Ground Modification, Problem Soils, and Geo-Support: Behavior of Disconnected Pile Foundation System

GROUND MODIFICATION, PROBLEM SOILS, AND GEO-SUPPORT 305
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Behavior of Disconnected Pile Foundation System
Jung-In Choi1, BEngr, Ki-Hoon Min2, BEngr, Sung-Ho Kim3, M.S., P.E.,
Oh Sung Kwon4, Ph.D., Myoung Mo Kim5, Ph.D., M.ASCE
1
Ph.D Student, Department of Civil Engineering, Seoul National University, San 56-1, Shinlim-Dong,
Kwanak-Ku, Seoul, 151-742, Korea, next2u00@snu.ac.kr
2
Deputy General Manager, POSCO Engineering & Construction Co.,Ltd., Dae Rung B/D. 5F, 826-20
Yeoksam-Dong, Gangnam-Gu, Seoul, 135-769, Korea, khmin@poscoenc.com
3
President, JIN YOUNG Engineering & Consultants Co., LTD., 2nd, Shinwoo B/D. 1239-12,
Gaepo-Dong, Gangnam-Gu, Seoul, 135-960, Korea, shkim@jinyoungenc.com
4
Ph.D., Technology Research Institute, Daelim Industrial Co., Ltd., 146-12, Susong-Dong, Jongno-Ku,
Seoul, 110-732, Korea, kwonos1@daelim.co.kr
5
Prof., Department of Civil Engineering, Seoul National University, San 56-1, Shinlim-Dong,
Kwanak-Ku, Seoul, 151-742, Korea, geotech@snu.ac.kr (corresponding author)
ABSTRACT: In the design of a foundation, the settlement of the foundation may

exceed allowable design criteria even with a competent bearing stratum. In such a case,
a pile foundation system may be adopted using piles as a settlement reducing
component. In this paper, Disconnected Pile Foundation (DPF) system, which installs
disconnected piles underneath the footing and uses the piles as ground reinforcements,
is studied as a cost effective design method against the classical pile foundation system.
To this end, large size loading tests were carried out on weathered ground, changing
area replacement ratio and length of piles. The results indicated that the settlement of
the reinforced ground was reduced by 46~85% from that of the unreinforced original
ground. The correlating formula between the area replacement ratio and the load
bearing ratio of piles was derived from the test results and numerical analysis. From
the correlation, a design method determining the size and the quantity of the
disconnected piles to enhance the bearing capacity of original ground to the desired
value was proposed based on settlement criteria.
INTRODUCTION
A pile foundation is used to supplement a shallow foundation either by increasing

the bearing capacity of the foundation or reducing the settlement of it under design
load.
The pile foundation however would result in high stress concentration on the pile
head and localized high bending moment on a footing. On the other hand,
Disconnected Pile Foundation (DPF) system is a new concept solution, which uses a
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Copyright ASCE 2009 2009 International Foundation Congress and Equipment Expo
Contemporary Topics in Ground Modification, Problem Soils, and Geo-Support Page 1
306 GROUND MODIFICATION, PROBLEM SOILS, AND GEO-SUPPORT
disconnected pile as a reinforcing element, not as a structural element, in increasing

