University of Guyana

Faculty of Technology
Department of Civil with
Environmental Engineering

Name: Jitendra
USI: 1011884
Course: Geotechnical Engineering 2
Topic: Bearing Capacity & Efficiency of Group Piles
Lecturer: Mr. Maxwell Jackson
Date: 30th September, 2016

Consider the following plan of a group pile

a) Find the allowable load bearing capacity
b) Use the Converse-Labarre equation to calculate the pile group efficiency

c) Calculate the group efficiency using

Qu(g)

Qu

Solution:
Assuming that both the clay and the sand strata are saturated and that the clay layer is above the sand
layer:
Thickness of clay layer assumed to be (18.5/2) m, L1 = 9.25 m
Thickness of sand layer is therefore (18.5-9.25) m, L 2= 9.25 m

n1 n2 3 3
Pile Diameter, D = 406 mm
Spacing of piles, d = 850 mm
Factor of Safety, FS = 3
For Clay layer:

0. 5
Cu 95.8 KN / m 2

sat( clay ) 19 KN / m3

For Sand Layer:

300
0.75
22.50
sat( sand ) 18 KN / m3
K 1.4

Ap pile cross-sectional area

Ap ( 0.203 )2
Ap 0.12946 m2

p perimeter of pile cross-section

p ( 0.406 )
p 1.27549 m

Vertical Effective Stress at depth 18.5 m;

v' [( sat( clay ) water ) L1 ] [( sat(sand) water ) L2 ]

v' [( 19 9.81 )9.25 ] KN/ m 2 [( 18 9.81 )9.25 KN/ m 2 ]
v' 160.765 KN/m 2
Determining the ultimate bearing capacity of a single pile:
Bearing capacity of a single pile, Qu, is given by the sum of:

load-carrying capacity of the pile point (in sand layer), Qb(s),

frictional resistance (in sand layer), Q s(s);
frictional resistance (in clay layer), Qs(c).

Qb( s ) 0.5 pa Ap N q* tan '

pa atmospheric pressure = 100KN/m 2 or 2000 lb/ft 2
N q* 56.7 (obtained from table 11.5 of Braja M. Das 7 th Edition )
Qs( s ) pL2 f av
f av K v' tan
Qs( c ) Cu pL1
Qu [ 0.5 pa Ap N q* tan ' ] [ pL2 K v' tan ] [ Cu pL1 ]

Qu [ 0.5( 100 )( 0.12946 )( 56.7 )(tan 300 )] [( 1.27549 )( 9.25 )( 1.4 )( 160.765 )(tan 22.50 )] [( 0.5 )( 95.8 )( 1.275
Qu 211.898 1099.924 565.138
Qu 1876.96 KN

Qu n1 n2 Qu
Qu 3 3 1876.96
Qu 16892.642 KN

Ultimate Bearing Capacity of Piles as a group/block:

Lg ( n1 1 )d 2( D / 2 )
Lg 2.106 m
Bg ( n2 1 )d 2( D / 2 )
Bg 2.106 m
Perimeter of Block, Pg 2( n1 n2 2 )d 4 D
Pg 8.424 m
Qu( g ) [ Lg Bg 0.5Pa tan ] [Pg Cu L1 ] [ Pg L2 f av ]
f av K v' tan
f av 93.2275 KN/m 2
Qu( g ) [( 2.106 )( 2.106 )( 0.5 )( 100 )(tan 30 0 )] [( 8.424 )( 95.8 )( 9.25 )] [( 8.424 )( 9.25 )( 93.2275 )]
Qu( g ) 14857.435 KN

Qu

Qu( g )
The allowable load bearing capacity of the piles is given by the lesser of
safety factor.

14857.435
FS
14857.435
Qall
3
Qall 4952.478 KN
Qall

The group efficiency,

Qu(g)

100%
Qu
14857.435

100%
16892.64
87.95%

&

divided by the

The Converse-Labarre efficiency;

( n1 1 )n2 ( n2 1 )n1

90n1n2

where (deg)=tan -1( D / d )

tan -1( 406 / 850 )

25.5310
( 3 1 )3 ( 3 1 )3
25.5310

90( 3 )( 3 )

62.18%