Foundation-Pile Under Horizontal Load

When a pile is subjected to horizontal load, soil adjacent to the pile will form a passive wedge.

The failure mode of a pile depends on whether the pile head is restrained by a pile cap.

For short and rigid pile, the pile will rotate about point near its bottom. Meanwhile, for long and flexible pile, a plastic hinge may be developed somewhere along the pile.

The displacement of pile and soil is only significant above these points.

For restrained short pile, only translational movement occurs. For pile with intermediate length, plastic hinge developed at the pile cap level, and it will rotate about a point near to the bottom of pile. For long pile, both pile cap and a point along the length of pile will develop plastic hinge.