Fictitious pile method for fixed-head pile groups subjected to horizontal loading

A novel fictitious pile method based on the elastic theory is presented for the analysis of horizontally loaded pile groups. By considering the strengthening effect of intervening piles, the interaction between the piles and the soil is decomposed into the extended soil and fictitious piles. The proposed approach is based on the superposition of the horizontal displacement of individual piles. It enables the avoidance of a full analysis of pile groups, and thus, improves the calculation efficiency. The pile-to-pile interaction factors, horizontal load distributions, and group efficiency factors produced by the proposed method are very close to those calculated by the finite element method. Several examples are then presented to discuss the influence of nondimensionalized piles and soil parameters on the behavior of pile groups. (C) 2020 Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of The Japanese Geotechnical Society.