Inclined pile foundation has been more widely used in the ports

docks and bridge engineering for its superior resistive capability of lateral load. With the construction of highways and other infrastructure in mountains and uneven ground areas

the bridge pile foundation will be more and more adopted in the landslide and similar area. Due to the complex stress state of the inclined pile foundation

its current design theory still refers to the theory of vertical pile foundation and is designed according to the practical experience. Although a lot of exploratory researches have been done

practical calculations theory and design criteria have not yet been formed. Based on that

this paper has conducted physical model test combined with some bridge foundation selection research project in Xiamen-Shenzhen Passenger Dedicated Railway Line. The vertical bearing capacity of pile foundation with inclination of 0°-12 ° has been researched. The results show that load-settlement curve of the vertical pile foundation is slow variant

while that of the inclined pile foundation is steep variant. There is a reasonable pile angle of 8° more or less to exert the vertical bearing capacity of inclined pile foundation. In vertical pile foundation

the largest axial force lies in the corner pile

next in the side pile

then in the middle pile. While in the inclined pile foundation

the largest axial force lies in the middle pile

next in the corner pile

then in the side pile respectively. The pile moment distribution of inclined pile foundation is associated with its pile angle

and the pile moment presents a reverse bending section when the angle reaches 12°. The pile angle difference is the main reason of significantly in different axial bearing properties between inclined pile foundation and vertical pile foundation.