ground stiffness (Wong et al. 2000).
By disconnecting the piles from the footing, the stress level on a pile head can be
reduced by spreading the working load on the footing to the surrounding ground, and
this, in turn, would lead to the reduction of the required number of piles to meet the
design load and thus save cost considerably.
Studies of the DPF system have been performed by many researchers and it has
been confirmed that DPF system can reduce settlement and increase bearing capacity,
effectively (e.g., Wong et al. (2000), Cao et al. (2004), Abdrabbo et al. (2004), Lee et
al. (2007)). Wong et al. (2000) reported that the disconnection of piles from the footing
does not significantly affect the piles effectiveness in reducing footing settlements and
bending moments. But the design method applying this system to practice has yet to be
developed. In this study, the behavior of the DPF system was analyzed by carrying out
large plate load tests on weathered soil ground of SPT(N), 15~20, nine times by
changing the area replacement ratio and the pile length. The results of the field load
tests were simulated by numerical analysis and the design method of the DPF system
was proposed on the basis of the parametric studies.
DESCRIPTION OF LOAD TEST
The ground of the test location was of weathered soil with SPT(N) value of 15~20
which is classified as SP by the Unified Soil Classification. The specific gravity of the
soil is 2.66, in place, and the dry unit weight, 18 kN/m3. The groundwater table was
located at 18m depth from the ground surface.
FIG. 1. Plan view of test site and soil profile
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Contemporary Topics in Ground Modification, Problem Soils, and Geo-Support
Large plate load tests were carried out nine times for three different sizes of
footings of 0.65m, 0.9m, 1.5m in width and 0.6m in thickness made of steel-reinforced
concrete.
The load tests were performed in three ways for the each size of the footing. The
three cases were as follows: one unreinforced case, one reinforced case with piles of
2m length, and one case with piles of 3m length, respectively. The pile diameter was
100mm. The piles were made of unreinforced concrete. A total of nine cast-in-place
piles were installed under the footing regardless of the footing size. The area
replacement ratio was 16.7%, 8.7% and 3.1% for 0.65m, 0.9m and 1.5m square
footing, respectively.
A compacted gravel layer of 10cm thickness was installed between the piles and
the footing. Figure 1 shows the plan view of the load test.
The allowable bearing capacity of the unreinforced ground was estimated as
30t/m2 from an empirical equation and the N values. The test pressures were applied
up to 300% of the allowable pressure for unreinforced ground and 450% for
reinforced ground following ASTM D1143-82.
TEST RESULTS AND ANALYSIS
The load test results are presented in Figure 2. In the Figure 2, it is seen that the
footings of 0.65m - and 1.5m - width with 3m piles are stiffer and bear greater loads
than those with 2m piles. But in the case of the 0.9m size footing, the trend is reversed
due to the local variability of the soil profiles
FIG. 2. Pressure-settlement curves
307
The ratios of settlement reduction by the disconnected piles are shown in Table 1
under the footing pressure of 90tf/m2, whose magnitude is three times the assumed
allowable bearing capacity of the original ground. In the table, it is shown that the
settlement of the reinforced ground was reduced by 46~85% from the settlement of the
original ground. Thus, it is evident that the disconnected piles are effective in reducing
settlements of the footings.
Table 1. Settlement Reduction Ratios for DPF system
Footing Pile length (m Settlement at 90tf/m2 Settlment reduction

size (m) ) loading stage (mm) ratio1) (%)
- 59.77 -
0.65 2 8.97 85
3 9.21 85
- 61 -
0.9 2 20.5 66
3 31.81 48
- 114.5 -
1.5 2 61.72 46
3 56.58 51
1)
100 - (settlement of reinforced case / settlement of unreinforced case) x 100
NUMERICAL ANALYSIS
For the case of field load tests, it was almost impossible to execute a sufficient
number of tests for a parametric study due to the high cost and long testing time. In this
study, the numerical analysis was conducted to develop a design method of the DPF
system. The results of actual field tests were compared with those of the numerical
analysis to confirm the validity of the numerical method. After the confirmation, a
parametric study was conducted for simplified cases of DPF with a single
disconnected pile. From the results of the parametric study the relationship between
the pile area replacement ratio and the load bearing ratio of the pile was proposed.
Numerical Analysis Method
The analytical program FLAC3D (Ver. 3.10) was utilized to simulate the field load
tests. The width of the numerical model was five times the footing width and the depth
was two times the pile length. Input data used for the numerical analysis are shown in
Table 2. The numerical analyses were conducted for three different soil conditions and
three different area replacement ratios. Table 3 shows the numeric test programs. The
elastic modulus of the soil was changed according to the soil conditions.
308
Table 2. Input Data for Numerical Analysis
Elastic Unit
Type of Depth Friction Cohesion
Model modulus Weight
Material (m) 1) Angle( ) (t/m2)
(Pa) (t/m3)
Upper Weathered
soil
0~0.5 M-C2) 1.4e7 38 3 1.8
Middle Weathered
0.5~3 M-C 1.8e7 38 3 1.8
soil
Lower Weathered
soil
3~6 M-C 2.1e7 38 3 1.8
Compacted
Layer
- M-C 2.5e7 40 0 2.0
Concrete
- Elastic 2e10 - - 2.5
(Pile & Footing)
1)
Elastic modulus = 7.5+0.8N(MPa) Anagnosopoulos (1990)
2)
Mohr-Coulomb
Table 3. Numerical Test Programs
Pile Diameter Area Replacement

