A Load Distribution Behaviour of Combined Pile Raft Foundation on

Granular Soil Using Finite Element (FE) Tool ABAQUS

Kabiraj Mahata 1 and Ashis Kumar Bera2
1
Research scholar, Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Engineering Science and
Technology, Howrah-711103, E-mail: mahatakabiraj611@gmail.com

2Associate professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Engineering Science and
Technology, Howrah-711103, E-mail: ashis@civil.iiests.ac.in

Abstract: Throughout the past few decades, the use of combined pile raft foundations to support high-
rise buildings has seen noticeable growth. Popularity has been gained by the economic advantages of
piled raft foundations over alternative methods, but this comes with added complexity for load-sharing
calculations when few variables are associated with it. In the present study, five different densities, viz.,
very loose, loose, medium, dense, and very dense of sand, have been kept to focus on the behaviour of
load sharing ratio between pile and raft of piled raft foundation. “ABAQUS” finite element-based
software has been used to analyse the pile raft foundation system. Load sharing ratio has been calculated
based on parametric variation such as length to diameter ratio of pile, raft thickness, and spacing to
diameter ratio pile raft foundation system. However, for the calculation of load sharing ratio, vertical
stress (S22) is taken from a different elevation, such as just below of raft, top of the pile, and bottom of
the pile. The load settlement curve shows that load carrying capacity pile increases with the increase in
relative density of sand. As a result, load sharing by raft is increasing while pile sharing is reducing as
the relative density of sand increases; at very dense conditions, load sharing by pile and raft is nearly
equal. It is also observed that the maximum proportion (75-90) % of the load transfer through the shaft
bearing of the pile to the total pile sharing, and the rest are taken by the end bearing of the pile.

Keywords: Pile foundation; Load-sharing; Raft; Sand; ABAQUS

1 Introduction:

Due to the limited availability of horizontal space, the present rapid global civilization has increased the
number and height of high-rise and super high-rise buildings. As a consequence of this scenario,
combination piled-raft foundations are being used more frequently everywhere. The Burj Khalifa Dubai,
the tallest structure in the world, also has a piled-raft foundation. Several researchers are still interested
in this topic because there are few design guidelines and standards for piled-raft foundations. Reul and
Randolph (2004) presented an optimal design for a pile raft foundation that was subjected to non-
uniform vertical stress on the upper layer of Frankfurt clay that was rocky Frankfurt lime underneath.
They concluded that optimum design depends on subsoil conditions. Sanctis and Mandolini
(2006) proposed the bearing capacity of a pile raft foundation on soft clay. According to their findings, a
piled raft's safety factor is marginally less than the combined safety factors of an unpiled raft and a free-
stand pile group. Using FEM software (Abaqus), Lee et al. (2010) investigated the effects of different
pile lengths and pile configurations for a square raft subjected to vertical loading on the 3D behaviour of
a piled raft on soft clay. The findings suggested that using a small number of well-placed piles could
enhance the raft's carrying capacity as well as settlement performance. A finite element analysis using
PLAXIS 3D was carried out by Lee et al. (2015) to examine the load-sharing behaviour of piled rafts
lying in the sand. A normalised load-sharing model that included the load capacity interaction factor was
proposed based on the findings of finite element analyses. Park et al. (2016) investigated the load-
carrying performance of piled rafts encased in sands using finite element analysis (FEA) utilizing
PLAXIS 3D. For both bored and driven-pile examples, the values of the load-sharing ratio showed non-
linear variations with the settlement. Alnuaim et al. (2016) used the finite element model-based software
PLAXIS 3D to examine the performance of the micro pile raft (MPR) in the sand. Comparing the MPR
system to an isolated raft system, it was found that this one could 1.9 times improve the allowed bearing
pressure. Kim et al. (2018) investigated the load-sharing behaviour of a combination micro-piled raft in
the case of inclined pile conditions. The load-carrying capability of micro-piled rafts varied with the
inclination angle of micro piles, with inclined micro piles carrying a higher fraction of the load than
vertically planted micro piles. Mali and Singh (2019) used a 3D numerical model to evaluate whether
piled rafts constructed on the uniform and varied soil profiles responded concerning settlement and load-
sharing. Based on the findings, it was concluded that any soil profile improves when pile spacing
differential settlement develops. It is also seen to be lower in pile raft configurations (PRC) that are 'V'-
shaped. The load-sharing ratio increased as pile spacing increased, maximum in 'W'-shaped PRCs. Using
the 3D finite element programme Abaqus, Deb and Pal (2019) carried out a series of numerical model to
analyse how the pile raft responded to combined vertical and lateral loading. They came to the
conclusion that the vertical load plays an important role in maintaining the lateral response of the piled
raft and that the piled raft foundation behaves differently under combined load and pure lateral stress.
Chanda et al. (2020) investigated the influence of combined vertical, moment, and horizontal load on
the static response of piled raft foundations embedded in homogenous sandy soil using PLAXIS 3D. It
was observed that piled-raft lateral capacity increases due to combined loading than that of independent
capacity. Halder and Manna (2020) performed a load-sharing behaviour of pile raft foundation in the
sand medium using PLAXIS 3D (finite element method) under vertical static load. From the result, it
was shown how overlapping stress zones impact load response and load sharing behaviour of pile raft
foundations. Bhartiya et al. (2021) proposed a serviceability-based load–settlement response on a
combined pile raft foundation resting on the sand. They provided a guideline chart on different shapes of
pile raft foundations that will help the designer choose an economical design aspect. Kumar and
Kumar(2023) suggested that proper settlement level can give optimum foundation system.

