Since 2007, the American Association of State Highway Administration Officials (AASHTO) has made utilization of Load and Resistance Factor Design (LRFD) mandatory on all federally-funded new bridge projects (AASHTO, 2007). However, currently, there are no guidelines implementing LRFD techniques for design of drilled shaft subjected to lateral loads using reliability-based analysis. On a national level, the AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications (AASHTO, 2012) specify that a resistance factor of 1.0 be used for design of drilled shafts subjected to lateral loading at service limit state, which means reliability-based analyses for calibration of resistance factors have not been performed. Therefore, there is a need to create a LRFD procedure for drilled shafts subjected to lateral loading at service limit state that has reliability-based calibrated resistance factors applicable for future projects. The research focuses on the reliability-based analysis of drilled shaft subjected to lateral loading, characterize lateral load transfer model of drilled shafts in shale, probabilistic calibrate resistance factor and contribute to the development of design procedure using LRFD. The objective of this work is to improve the design of drilled shaft subjected to lateral loading using LRFD at service limit state by providing a more reliable design procedure than the current AASHTO LRFD procedure for drilled shafts subjected to lateral loading at service limit state.
Load and resistance factor design of drilled shafts subjected to lateral loading at service limit state