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DEEP FOUNDATIONS
1. When one or more upper layers are highly compressible and too weak to support
the load transmitted by the superstructure, piles are used to transmit the load to
underlying bedrock or a stronger soil layer, as shown in Fig.1a. When bedrock is
not encountered at a reasonable depth below the ground surface, piles are used to
transmit the structural load to the soil gradually. The resistance to the applied
structural load is derived mainly from the frictional resistance developed at the
soil-pile interface.
2. When subjected to horizontal forces, pile foundations resist by bending, while still
supporting the vertical load supporting the vertical load transmitted by the
superstructure. This type situation is generally encountered in the design and
construction of earth-retaining structures and foundations of tall structures that are
subjected to high wind or to earthquake forces.
3. In many cases, expansive and collapsible soils may be present at the site of a
proposed structure. These soils may extend to a great depth below the ground
surface. Expansive soils swell and shrink as their moisture content increases and
decreases, and the pressure of the swelling can be considerable. If shallow
foundations are used in such circumstances, the structure may suffer considerable
damage. However, pile foundations may be considered as an alternative when
piles are extended beyond the active zone, which is where swelling and shrinking
occur.
4. The foundations of some structures, such as transmission towers, offshore
platforms, and basement mats below the water table, are subjected to uplifting
forces. Piles are sometimes used for these foundations to resist the uplifting force.
5. Bridge abutments and piers are usually constructed over pile foundations to avoid
the loss of bearing capacity that a shallow foundation might suffer because of soil
erosion at the ground surface.
Types of Piles
Piles are made from concrete or steel or timber. The selection of the type of pile required
for a project depends on what type is readily available, the magnitude of the loading, the
soil type, and the environment in which the pile will be installed, for example, a corrosive
environment of a marine environment.
A very popular type of precast concrete pile is the Raymond cylindrical pile. Some
general facts about precast prestressed piles are as follows:
-Usual length 10 m to 45m
The advantages and disadvantages are the same as those of precast piles.
Cast-in- situ, or cast-in-place concrete piles are built by making a hole in the ground and
then filling it with concrete. Various types of cast-in-place concrete piles are currently
used in construction, and most of them have been patented by their manufacturers. These
piles may be divided into two broad categories: (a) cased and (b) uncased. Both types
may have a pedestal at the bottom.
Cased piles are made by driving a steel casing into the ground with the help of a mandrel
placed inside the casing. When the pile reaches the proper depth the mandrel is
withdrawn and the casing is filled with concrete. Figures 3 a,3b, 3c, and 3d show some
examples of cased piles without a pedestal. Figures 3e shows a cased pile with a pedestal.
The pedestal is an expanded concrete bulb that is formed by dropping a hammer on fresh
concrete.
Advantages
-Relatively cheap
-Allow for inspection before pouring concrete
-Easy to extend
Disadvantages
-Difficult to splice after concrete
-Thin casing may be damaged during driving
Figures 3f and 3g are two types of uncased pile, one with pedestal and the other without.
The uncased piles are made by first driving the casing to the desired depth and then
filling it with fresh concrete. The casing is then gradually withdrawn.
Following are some general facts about uncased cast-in-place concrete piles:
-Usual length 5-15m
-Maximum length 30-40m
Usual load 300-500kN
Approximate maximum load 700kN
Advantages
-Initially economical
-Can be finished at any elevation
Disadvantages
-Voids may be created if concrete is placed rapidly
-Difficult to splice after concreting.
Selecting the type of pile to be used and estimating its necessary length are fairly difficult
tasks that require good judgment. However, piles can be classified into three major
categories, depending on their lengths and the mechanisms of load transfer to the soil: (a)
point bearing piles, (b) friction piles, and (c) compaction piles.
Fig 4. (a) and (b) point bearing piles; (c) friction piles
Point Bearing Piles
If soil-bearing records establish the presence of bedrock or rocklike material at a site
within a reasonable depth, piles can be extended to the rock surface. (Fig 4a) In this case,
the ultimate bearing capacity of the piles depends entirely on the load- bearing capacity
of the underlying material; thus; the piles are called point bearing piles. In most of these
cases, the necessary length of the pile can be fairly well established.
