A single pile with 450 mm diameter has been driven into a homogeneous clay layer, which has an undrained cohesion ( $\mathrm{c}_{\mathrm{u}}$ ) of 20 kPa and unit weight of $18 \mathrm{kN} / \mathrm{m}^3$. The ground water table is found to be at the surface of the clay layer. The adhesion factor ( $\alpha$ ) of the soil is 0.95 and bearing capacity factor $\left(N_c\right)$ is 9 . The pile is supporting a column load of 144 kN with a factor of safety of 3.0 against ultimate axial pile capacity in compression.
The required embedment depth of the pile (in m ) is _________ (rounded off to the nearest integer).
✓ Correct answer: 15
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