Institute for Transportation

About the research

Fully encasing a grouping of pier piles into one monolithic pier is more cost-effective than individually encasing each pile. Currently, the decision to fully encase rather than individually encase piles is made when there are ice or debris issues associated with the waterway in which the pier stands. The objective of this project was to calculate the capacities for monolithic encased piles with different pile lengths and encasement lengths through finite element (FE) simulations. The results of this research can be used by design and load rating engineers to calculate the capacities of concrete-encased H-piles and can be one of many resources utilized in overall bridge design and assessment. To achieve the goal, a comprehensive literature review was conducted on the design and capacity estimation of bare piles, individually encased piles, and fully encased piles. FE modeling was then performed to calculate the capacities of encased piles with different pile and encasement lengths. The results indicate that the capacities of H-piles in monolithic concrete encasement are greater than those of individually encased piles. Piles arranged with the weak axis restrained by adjacent piles and encasement achieve greater capacities than piles arranged with the strong axis restrained.