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PILE FOUNDATION
REKHASREE K S
NITC

PILE CAPACITY
Ultimate bearing capacity of pile

Load transfer mechanism.

End bearing
Skin friction

STATIC ANALYSIS
DYNAMIC ANALYSIS

Static analysis

With driven piles the term involving the size of the pile is

invariably negligible compared with the surcharge term q .

Nq

Large-scale tests by Vesic (1967) in the U.S.A. and

Kerisel (1967) in France indicate that the critical depth Zc

is a function of density index.

(D is the dimension of the pile cross-section).

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Nc ranges from 6 to 10 depending upon the stiffness of

the clay: a value of 9 is taken for Nc conventionally

q is not significant compared to cNc

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ca = adhesion, which is independent of the normal

pressure on the contact area. Cohesion c is used if the

shearing is between soil and soil
h = average lateral pressure of soil against the pile
surface;
= angle of wall friction, which depends upon the material
of the pile h

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For piles in sand

The values of tan may be determined by direct shear

tests in which one half of the shear box is replaced by the

same material as the pile surface

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For piles in clay:

is called the adhesion factor, which varies with the

consistency of the clay.

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Mayerhofs method

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DYNAMIC ANALYSIS

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Dynamic analysis of pile

Establishing a relationship between pile capacity and the

resistance offered to driving with a hammer.

This is appropriate for piles penetrating soils such as sands
and hard clays that will not develop pore water pressures
during installation.
The loading and failure produced by driving with a hammer
occurs in a fraction of a second, whereas in the structure the
load is applied over a fairly long period.

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A fixed relation between dynamic and long-term capacity

can exist only in a soil for which shear strength is

independent of the rate of loading.

Ultimate load carrying capacity formulas are based on

the principle :
The resistance of a pile to further penetration by riving
depends upon the energy imparted to the pile by the
hammer.

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Engineering news Record(ENR)

formula
Derived from observations of driving of timber piles in sand

with a drop hammer.

Qup = ultimate capacity of the pile

Wh= weight of pile hammer
H = height of fall of hammer
s = final penetration (set) per blow. It is taken as average

penetration per blow for the last 5 blows or 20 blows

depending on whether the hammer is a drop hammer or
steam hammer
C = empirical constant

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A factor of safety of 6 was introduced to make up for any

inaccuracies arising from the use of arbitrary values for the

constant.

The value of C (in cm) is taken as 2.5 for drop hammer,

and 0.25 for steam hammer

H and s are respectively in metres and millimetres. Qap in
the same units as Wh.

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For double acting steam hammers:

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For wood piles driven with drop hammers and for lightly

loaded short piles driven with steam hammers, the

Engineering News formula gives a crude indication of pilecapacity. For other conditions, it can be very misleading.

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Hileys Formula
This formula takes into account various losses.

Wh = weight of hammer
Wp=weight of pile
H = height of fall of hammer
= Efficiency of hammer blow
Cr =coefficient of restitution
The allowable load Qap may be obtained by dividing Qup by

a suitable factor of safety, which may be 2 to 2.5. (The

formula is dimensionally homogeneous).

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In I.S: 2911 (Part I)-1974 the Hiley-formula is given

in a slightly different form

where

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If the driving is without dolly or helmet and cushion about

2.5 cm thick

If the driving is with short dolly up to 60 cm, long helmet

and cushion up to 7.5 cm thick

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This is applicable for friction piles.

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For point-bearing piles, a value 1/2Wp is substituted for

Wp.
The value . H is also referred to as the effective fall of
hammer.

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Negative Skin Friction

(down drag)

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phenomenon which occurs when a soil layer surrounding

a portion of the pile shaft settles more than the pile.

This condition can develop where a soft or loose soil

stratum located anywhere above the pile tip is subjected

to new compressive loading.

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Negative skin friction imposes an extra downward load on

the pile.

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The skin-friction-adhesion developing in this zone is in the

direction of the soil movement, pulling the pile downward.

Extra loading is thus imposed on the pile.
Negative skin friction may also occur by the lowering of

ground water which increases the effective stress

inducing consolidation and consequent settlement of the
soil surrounding the pile.

