Analytical solution for estimating bearing capacity of a closed soil plug: Verification using an on-site static pile test

When the open-ended pile penetrates the soil layer, the resistance generated by the soil plug cannot be ignored. A pile with a full-size pressure sensor installed at pile tip can detect resistance more accurately than a microsensor when the pile penetrates into the soil. In this paper, the pile installed full-size pressure sensor was used for penetration test and the relationship between formation parameters and pile tip force is obtained. Using the solution of the Kelvin problem in infinite space and the plane stress distribution function, the analytical solution of the bearing capacity of the soil plug is derived under the condition that the displacements of the bottom of the pile and the soil plug are consistent. The results show that the ultimate stress of the soil plug is closely related to the pile diameter and pipe thickness. The bearing capacity of the soil plug is closely related to the properties of the soil layer. The analytical solution of the bearing capacity of the soil plug has a linear relationship with the formation parameters SPT and CPT. The analytical solution of the ultimate bearing capacity of the soil plug has been verified by field test data and has a good match with the geometric dimensions of the pile tip and the formation parameters.