Uplift capacity of single vertical belled pile embedded at shallow depth

This study investigates the uplift capacity of a single vertical belled pile buried at shallow depth in dry sand. The laboratory model experiments are conducted with different pile-tip angles and relative densities. In addition, image and FEM analyses are performed to observe the failure surface of the belled pile for different pile-tip angles and relative densities. Accordingly, the uplift capacity and failure angle in the failure surface of the belled pile were found to depend on the belled piletip angle and relative density. A predictive model for the uplift capacity of the belled pile was proposed considering the relative density and belled pile-tip angle based on a previous limit equilibrium equation. To validate the applicability of the proposed model, the values calculated using the proposed and previous models were compared to those obtained through a laboratory model experiment. The proposed model had the best agreement with the laboratory model experiment.