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It is necessary to subtract negative skin friction force from

the total load that the pile can support.

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For cohesive soils

Qnf= Negative skin friction force on the pile

P = Perimeter of the pile section
Dn = Depth of compressible layer settling in relation to the

pile
and c = Unit cohesion of soil layer which is setting

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For cohesionless soils

= unit weight of soil in the compressible zone

K = earth pressure coefficient (Ka < K < Kp)
= angle of wall friction (/2 < < )

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PILE GROUPS

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Group action of piles

The bearing capacity of a pile group is not necessarily the

capacity of the individual pile multiplied by the number of

piles in the group; the phenomenon by virtue of which this
discrepancy occurs is known as Group action of piles.

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Number of Piles and Spacing

pile cap- which is typically a reinforced concrete slab

structurally connected to the pile heads to help the group

act as a unit

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For a wall:
piles for walls are commonly installed in a staggered

arrangement to both sides of the centre line of the wall

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For column:
For a column, at least three piles are used in a triangular

pattern, even for small loads.

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When more than three piles are required in order to obtain

adequate capacity, the arrangement of piles is

symmetrical about the point or area of load application.

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Spacing of piles
Factors :
Overlapping of stresses of adjacent piles
cost of foundation
The desired efficiency of the pile group

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Stress isobars of single pile and groups of piles

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Driven piles greater overlap of stresses due to the displacement

of soil.
If piles are driven in loose sand compaction takes place and

hence, the spacing may be small.

If piles are driven in saturated silt or clay compaction does not

take place but the piles may experience uplift, To avoid this,
greater spacing.
Cast-in-situ piles less disturbance, Smaller spacings may be

used.
Point-bearing piles may be more closely spaced than friction piles.

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Spacing
Straight
piles

uniform

Friction piles

cylindrical 2d to 6d
3d

Point-bearing piles passing 2.5d when the piles rest in

through
relatively compact sand or gravel
compressible strata
3.5d when the piles rest in
stiff clay

compaction piles

2d

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Group capacity

The sum of the capacities of the individual piles is

compared with the capacity of the single large equivalent

(block) pile; the smaller of the two values is taken

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The skin friction resistance of the single large equivalent

pile (block) is obtained by multiplying the surface area of

the group by the shear strength of the soil around the
group.
The end-bearing resistance is computed by using the

general bearing capacity equation of Terzaghi

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Pile groups in cohesionless soils

For driven piles embedded in cohesionless soils

the capacity of the large equivalent pile (block) will be

almost always greater than the sum of the capacities of
individual piles, in view of the densification that occurs
during driving.
If the pile tips rest on compressible soils such as clay

the pile group capacity is governed by the shear

strength and compressibility of clay soil, rather than on
the characteristics of the cohesionless soil.

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Bored piles or cast-in-situ concrete piles

Boring is accompanied invariably by some degree of

loosening of the soil, the group capacity of such piles will

be somewhat less than the sum of individual pile
capacities.

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Pile groups in cohesive soils

considerable remoulding especially when the soil is soft

and sensitive.

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Negative skin friction

The larger of the two values for Qng is chosen as the

negative skin friction.

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Pile group Efficiency(g)

The ratio of the group capacity, Qg to the sum of the

capacities of the number of piles n, in the group:

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Depends upon parameters :

Types of soil in which the piles are embedded and on which

they rest
Method of installation
spacing of piles
Vesic (1967) has shown that end-bearing resistance is

virtually unaffected by group action.

skin friction resistance increases with increase in spacing
for pile groups in sands.
For pile groups in clay, the skin friction component of the
resistance decreases for certain pile spacings
Efficiencies of pile groups in clay tend to be less than unity

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Sowers et al. (1961)

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Converse-Labarre formula

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Felds rule
According to Felds rule, the value of each pile is

reduced by one-sixteenth owing to the effect of the

nearest pile in each diagonal or straight row of which the
particular pile is a member.

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Seiler-Keeney formula

m=the number of rows of piles

n= number of piles in a row
s =pile spacing

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Thank You