Soil Condition N value1)
(mm) Ratio, ar2) (%)
100 3
Dense >30 200 12
300 28
100 3
Medium 10~30 200 12
300 28
100 3
Loose <10 200 12
300 28
1)
The ranges of N value according to the soil conditions were suggested by Peck(1974)
2)
Area replacement ratio = area of the piles / area of the footing
Numerical Analysis Results

Figure 3 shows the measured settlements together with the estimated settlements
by the numerical method for 1.5m square footing cases, which were either
unreinforced or reinforced by a total of 9 concrete piles of 3m length. It is seen from
the figure that the load settlement curves of the field measurement and numerical
analysis show good agreement.
Figure 4 shows the area replacement ratio versus the fraction of load taken by piles
for three different soil conditions. It can be seen that the load carried by piles decreases
as the soil condition improves. Table 4 shows the relations between the area
replacement ratio (ar) and the fraction of load taken by piles (R) for three different soil
conditions, which were obtained from the regression analysis.
309
FIG. 3. Comparison between measured and analysis results for unreinforced and
reinforced cases of 1.5m square footing
FIG. 4. Area replacement ratio versus fraction of loads taken by pile (all soil)
Table 4. Empirical Relations between Area Replacement Ratio and Fraction of

Load Taken by Piles for Three Different Kinds of Soil Conditions
Empirical relations between

Soil Condition N value 1)
R and ar
Dense >30 ar = Exp(3.086lnR + 5.36)
Medium 10~30 ar = Exp(3.356lnR + 5.29)
Loose <10 ar = Exp(3.534lnR + 5.19)
1)
R = Fraction of loads taken by pile = Load carried by the piles (Ppile) / total applied l
oad (Psoil+Ppile)
310
DETERMINATION OF AREA REPLACEMENT RATIO FOR DESIGN OF

DPF SYSTEM
To apply the DPF system to practical cases, the area replacement ratio satisfying
the design bearing capacity must be determined. To achieve this, the estimation
method of the area replacement ratio that will yield the target allowable bearing
capacity is suggested based on the settlement criteria.
The estimation procedures are as follows:
1. Determine the fraction of load(R) to be taken by the disconnected piles using
Eq. 1 which is suggested by POSCO E&C (2008).
qtarget qsoil
R= (1)
qtarget
where qtarget is design bearing capacity and qsoil is allowable bearing capacity of
original ground, respectively.
2. Determine the allowable bearing capacity of the original ground (qsoil) using
Eq. 2 suggested by Bowles (1977) according to the tolerable settlement of a
superstructure.
3.28 B + 1 2 S
qnet ( all ) (kN / m 2 ) = 11.98( N1 ) 60 ( ) Fd ( e ) ( B > 1.22 m) (2)
3.28B 25
where (N1)60 = corrected standard penetration number, B = foundation width, in m,

