Short Piles for a Solar Power Plant in Western Rajasthan

Short bored cast-in-situ piles were installed for a solar power plant in western Rajasthan. The deposits at site consist of dune sand underlain by rock. The paper discusses the load–displacement behavior of 350 mm diameter 2.65–2.8 m long piles under pullout and lateral loading. To evaluate ultimate pullout capacity of piles which were not tested to failure, a hyperbolic model of load–displacement curve has been proposed. The pullout test data has been used to back-calculate the value of earth pressure coefficient, k. The lateral pile capacity has also been analyzed to evaluate the value of modulus of horizontal subgrade reaction.