Q1 = Qs (5)
And Q2 = Qp
The preceding explanation indicates that Qs (or the unit skin friction, f, along the pile
shaft) is developed at a much smaller pile displacement compared with the point
resistance, Qp. At ultimate load, the failure surface in the soil at the pile tip ( a bearing
capacity failure caused by Qp) is like that shown in fig 5e. It is to be note that pile
foundations are deep foundations and that the soil fails mostly in a punching mode. That
is a triangular zone, I, is developed at the pile tip, which is pushed downward without
producing any other visible slip surface. In dense sands and stiff clayey soils, a radial
shear zone, II, may partially develop.
and qu = 1.3 c/.Nc + q.Nq + 0.3 .B. N for shallow circular foundation) (9)
Similarly, the general bearing capacity equation for shallow foundation is given) for
vertical loading) as
1
q u c N c.F cs.F cd qN q.F qs.F qd .B.N .F s.F d
2
Hence, in general, the ultimate load- bearing capacity may be expressed as
Where N , N q and N are the bearing capacity factors that include the necessary
c
shape and depth factors.
Pile foundations are deep. However, the ultimate resistance per unit area developed at the
pile tip, q p , may be expressed by an equation similar in form to eq.10, although the
values of N , N q and N will change for deep foundations. The notations used
c
for width of a pile is D. Hence, substituting D for B in eq.10 gives
Because the width D of a pile is relatively small, the term .D.N q may be dropped
from the right side of the equation without introducing a serious error; thus we have
q p cN c q. N q (12)
It is to be noted that the term q has been replaced by q in eq. 12, to signify effective
vertical stress. Thus, the point bearing of piles is
Q p A p .q p A c.N c qN q
p
(13)
actual embedment length of the pile, L ( see Fig 6a). However, where a pile has
penetrated into a bearing stratum, Lb < L. (see Fig 4b). Beyond the critical embedment
Q p A p .q p A p .q.N q (15)
The variation of N q with soil friction angle is shown in fig 8. However, Qp should
not exceed the limiting value Ap ql ; that is,
Q p A p .q p A p .q.N q A p .q l (16)
Q p N c .c u . A p 9.c u . A p (18)
Where cu = undrained cohesion of the soil below the tip of the pile
(i) Vesics method
Vesic (1997) proposed a method for estimating the pile point bearing capacity based
on the theory of expansion of cavity. According to this theory, on the basis of
effective stress parameters, we may write
Q p A p .q p A p cN c o N (19)
Where o = mean effective normal ground stress at the level of the pile point
1 2K o
= q (20)
3
Ko = earth pressure coefficient at rest = (1-sin ) (21)
3 N q
N (22)
1 2 K o
N c N q 1 cot (23)
N f I rr (24)
Where Irr = reduced rigidity index for the soil
Ir
However, I rr where I r = rigidity index (25)
1 I r
Es Gs
Where I r (26)
21 s c q tan c q tan
Es = modulus of elasticity of soil
s = Poissons ratio of soil
Gs = shear modulus of soil
N c
4
InI rr 1 1 (28)
3 2
The values of Ir can be estimated from laboratory consolidation and triaxial tests
corresponding to the proper stress levels. However, for preliminary use, the following
values are recommended
Types of soil Ir
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sand 70-150
Silts and clays (drained condition) 50-100
Clays (undrained condition) 100-200
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(iii) Janbus Method
Janbu (1976) proposed calculating Qp as follows
Q p A p cN c qN q (29)
The bearing capacity factors N c and N q are calculated by assuming a failure
surface in soil at the pile tip similar to that shown in fig 9.
The bearing capacity relationship is then
2
N q tan 1 tan 2 e 2 tan (30 a)
N c N q 1 cot (30 b)
from eq. 30 a
600 900
Following table gives the variation of N c and N q for = 600 , 750 , and 900 .