From the literature summary, it is clear that maximum work attention is paid to the load-settlement
behaviour of combined pile raft foundations, and less attention is paid to the load-sharing behaviour.
Halder and Manna (2020) observed that the load distribution among pile and raft is key design aspect
of pile raft foundation; that why present study has focused on load sharing behaviour of combined pile
raft foundations using FEM approach.

2 Numerical modelling and its validation:

This section describes the specifics of the parametric research for the piled raft foundation embedded in
sand using the finite element model (FEM) and its validation. The finite element-based program
ABAQUS is used to perform three-dimensional finite element analysis. The 3D FE model is validated
using the results of the centrifuge tests on piled raft foundations described in Bhartiya et al. (2021). The
parametric analysis is then conducted using the verified model to examine the effects of different
geometric parameters on the performance of piled raft foundations in sand.

2.1Numerical Modelling
To find a solution for any problem, experimental method, analytical method and numerical analysis are
generally performed. In the some circumstances analytical method cannot implemented due to geometric
complexity and lack of standard methodology and experimental method much more expansive for proper
field condition simulation in such a condition numerical method able to provide an instant solution which
one more valuable above circumstances. In the present study has been carried out with help of finite
element based software namely ABAQUS. Study has been done on combined pile raft foundation which
contains the soil continuum, pile and raft. Mesh convergence study has been carried out to get better
accuracy of the result. For modelling the combine pile raft foundation by creating different part such as
soil, pile and raft from part module then assigned the property and assembled them. The failure
behaviour of sand has been considered as elastic perfectly plastic that model easily accessible in Abaqus
library which model required less number of input parameter that’s are easily collected from laboratory
experiment. An interaction between pile-soil and raft-soil has been taken as master surface and slave
surface concept. Master surface is stiffer surface and slave surface is less stiff surface according to this
concept pile and raft surface consider as master surface and soil consider as slave surface. Friction
contact has been used as an interaction property (Sihna and Hanna 2016).Value of coefficient of
interaction calculated as tan( ∅) , where ø is angle of internal friction.Due to symmetry about loading
tothe model, quarter part of model has been considered for analysis ( Bhartiya et al. (2021)).Because of
symmetry plane along the mid axis of soil body boundary taken as XISMM (symmetry about plane X,
along this direction translation is zero) and ZISMM (symmetry about plane Z, along this direction
translation is zero).Bottom face of soil boundary has been considered as encaster (means all translation
and rotation restrained).In loading phase at first geostatic stress has been applied to the whole model and
later on in loading stage uniform vertical displacement has been applied at the top of the raft. For better
accuracy of result in meshing global seed and local seed both has been implemented. Local seed has been
covered on raft and soil under the loading and local seed size is 500mm×500mm. Global seed
implemented all over the model and global seed size is 1000mm×1000mm.

2.2. Geometric Modelling:To minimize the boundary effect combined pile raft model boundary has
been fixed up and soil boundary fixed up three times rafts width(3Br) in both side in horizontal
projection and vertically two times of pile length (2Lp)(Mali and Singh(2019)). Fig.1 presented the
three dimensional schametic diagram of combined pile raft foundation.

