Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research Center

The University of California, San Diego Structural Engineering Department invites the structural and geotechnical engineering community to participate in the prediction of the in-ground hinge performance of steel pipe pile embedded in soil. This project is funded by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the National Science Foundation (NSF). Additional support is provided by Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC), Moffatt & Nichol, Earth Mechanics Inc. (EMI), Port of Los Angeles, Port of Long Beach and Nabih Youssef Associates Structural Engineers.  The test evaluates a single pipe-pile embedded in soil, subjected to unidirectional quasi-static cyclic lateral loading and constant axial load. The contest is open to all those in structural and geotechnical engineering from industry practitioners to the academic community, including students. The winner will be announced and awarded on the PEER website.

The purpose of this contest is to evaluate the influence of engineer judgment on the modeling outcomes in the predicted performance of the in-ground hinge behavior of a single steel component. The initial program consists of four piles, three which were funded by the joint-venture of NIST/NSF and one pile funded by the NAVFAC. Tests were conducted in-side the north pit at the off-campus University of California, San Diego’s National Hazards Engineering and Research Infrastructure (NHERI) site, Englekirk Structural Engineering and Research Center (ESEC). The purpose of the test(s) was to evaluate the performance of the in-ground hinge under unidirectional cyclic quasi-static lateral loading and constant axial load in addition to understanding the pile(s) post-peak performance.