Pile Group

•Bearing Capacity
•Settlement
Pile Group Capacity
To support a large foundation load and
eccentric loading, piles are often installed
in groups.
Because of the close spacing between
individual piles in a pile group, the soil
zones that are affected by the piles, known
as the stress zones, overlap.
Efficiency of PG:
Factors affecting the spacing b/n piles

StressOverlap
Cost of Pile Cap
Effeciency (η)
Ultimate Pile Group Capacity is:
Itis noted that the soil encompassed in the pile group
moves (shears) with the pile group, and the skin
resistance along the pile group block is between the
soil in the pile group and the soil surrounding the pile
group. Therefore, the cohesion and the internal friction
angle of the soil should be used to determine fs .
Settlement of Pile Groups
The settlement of a pile group includes the elastic
compression of the piles, elastic (immediate)
settlement of the soil at the toe of the piles, and
consolidation settlement of the soils around and
beneath the pile group.
Pile groups that are supported in cohesionless soils
are subjected only to immediate (elastic)
settlement; consolidation settlement is negligible.
Pile groups that are supported in cohesive soils are
subjected to both immediate (elastic) settlement
and consolidation settlement.
 The settlement of a pile group is much greater than the
settlement of a single pile because the soil zone affected
by the loading adjacent to and beneath the pile group is
much larger
Elastic compression of piles
Empirical equations for pile group
settlement using field penetration data.
The settlement of a pile group in granular
soils using SPT data is:
Consolidation settlement of a pile
group in saturated cohesive soil
 Terzaghi and Peck (1967) proposed that the
consolidation settlement of a pile group in saturated clay
could be evaluated using an equivalent footing situated
at a depth of L∕3 above the pile toe.
 It is assumed that the soil in the top two-third of the pile
length is not subjected to consolidation settlement. It is
also assumed that the vertical stress increase from L∕3
above the
2V:1H Method
The consolidation settlement is caused by
vertical stress increase. When the vertical
stress increase, Δs’Z , at a certain depth is less
than one-tenth of the in-situ effective stress s’0
is assumed the consolidation settlement is
negligible. Therefore, consolidation
settlement
should be considered for a depth that is either
Δs’Z = 0.1 s’0 , or there is an underlying firm
stratum whose compressibility is negligible
Step-by-step,
Review!!
For overconsolidated soils
Simplified Pile Design Process (GEO)