3Br

2Lp

Fig.1 Three dimensional schametic diagram of combined pile raft foundation

2.3 Verification of the finite element model: A square micro piled raft foundation embedded in sand is
taken into account in the verification of the FE analysis.Four circular micro-piles, each measuring 200
mm in length and 9.53 mm in diameter, were used to link the model raft. The dimensions of breadth,
length, and thickness of combined pile raft material having a density of 2400 kg/m3, Elastic modulus of
2900 MPa, and Poisson's ratio of 0.4. The angle of internal friction of sand was 39°, the density was
1490 kg/m3, the relative density was 70%, Elastic modulus of soil was 2 MPa, and also Poission ratio
was 0.3. Fig. 2 shows the comparison of load- settlement curves of pile raft foundation obtained from
present study using ABAQUS software and Bhartiya et al. (2021). From the Figure (Fig.2) it is found
that the results obtained from present investigation is very close to each other.

Fig.2 Comparison of load

load- settlement curves of pile raft foundation

3. Plan:

Table 1 presents plan of work of the present study. In the present investigation foundation medium has
been used as sand with varying relative density (11.33% to 86.56 %). The raft thickness of the pile raft
foundation kept as 0.5m, 1m,, 1.5m and 2m
2m. Whereas, length to diameter ratio has been kept as 10, 15,
20, 25, and also centre to centre spacing to diameter ratio of the pile was taken 1.5, 2 and 2.5
respectively. In the present study raft thickness was analysed to study the effect of raft thickness on load-
load
bearing capacity and load sharing between piles raft systems. The most crucial parameter in the pile raft
system is the pile length-to-diameter
diameter ratio because load
load-carrying
carrying capacity directly depends on the pile
length-to-diameter ratio. Pile spacing is also an essential parameter in the pile raft foundation system. To
overcome the pile-to-pile
pile interaction effect, variation of pile spacing is required; for this reason, present
study has considered the pile spaci
spacing to diameter ratio. In the present study pile group system (2×2) has
been has considered.
Table-1 Plan of work

Parameter Different relative density

Sand Sand Sand density Sand density Sanddensity
densityindex densityindex index index index
(Rd=11.55%) (Rd=33.29%) (Rd=56.54%) (Rd=71.92%) (Rd=86.38%)
Thickness 0.5m,1m,1.5m 0.5m,1m,1.5m 0.5m,1m,1.5m 0.5m,1m,1.5m 0.5m,1m,1.5m
of raft and 2m and 2m and 2m and 2m and 2m
Pile length 10,15,20 and 25 10,15,20 and 25 10,15,20 and 25 10,15,20 and 25 10,15,20 and 25
to dia ratio
Pile spacing 1.5,2 and 2.5 1.5,2 and 2.5 1.5,2 and 2.5 1.5,2 and 2.5 1.5,2 and 2.5
to dia ratio

4. Material Properties

4.1Material Properties of Sand: The soils employed in the FE analyses were sands with five distinct
relative densities, DR = 11.55%, 33.29%, 56.54%, 71.92%and 86.38%. The property of soil has been
chosen based on the earlier researcher, Das and Bera (2019). The Mohr-Coulomb elastic perfectly plastic
constitutive model used to understand the failure behaviour of these soils. The values of Young modulus,
angle of internal friction, and density of the sand for respective relative density are presented in the
Table2Table-2 Properties of sand

Density Unit Weight (kN/m3) Elastic modulus (kPa) Friction angle (degree)
Index
0.1155 14.40 2000 32
0.3329 15.00 2500 35
0.5654 15.70 4000 39
0.7192 16.20 5500 41
0.8638 16.70 7000 43

4.2Properties of Raft and Pile material

In the values of pile raft materials viz., density (kg/m3), E (MPa), and Poisson’s ratio has been consider
as 2500, 3000, and 0.20 respectively. The value of properties of the pile raft has been chosen based on
the earlier researcher (Halder and Manna (2020)).
Table -3 Properties of pile and raft material

Density(kg/m3) Elastic Modulus (MPa) Poission Ratio

2500 3000 0.20

5. Result and Discussion:

For design of combined pile raft foundation system lload

ad sharing ratio is important key parameter with
respect to economic concern. According to Lee et al. (2010) the piled raft coefficient describes the ratio
of the sum of all pile loads to the total load of the foundation. A piled raft coefficient of one re
represents a
freestanding pile group whereas the piled raft coefficient of null describes an unpiled raft. Figure 3
describes vertical
ertical deformation contour of pile raft
raft. Figures ( 4-6)
6) represents a typical load settlement
curve
urve of pile raft foundation with va
varying raft thickness,, pile length to diameter ratio, and spacing to
diameter ratio respectively

