Experimental investigation of inclined RC pile groups under horizontal static and impact loads

In engineering practice, inclined pile groups have been widely used for resisting lateral loads owing to their great lateral stiffness. This paper investigates the structural performance of inclined reinforced concrete (RC) pile groups subjected to horizontal static and impact loads through experimental studies. Using the horizontal impact facilities, a total of twelve 2 × 1 inclined RC pile groups were tested under horizontal static or low-velocity impact loads. The twelve test specimens include three types of pile groups including two types of inclined pile group with inclination angle of 9° and 18° and one type of double vertical pile group with inclination angle of 0°. For each type of pile group, four specimens with identical geometric dimension are prepared and tested under horizontal static load and three different level of horizontal impact loads initiated from different impact velocities, respectively. It can be found that, the variation of inclination angle significantly affects the static and dynamic behaviour of pile groups. Two, three and four plastic hinges are developed at the static or impact loading for the RC pile groups with inclination of 18°, 9° and 0°, respectively. With the increase of inclination angle from 0° to18°, the failure modes of the RC pile groups under impact transits from ductile to brittle type.