A series of installation of tapered piles in medium-dense Fontainebleau sand were performed in the geotechnical centrifuge at Gustave Eiffel University. The models of piles with three different shapes -straight profile (S), and with taper angle of 0.70 degrees (T1), and 1.4 degrees (T2) were used. The piles were instrumented with fiber optic wires on the shaft and load cell at the base. After monotonic installation, the models were subjected to static load tests in compression and then in tension. The lowest head load at the end of installation was found for the T2 pile. While the average shaft friction mobilized during penetration of the S pile was almost constant, a considerable increase of friction resistance during installation was observed for T1 and T2 piles. At the end of the installation, the maximum average shaft friction was about 4.5 and 7 times higher as compared to the straight pile for the T1 and T2 models, respectively. These values slightly increase during the static compression test. The ratio of the maximum average shaft friction in tension and compression is close to 1 for the cylindrical pile and decreases to about 0.5 and 0.2 for T1 and T2, respectively.