Nonlinear analysis of pile raft foundations under eccentric loads

Abstract

This paper discusses a series of 3D nonlinear analyses of the pile group foundation of a 34-floor multistory building subjected to vertical load and large moments using PLAXIS 3D v20 software. The soil profile consists of seven strata of various properties, with groundwater encountered at 19.6 m below the ground surface. The soil is modeled as hardening soil material in drained conditions. The piles in the pile group foundation are modeled as embedded pile elements. Several parameters were investigated through a rigorous parametric study, such as the pile spacing-diameter ratio (s/dpile), the number of piles, and the pile slenderness ratio (l/dpile) in a square pile configuration with all piles of equal length, on the behavior of un-piled and pile raft foundations of rectangular shape in the plan under eccentric load. The analysis's results were thoroughly examined and discussed, and several conclusions were presented.

Keywords

• finit element:
• pile rafts;
• constitutive model;
• numerical analysis;
• large moments