Abstract

This article presents the results of a 5.5 mm model pile installation on a silica sand sample under isotropic confinement by using X-ray microtomography and three dimensional Digital Image Correlation on a model calibration chamber. The incremental sand displacement field was calculated during the pile installation both locally around the pile tip and for the entire volume. Displacement vectors and normalized strain contours are obtained for each incremental loading step. Evidence of sand flows near the pile tip gives new ideas about the possible mechanisms controlling the lateral friction of piles