In order to study the bearing capacity of pipe piles,this paper investigates on the distribution function of pile total skin friction for pipe piles based on the field test data of pipe piles.Meanwhile,the equation of distribution function of pipe pile total skin friction is established,and the parameters in the equation are illustrated.It is found that most of the curves of the distribution of pile total skin friction and versus pile head settlement present linear relationship for all types of pile length and length diameter ratio,and there’s no relation between the linear correlativity and that pile head load,pile total skin friction reach ultimate state or not.The pipe pile total skin frictions are calculated based on the distribution function,and the results are compared with the measured values,the error is within 15%.The equation of distribution function of pipe pile total skin friction can be established for pipe piles which have only pile head load values and pile head settlement values,and the pile total skin friction and pile tip resistance can be obtained,then the bearing behaviors of pipe piles can be analyzed and acquired.However,the investigation is still preliminary because of the complexity,more field test data are required to improve and deepen the distribution function of pile total skin friction for pipe piles.