Table Janbus Bearing Capacity factors
=600 =750 =900
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nc Nq Nc Nq Nc Nq
0 5.74 1.0 5.74 1.0 5.74 1.0
10 5.95 2.05 7.11 2.25 8.34 2.47
20 9.26 4.37 11.78 5.29 14.83 6.40
30 19.43 10.05 21.82 13.60 30.14 18.40
40 30.58 26.66 48.11 41.37 75.31 64.20
45 46.32 47.32 78.90 79.90 133.87 134.87
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(B) Pile Frictional Resistance (Qs)
(i) in Sand
The frictional resistance between soil and pile-surface for piles in sand is given by
Fig 10. Compaction of sand near driven pile (After Meyerhof 1961)
Where o = mean effective vertical stress for the entire embedment length
cu = mean undrained shear strength ( 0)
The value of changes with the depth of penetration of the pile (see fig 12) Thus, the
total frictional resistance may be calculated as Qs p.L. f av
With the values of f so determined, the total frictional resistance may be evaluated as
Q s f . p.L (46)
Point Bearing Capacity of piles resting on Rock
Sometimes piles are driven to an underlying layer of rock. In such cases, the engineer
must evaluate the bearing capacity of the rock. The ultimate unit point resistance in rock
(Goodman, 1980) is approximately
q p q N 1
u
(47)
Where N tan 2 45 2
q u = unconfined compressive strength of rock
= drained angle of friction
The unconfined compressive strength of rock can be determined by laboratory tests on
rock specimens collected during field investigation. However, extreme precaution should
be used in obtaining the proper value of q u , because laboratory specimens usually are
small in diameter. As the diameter of the specimen increases, the unconfined compressive
strength decreases- a phenomenon referred to as the scale effect. For specimens larger
than about 1 m in diameter, the values of q u remain approximately constant. There
appears to be a four- folded to five-folded reduction of the magnitude of q u in this
process. The scale effect in rock is caused primarily by randomly distributed large and
small fractures and also by progressive ruptures along the slip lines. Hence, we always
recommend that
A factor of safety of at least 3 should be used to determine the allowable point bearing of
piles. Thus,
q u (design ) N 1 . A p
Q p(all ) (49)
FS
(II) Dynamic Methods
There are various pile- driving formulae to estimate the dynamic bearing capacity of
piles. These are based on the principle that the dynamic energy imparted to the pile
through a hammer is utilized in driving the pile in to the ground. However, some of this
energy is wasted in the form of losses. One of the earliest such equations- commonly
referred to as the Engineering News (EN) Record formula- is derived from this principle
of work- energy theory. That is;
Energy imparted by the hammer per blow=
(Pile resistance) (Penetration per hammer blow)
According to the EN formula, the pile resistance is the ultimate load Q u , expressed as
W R.h
Qu (50)
S C
Where WR = weight of the ram
h = height of fall of the ram
S = penetration of the pile per hammer blow
The pile penetration, S , is usually based on the average value obtained from the last few
driving blows. In the equations original form, the following values of C were
recommended:
Modified EN formula
2
EW R.h W R n W p
Qu . (52)
S C W RW p
Where E = efficiency of hammer
C = 2.54 mm if the unit of S and h are in mm
Wp = weight of the pile
n = coefficient of restitution between the ram and the pile cap
Factor of safety for this formula is 6
Typical values for E
Single- and double- acting hammer 0.7-0.85
Diesel hammers 0.8-0.9
Drop hammer 0.7-0.9
Typical values for n
Cast-iron hammer and concrete
Pile( without cap) 0.4-0.5
Wooden cushion on steel piles 0.3-0.4
Wooden piles 0.25-0.3
EH EL
A p E PS
FS for this formula = 3 to 6
Fig 15. (c) Plot of load against total settlement (d) plot of load against net settlement
Negative Skin Friction
Negative skin friction is a downward drag force on a pile by the soil surrounding it. Such
a force can exist under the following conditions, among others:
1. If a fill of clay soil is placed over a granular soil layer into which a pile is driven,
the fill will gradually consolidate. The consolidation process will exert a
downward drag force on the pile during the period of consolidation ( see Fig 16a).
pK f .H 2f tan
Q n 0H f pK f tan .zdz (55)
2
Where Hf = height of fill.
If the fill is above the water table, the effective unit weight f should be replaced by the
moist unit weight.
(ii) Granular Soil Fill over Clay
In this case, the evidence indicates that the negative skin stress on the pile may exist
from z=0 to z=L1, which is referred to as the neutral plane. The neutral depth may be
given as (Bowles, 1982)
L1
L H f L H f
f .H f 2 f .H f
(56)
L1 2
Where f and = effective unit weight of the fill and the underlying clay layer,
respectively.
For end- bearing piles, the neutral depth may be assumed to be located at the pile tip
( i.e., L1 = L Hf )
Once the value of L1 is determined, the downward drag force is obtained in the following
manner: The unit negative skin friction at any depth from z =0 to z =L1 is
Where K K o 1 sin
o = f .H f .z
0.5 0.7
L1 L1
Qn p. f n .dz pK f .H f .z tan .dz
0 0
L2 .P.k tan
= pK f .H f tan L1 1
2
(58)
If the soil and the fill are above the water table, the effective unit weights should be
replaced by moist unit weights. In some cases, the piles can be coated with bitumen in the
down drag zone to avoid this problem.
Elastic Settlement of Piles
The total settlement of a pile under a vertical working load Qw is given by
se se1 se2 se3 (59)
se1
Qwp Qws L (60)
Ap E p
Where Qwp = load carried at the pile point under working load condition
Qws = load carried by friction (skin) resistance under working load
Condition
Ap = area of cross section of pile
L = Length of pile
Ep = modulus of elasticity of the pile material
se2
qwp .D
Es
1 2 s I wp (61)
Q D
se3 ws 1 s I ws (62)
pL s
E
L
I ws 2 0.35 (63)
D
Pile Groups
In most practical situations, piles are used in groups as shown in Fig 18, to transmit the
structural load to the soil. A pile cap is constructed over group piles. The piles are
connected at their heads by a concrete pile cap, which may or may not be in contact with
the ground (Fig 18a) or well above the ground, as in the case of off shore platforms (see
Fig 18b). If the pile cap is in contact with the ground, part of load will be transferred
directly to the soil.