Fig.3 Vertical deformation contour of pile raft foundation

Fig.4Load
Load settlement ccurve
urve of pile raft foundation with varying raft thickness

Fig.5 Load settlement ccurve of pile raft foundation

tion with varying l/d ratio
 Fig.6 Load settlement ccurve of pile raft foundation
tion with varying s/d ratio

Figures (7-9)) describes the total load sharing of the pile and individual contribution of shaft sharing and
tip sharing variation concerning the raft thickness of the combined pile raft system.
system.Figures
Figures (10-12) shows
the total load sharing, shaft sharing, and tip sharing of pile variation for pile l/d ratio. Figure 13
represents the effect of pile spacing on load sharing in a variation of combined pile rafts foundation.
Fig
Fig.7.Raft thickness vs. total pile load sharing

Fig.8Raft thickness vs. pile shaft sharing

 Fig.9 Raft thickness vs.pile tip sharing

Fig.10 Pile length to dia. ratio vs. total pile load sharing
Fig.11 Pile length to dia. ratio vs. pile shaft sharing

Fig.12
.12 Pile length to dia. ratio vs. pile tip sharing
 Fig.13 Pile spacing to dia ratio vs. total pile load sharing.

5.1 Discussion
From above results discussion has been made as follows:

5.1.1 Effect of raft thickness on load sharing ratio of piled raft foundation
foundation:
Raft thickness influencess the load sharing behaviour of pile raft foundation
foundation. Figure 7 presents the raft
thickness versus total pile load sharing curves. From the figure
figure,, it has been shown that with increasing
raft thickness, total pile sharing decreases as a results raft sharing is increasing. Similar results was
shown by Halder and Manna (2020
(2020). Variation with raft thickness to total load sharing of pile and shaft
sharing decreasing but tip sharing slightly increasing non
non-linearly. From Fig. 4, it shows that due to
increase the raft thickness, raft capacity increases for this raft sharing also increases.

5.1.2Effect
Effect of pile length to diameter ratio (l/d) on load sharing ratio of piled raft foundation:
foundation

With increasing l/d ratio (keeping

keeping pile diameter is 1 m as constant value) pile shaft area also increases,
i as
a result pile capacity also increases. Fig.5 shows the load settlement curve
urve of pile raft foundation
founda with
varying l/d ratio (10 to 25).. From the figure it is found that with increase in l/d ratio (10 to 25) load
carrying capacity of pile rafted foundation also incr
increases. Halder and Manna (2020) also presented the
similar results. Fig.11 and Fig.12 presents the pile length to pile diameter ratio versus pile shaft sharing
and the pile length to pile diameter ratio versus pile tip sharing curve respectively. From the figures it is
found that the pile shaft load sharing increases linearly, but pile tip loading sharing increases non-linearly
with respect to l/d ratio. The reason may be that with increasing pile length to diameter ratio, pile shaft
area is also increasing and pile sharing is increasing.

5.1.3Effect of pile spacing to diameter ratio on load sharing ratio of piled raft foundation:

For maximum utilization of pile capacity overlapping stress zone between two adjacent piles should be
minimum, so pile spacing has been considered as an essential parameter.Fig.6 presents the load
settlement curve of pile raft foundation with varying s/d ratio. From the figure 6 it is found that with
increasing centre to centre spacing of pile the pile capacity also increases.Fig.13 represent Pile spacing to
dia ratio vs. total pile load sharing curve and from the it is clear that variation of total pile load sharing
and shaft sharing increases linearly, and tip sharing increases linearly with respect to s/d ratio.

6. Conclusions:
From the above study, a finite element-based analysis has been worked out to explore the load
distribution behaviour of the combined piled raft foundation system in a homogeneous cohesionless soil
medium with five different relative densities. The following conclusions have been drawn from the
above study

The variation of structural parameter, raft thickness influences load carrying capacity of pile raft
foundation. It has been found that pile load sharing decreases and raft sharing increases with increasing
raft thickness for low to high relative density of sand.
From analysis, it has been shown that with an increment of pile length to diameter ratio in the present
study total pile load sharing increases.
It has been pointed out from the above result that pile spacing plays an essential role in load sharing ratio
of pile raft foundation. In the present study, pile spacing to diameter increases from 1.5 to 2.5; pile load
sharing increases in each case.
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