Fd = depth factor = 1+0.33(Df/B) 1.33, Se = tolerable settlement, in mm
3. Estimate the area replacement ratio that will yield the target allowable bearing
capacity using the equations shown in Table 4.
EXAMPLE FOR DESIGN OF DPF SYSTEM
Table 5 show examples of the required area replacement ratio that will yield
various target allowable bearing capacities for various soil conditions. The allowable
settlement of the superstructure was assumed to be one inch.
Table 5. Area Replacement Ratio Giving the Target Allowable Bearing Capacity
for Each Soil Condition
Allowable Target allowable bearing capacity

bearing qtarget (tf/m2)
Soil N
capacity of 20 30 40 50
Condition value
original soil
(tf/m2) Area replacement ratio to obtain qtarget
Dense 32 38 - - 0.02 % 3%
Medium 20 24 - 1% 10 % 22 %
Loose 8 10 16 % 43 % 65 % 82 %
311
CONCLUSIONS
From the field tests and the numerical analysis performed in this study,
conclusions are as the followings.
1. The field test results showed that the settlement of the reinforced ground was
reduced by 46~85% from that of the original ground. Therefore, it is verified that the
DPF system is an effective method of ground reinforcement.
2. The relationship between the area replacement ratio and the fraction of loads
taken by a pile was proposed from the results of parametric study using a numerical
method.
3. A method of estimating the area replacement ratio that will yield the target
allowable bearing capacity was suggested for three different states of soil conditions.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors wish to acknowledge the financial support by POSCO Engineering

and Construction Co., Ltd. and SNU SIR BK21 research Program funded by Ministry
of Education & Human Resources Development.
REFERENCES
Abdrabbo, F. M., Abouseeda, H. M., and Gaaver, K. E. (2004) "Performance of raft

with pile-settlement reducers." International Conference: Future Vision and
Challenges for Urban Development: 1-18.
Anagnostopoulos, A. G. (1990) "The compressibility of cohesionless soils."
Geotechnik, No.3
Bowles, J.E. (1977) Foundation Analysis and Design, 2nd ed., McGraw-Hill, New
York.
Cao, X. D., Wong, I. H., and Chang, .M. F. (2004) "Behavior of model rafts resting on
pile-reinforced sand." Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engrg.
130(2): 129-138.
Lee, Y. S., Hong, S. H. (2007) "Settlement-reducing effects of disconnected piled raft
foundation system." Proceeding of the 13th Asian Regional Conference on Soil
Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering: 273-288.
FLAC3D. (2006) "Users manual." Minneapolis, MN: Itasca Consulting Group Inc
Peck, R. D., Hanson, W. E., and Thornburn, T. H. (1974) Foundation Engineering,
John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York.
POSCO E&C. (2008) "Development of design method of disconnected pile
foundation system Final report."
Wong, I. H., Chang, M. F., and Cao, X. D. (2000) "Raft foundations with disconnected
settlement reducing piles.", Design application of raft foundations and ground
slabs, Chap. 17, Thomas Telford, London: 469-486.
312

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GROUND MODIFICATION, PROBLEM SOILS, AND GEO-SUPPORT 305

Behavior of Disconnected Pile Foundation System

ABSTRACT: In the design of a foundation, the settlement of the foundation may

A pile foundation is used to supplement a shallow foundation either by increasing

disconnected pile as a reinforcing element, not as a structural element, in increasing

DESCRIPTION OF LOAD TEST

FIG. 1. Plan view of test site and soil profile

TEST RESULTS AND ANALYSIS

FIG. 2. Pressure-settlement curves

Table 1. Settlement Reduction Ratios for DPF system

Footing Pile length (m Settlement at 90tf/m2 Settlment reduction

Numerical Analysis Method

Table 2. Input Data for Numerical Analysis

Table 3. Numerical Test Programs

Pile Diameter Area Replacement

Numerical Analysis Results

Table 4. Empirical Relations between Area Replacement Ratio and Fraction of

Empirical relations between

DETERMINATION OF AREA REPLACEMENT RATIO FOR DESIGN OF

where (N1)60 = corrected standard penetration number, B = foundation width, in m,

EXAMPLE FOR DESIGN OF DPF SYSTEM

Allowable Target allowable bearing capacity

The authors wish to acknowledge the financial support by POSCO Engineering

Abdrabbo, F. M., Abouseeda, H. M., and Gaaver, K. E. (2004) "Performance of raft

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