Determining the load- bearing capacity of group piles is extremely complicated and has
not yet been fully resolved. When the piles are placed close to each other in a group, a
reasonable assumption is that the stresses transmitted by the piles to the soil will overlap,
reducing the load- bearing capacity of the piles. Ideally, the piles in a group should be
spaced so that the load-bearing capacity of the group is not less than the sum of the
bearing capacity of the individual piles. In practice, the minimum center to center
spacing, s, varies between 2.5 D to 5 D. However, the cost of the pile cape is increased
considerably if this spacing is more than 3.5 D. Moreover, the settlement of the pile-
group is increased due increase in size of the pile-group.
The group load- bearing capacity is tried to be correlated with the load-bearing capacity
of a single pile because it is comparatively simple to find out the bearing capacity of
single pile. The ratio of the load- bearing capacity of a pile- group, Qg(u) ,to the total load-
bearing capacity of the piles acting as individual piles n Qu is called the group efficiency
or group efficiency factor, .The efficiency of the load- bearing capacity of a group pile
may be mathematically, defined as
Qg u Q g (u )
(64)
nQu Qu
Where n = number of piles in a group
Qg(u)= load- bearing capacity of the group
Qu = load bearing capacity of a single pile
The efficiency factor is usually less than 1. However, piles driven into a loose, coarse-
grained soil tend to densify the soil around the piles and could exceed 1.Also if the
spacing is large enough so that the piles act an individual pile in the group, then also the
value of may be greater than 1.
1
D
smn
mn 1 nm 1 2 m 1n 1 (66)
3. Feld Method
Feld (1943) suggested a method by which the load capacity of individual piles( when
only frictional resistance is considered ) in a group embedded in sand could be assessed.
According to this method, the ultimate capacity of a pile is reduced by one- sixteenth by
each adjacent diagonal or row pile. The technique is explained by the example given in
Fig 19.This is a plan of a group pile.
Fig 19. Feds method for estimating the group capacity of friction piles.
In this example, there are eight adjacent piles for pile type A. Similarly there are five
adjacent piles for pile type b and three for pile type. C. With this in mind, the following
table can be prepared:
Pile type No. of No. of adjacent Reduction factor for each pile Ultimate capacity
piles piles/pile
=(no.of piles* Qu* Reduction factor)
A 1 8 1-8/16 0.5Qu
B 4 5 1-5/16 2.75Qu
C 4 3 1-3/16 3.25Qu
6.5Q u =Qg(u)
Q g u 6.5Qu
Hence, 72%
Q u 9Qu
Q n .n Q Q
1. Determine u 1 2 p s
Where Q A 9.c in which c is undrained cohesion of the clay at the pile tip
p p u p u p
and Q . p.c .L
s u
So Q n .n 9 A .c . p.c .L
u 1 2 p u p u (67)
2. Determine the ultimate capacity by assuming that the piles in the group act as a block
with dimensions L g * B g * L . The skin resistance of the block is
p g .cu .L 2Lg Bg .c g L
Calculate the point bearing capacity:
Ap .q p Ap .cu p .N c* Lg .Bg cu p .N c*
Obtain the value of the bearing capacity factor from fig21. Thus, the ultimate load is
C .H o i i
sci c i log (72)
1 eoi o i
If two piles are driven close together, soil stresses caused by the piles tend to overlap, and
the bearing capacity of the piles consisting of two piles is less than the sum of the
individual capacities. If the two piles are moved farther apart, so that individual stresses
do not overlap, the bearing capacity of the pile group is not reduced significantly from the
sum of the individual capacities. Thus, it would appear that piles should be spaced
relatively far apart. This consideration is offset, however, by the unduly large pile caps
that would be required for the wider spacing.
Minimum allowable pile spacing is often specified by applicable building codes. Foe
example, a building code may state that the minimum center-to center spacing of piles
not driven to rock shall not be less than twice the average diameter of a round pile, nor
less than 1.75 times the diagonal dimension of a rectangular or rolled structural steel pile,
nor less than 2 ft 6 inch (0.76m) For piles driven to rock, the minimum center-to center
spacing of piles shall be not less than twice the average diameter of a round pile, nor less
than 1.75 times the diagonal dimension of a rectangular or rolled structural a Steel pile,
nor less than 2ft 0inch ( 0.61m).