This paper presents the results of a numerical investigation conducted to study the effect of vertical loads on lateral response of a free head and a capped pile group in sand. A coupled soil-pile system is idealized through 2D finite elements with soil models idealized by a hyperbolic type multiple shear mechanism. The analysis focuses on the five piles in the middle row of a 3x5 pile group spaced at 3.92-pile diameters. The interaction between a pile and the surrounding soil in the 3D type is

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... idealized in the 2D analysis using soil-pile interaction springs with a hysteretic non-linear load displacement relationship. The presence of vertical loads on free head piles increases the confining pressures in the sand deposit confined by the piles but the rate of increase in those outside the group is relatively small, resulting in the difference in a balance of lateral soil pressures acting at the back of and in front of individual piles. A vertical load applied to a group pile with a uniform vertical displacement of 0.1 pile diameter decreases the lateral resistance of the leading pile (pile 1) by 10 % and increases the lateral resistance of piles 3 and 5 by 14 and 35 %, respectively. The same trend with higher percentages of increase or decrease is observed in the capped pile group case.