Wharf Construction - Structural fuse can be seen in foreground

Batter/raking piles
• The resistance of vertical piles to lateral loads is very small even in good soil.
• The most effective way of arranging piles to resist lateral loads is to have pairs
of piles raking in opposite directions.
• Depending on the degree of inclination, piles driven at an angle with the
vertical can have a much higher lateral-load capacity than vertical piles since a
large part of the lateral load can be carried in axial compression.
• To minimize construction problems, however, pile batters (rake) should be
less than 1 horizontal to 2 vertical.
 Distribution of loads on pile groups
• The load carried by an individual pile or group of piles
in a foundation depends upon the structure concerned
and the loads carried.
• The distribution of loads to the individual piles
depends upon the amount of vertical and horizontal
movement at the base of the structure and the amount
of rotational movement about some center.
• If the base of structure is rigid and the piles are all
vertical, a vertical load applied at the center of gravity
of the pile group will be distributed equally to all the
piles and the load (Pv) on each pile is given by:
Q
Pv 
n
 Resultant not at center of gravity

• If the resultant of all the vertical loads acting on a

pile group does not pass through the center of
gravity of the pile group, the distribution of the
loads to the individual piles is indeterminate
indeterminate.
• The approximate methods disregard the
characteristics of the soil and piles and the
restraint of the embedded pile head.
• For vertical pile foundations where the soil and
piles offer great resistance to movement,
approximate methods give results equivalent to
those obtained by more refined methods.
 Loads on batter piles
• The simple graphical method of determining the
compressive and tensile forces in the piles by a triangle
of forces assumes that the piles are hinged at their
point of intersection and that the lateral loads are
carried only in an axial direction by the piles.
• Where raking piles are embedded in fill which is
settling under its own weight or in a compressible clay
subjected to a surcharge load or to superimposed fill
the vertical loading on the upper surface of the rakers
may induce high bending moments in the pile shaft
• Because of this, raking piles may not be an appropriate
form of construction in deep fill or compressible
layers.
layers
 Loads on batter piles …
• Loads on individual piles forming a group of
vertical piles that is subject to horizontal
loading or to combined vertical and horizontal
loading can be determined:
– simply (for cases where the resultant cuts the
underside of the pile capcap) by taking moments
about the neutral axis of the pile group.
– Only by computerized method in case of arbitrary
loading
 Simplified method

• the vertical component PV of the load on any pile produced by

an inclined thrust R, where R is the resultant of a horizontal
load H and a vertical load Q is given by:

Two – dimensional case: PV 

Q M yx
n

Iy
; where I y  x 2

Q M yx Mxy
Three-dimensional case: PV 
n

Iy

Ix
 Example 1
• A piled dolphin carrying a horizontal pull of 1800 kN
consists of a pair of compression piles and a pair of tension
piles, raked at angles of 1 horizontal to 3 vertical. Design
‘dead’ anchors for the tension piles, which are driven
through 3 m of weak weathered chalk to near-refusal on
strong rock chalk (having an average submerged density of
0.5 Mg/m3).
 Solution
R R

From trigonometric relationships 900

900
R  2846 kN

cos tan 1
3
 Example 2

• Calculate the load acting on each pile if the

resultant of gravity of the pile group, X = 0.
Calculate the load acting on each pile if it acts at a
distance X=-1.22 m.
• Assume that the bent is subjected to a load Q of
135 tons including both dead and live loads.
• Assume that the resultant of the vertical loads
acts at a position -X m to the right of the center
of gravity of the bent.
• Distances to the left are plus and distances to the
right are minus.
 solution

• If the resultant acts at the center of gravity of

the pile group, the load acting on each pile is
the same and is given as follows.

Q 135
PV   15 tons per pile
n 9
• If the resultant acts 1.22 m to the right of the
center of the gravity of the bent, the load
acting on each pile can be computed from the
following formula.
Q M yx
PV   Iy 
S2
12
 
n  n 2  1 # rows 
n Iy

ex = -1.22 m;
Q = 135 tons; n = 9; S = 0.9 m
 Iy = 48.6 m2

Substituting these values of n, ex, and Iy into the above equation gives the following:

