiffness. This state-of-art paper presents a brief discussion of determination methods for the p-y curves using a standard approach based on the soil parameters derived from laboratory and in-situ tests or directly from field tests. The basic relationships for both cohesive and cohesionless soils are discussed. The advantage of direct design methods to describe the p-y curve relies in the reduction of necessary laboratory tests.