Title:
Research On Bearing Characteristics of Bored Piles under Different Construction Technologies (Prepublished)
Author(s):
Zhengzhen Wang, Zelong Yang, Guoliang Dai, Tiantao Su, Yousheng Deng, Chengming Cao
Publication:
Structural Journal
Volume:
Issue:
Appears on pages(s):
Keywords:
bearing characteristics; bored pile; dry operation; foundation engineering; slurry wall-protection
DOI:
10.14359/51750671
Date:
4/10/2026
Abstract:
Construction technology exerts a significant influence on the bearing behavior of pile foundations. Taking an airport expansion project as the engineering background in Lanzhou City, Gansu Province, China, a comparative analysis of the bearing behaviors of dry-bored piles and slurry wall-protected bored piles through static load tests and numerical simulations was conducted. The main conclusions are as follows: Both test piles exhibit a load-settlement curve of the steep-drop type. Compared with dry-bored piles, slurry wall-protected bored piles tend to accumulate sediment at the pile base, leading to increased settlement. In addition, a mud cake tends to form along the shaft of slurry wall-protected bored piles, which restrains the mobilization of shaft friction and further exacerbates settlement. Under identical load and pile length conditions, the end-bearing resistance, degree of shaft friction mobilization, and axial force in dry-bored piles are consistently lower than those in slurry wall-protected bored piles. Different construction technologies affect the load-transfer mechanism of pile foundations. During the drilling of slurry wall-protected bored piles, the surrounding soil is infiltrated by slurry, and a mud cake is formed on the pile shaft—this not only reduces the mobilization of shaft friction but also results in a slower decay of axial force along the pile. The presence of the mud cake increases the vertical displacement of the soil around the pile tip, and the magnitude of this displacement increases with the thickening of the mud cake. Moreover, the vertical displacement of the surrounding soil decreases as the elastic modulus of the mud cake increases.