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Pile Group_Efficiency and Settlement
Pile Group_Efficiency and Settlement
Pile Group_Efficiency and Settlement
In this article we will discuss about the efficiency and settlement of pile
group in soils.
The use of a pile group instead of a single pile, though not warranted from
structural consideration, will ensure in minimizing or eliminating the
eccentricity of loads caused by the lateral displacement of piles during the
driving operation. This is not the case with bored piles, where there is better
control over pile alignment, and the number of bored piles used will be
based on design requirements, depending on the loads from the
superstructure and the load capacity of the individual pile.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
The load capacity of a pile group may not be equal to the sum of
the load capacity of the individual piles in the group due to the
following reasons:
1. When piles are used in a group at close spacing, the pressure bulbs of
individual piles may overlap, causing more stress in the overlapping soil
zones. This causes a reduction in the load capacity.
2. When piles are driven in loose- to medium-dense cohesionless soils, it
may cause densification of the soil, increasing the load capacity more than
the estimated load capacity.
where Qug is the ultimate load capacity of the pile group, Qu is the ultimate
load capacity of the individual pile, and N is the number of piles in the pile
group.
Spacing of Piles:
For end-bearing piles founded on a very hard stratum, deriving their load
capacity mainly from end-bearing resistance, the spacing of piles is
governed by the competency of the end-bearing stratum. The minimum
spacing of end-bearing piles is 2.5 d, where d is the diameter of the pile
shaft. For piles resting on rock, the minimum spacing of piles is 2 d, where
d is the diameter of the pile shaft.
For friction piles, the pile spacing should ensure that the pressure bulbs of
individual piles do not overlap, which otherwise causes a reduction in the
pile capacity. The minimum spacing of friction piles is 3 d, where d is the
diameter of the pile shaft. In the case, of non-circular piles, such as square
or rectangular piles, the diameter of the circle circumscribing the pile is
used to determine the minimum pile spacing.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
The efficiency of the pile group may be obtained from the converse Lebarre
equation for friction piles –
where m is the number of rows of piles, n is the number of piles in each row,
B is the diameter of the pile, and S is the spacing of piles.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
In the case of piles deriving their support mainly from friction and
connected by a pile cap, the group may be visualized to transmit load to the
soil as if from a column of soil enclosed by the piles. The ultimate capacity
of the group may be computed following this concept, taking into account
the frictional capacity along the perimeter of the column of soil as above
and the end-bearing of the said column.
The load capacity of the pile group is taken as the minimum of Qug1 and Qug2.
Where the spacing between the piles is less than optimum, the efficiency of
the pile group is usually less than 1. For piles spaced at or more than the
optimum spacing, the efficiency of the pile group may approach unity. In
the case of driven piles in loose- to medium-dense sand, the efficiency of a
pile group may be even greater than 1 due to densification of the sand
between the piles during the driving operation.
Block failure occurs generally when the spacing of piles is less than about
three times the pile diameter. In this case, the soil, bound by a perimeter of
the pile group over the embedded length, acts as a single unit or block.
Individual pile failure occurs when the piles are spaced at about eight times
the diameter. In this case, the efficiency of the pile group is equal to 1 or
100%. For piles in sand, the efficiency of the pile group is more than 100%
when the piles are at a close spacing and become equal to 100% when the
pile spacing is about 5-6 times the diameter. Pile group efficiency of 1 is
assumed for pile groups in sand.
For a pile group in stiff clay or compact sand, the sequence of installation of
piles shall normally be from the center to the periphery of the group or from
one side to the other. However, in the case of very soft soils, the driving may
have to proceed from outside to inside so that the soil is restrained from
flowing out during the driving operation.
where S is the ratio of pile spacing to pile diameter and r is the number of
rows in a pile group.