الفهرس 
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Abstract
Design of vertical structural foundation elements (barrettes/piles) subjected to lateral loads with the aid of finite element modeling requires experienced geotechnical designers who can precisely model the geotechnical soil profile as well as the construction sequence requiring excessive effort and time. For that reason, many of the geotechnical designers have resorted to the p-y curve method which can be processed in less time and with less effort in both the modeling and running time if compared to the numerical tools.
On the contrary to using the finite element method, utilizing the p-y curve method does not need creating a complex 3D model. The p-y curve method basically utilizes the relationship between the soil resistance per unit length (p) and the lateral deflection (y) to predict the straining actions on the barrette necessary for the structural design. However, rare research has been conducted on the barrettes to estimate their relevant p-y curves required to design such type of foundations.
Three well-instrumented published case studies of laterally loaded flexible/rigid barrettes and laterally loaded piles are investigated in this research. The case studies demonstrate the different barrettes’ behaviors when subjected to lateral loads. They were used to show that the numerical tools are capable of analyzing and simulating the flexible and rigid barrettes’ performance. The pile case study is investigated as well to, later on, verify the technique used to generate p-y curves by comparing them to the p-y curves suggested by Reese et al., 1974 and API, 1993.
Three-dimensional numerical analyses of the three different case studies are conducted using the finite element code, PLAXIS 3D 2020. The numerical tool is proven to be capable of simulating the behavior of the flexible/rigid barrettes under lateral loads. Different sets of p-y curves of the laterally loaded barrettes were back-calculated from the finite element model by adopting Winkler’s elastic beam theory through conducting the differentiation of the shear force acting along the barrette’s length to evaluate the required soil resistance (p). Then the soil resistance at a target depth is drawn against the corresponding deflection (y) to extract the required p-y curves. A Parametric study is carried out to understand the effect of different soil and barrette parameters on the values and pattern of the p-y curves.
Furthermore, a novel mathematical representation, to produce p-y curves for laterally loaded barrettes in cohesionless soil formations is proposed using approximate equations to create p-y curves based on the geometric characteristics of the barrette as well as the soil parameters, showing high results accuracy on comparing the results when implemented in common commercial software as LPILE to the corresponding FE results.