135 135(1.22) x
PV    15  3.39 x
9 48.6
Pile No. Q/n x (m) -3.39 x PV(tons)
1 15 3.6 -12.204 2.8
2 15 2.7 -9.153 5.8
3 15 1.8 -6.102 8.9
4 15 0.9 -3.051 11.9
5 15 0 0.000 15.0
6 15 -0.9 3.051 18.1
7 15 -1.8 6.102 21.1
8 15 -2.7 9.153 24.2
9 15 -3.6 12.204 27.2
 Pile cap
• A pile cap is a reinforced concrete structural slab used to distribute
a column load to a group of piles.
• A pile cap has the function of spreading the load from a
compression or tension member onto a group of piles so that, as far
as possible, the load is shared equally between the piles.
• The pile cap also accommodates deviations from the intended
positions of piles, and by rigidly connecting all the piles in one
group by a massive block of concrete, the ill
ill--effects of one or more
defective piles are overcome by redistributing the loads
loads.
• The minimum number of small diameter piles which is permitted in
an isolated pile cap is three.
• Caps for single piles must be interconnected by ground beams in
two directions, and for twin piles by ground beams in a line
transverse to the common axis of the pair.
Pile cap
Dealing with Eccentricity
Dealing with Eccentricity
The modes of failure for a pile cap include

1. Crushing of the concrete under the column or

over the pile.
2. Bursting of the side cover where the pile
transfers its load to the pile cap.
3. Yielding of the tension reinforcement.
4. Anchorage failure of the tension reinforcement
5. Two-way shear failure where the cone of
material inside the piles punches downward
 Flexure

• The external moment on any section of a cap

(footing on piles) shall be determined by
passing a vertical plane through the footing,
and computing the moment of the forces
acting over entire area of footing on one side
of the vertical plane.
• The critical section is located at the face of the
column for caps (footings on piles) supporting
a column.
 Shear

• The critical section for shear shall be

measured from the face of the column for
caps (footings supported on piles) supporting
a column (d for one way shear and d/2 for
two-way shear).
• It states that where the distance between the
axis of any pile to the axis of the column is
more than two times the distance between
the top of the pile cap and the top of the pile
Load and eccentricity on pile cap
Plan view
Critical section for bending
 STEP-BY-STEP DESIGN PROCEDURE FOR PILED FOUNDATIONS

– Precast concrete tube with open end.

Step 1 Select type of pile – Prestressed concrete tube with open end.
– Steel H-section.
• The type of pile will depend on the following – Screw pile.
principal factors: • Non-displacement piles
– Environmental issues like noise, vibration. – Bored and cast-in-situ concrete pile.
– Location of structure. – Steel tube in bored hole filled with concrete.
– Type of structure. – Steel or precast section in drilled hole.
– Ground conditions.
– Durability requirements.
– Programme duration.
– Cost.
• The commonly available types of piles can
be broadly classified as below.
• Large-displacement piles (driven)
– Precast concrete.
– Prestressed concrete.
– Steel tube with closed end.
– Steel tube filled with concrete.
• Small-displacement piles (driven)
• Step 2 Determine vertical capacity of single pile.
• Step 3 Determine horizontal capacity of single
pile.
– Note: Horizontal capacity of a single pile is limited by
maximum deflection of pile cap that structure can
accommodate and also by pile structural capacity.
• Step 4 Determine approximate number of piles
and spacing
• Step 5 Determine size of pile cap
– Allow 1.5D from centre of pile to edge of pile cap.
– Depth of pile cap is governed by the following:
• Shrinking and swelling of clay.
• Frost attacks.
• Holding down bolt assemblies for columns.
• Water table and soluble sulphates.
• Pile anchorage.
• Punching shear capacity of pile cap.

• Step 6 Carry out load combination

• Step 7 Check pile group effects
• Step 8 Carry out analysis of pile cap
• Step 9 Determine cover to reinforcement
• Step 10 Calculate area of reinforcement in pile cap
M
K  0.156
f cu bd 2
• M = bending moment as found in Step 8 at ultimate limit state
• where fcu = concrete characteristic cube strength at 28 days
Step 11 shear stress in pile cap
Zones of enhanced shear stress on critical section
Step12 Check punching shear stress in pile cap
• Step 13 Check area of reinforcement in pile
• Step 14 check stresses in prestressed concrete
pile
• Step 15 Check shear capacity of RC pile
• Step 16 Check shear capacity of prestressed pile
• Step 17 Check minimum reinforcement in RC pile
• Step 18 Check minimum prestress in prestressed
pile
• Step 19 Check maximum reinforcement in RC pile
Load transfer from column to deep Arrangement of reinforcement in pile caps
four-pile cap