International Journal of Advanced in Management, Technology and Engineering Sciences ISSN NO : 2249-7455

BEHAVIOUR OF PILED-RAFT FOUNDATION UNDER NON-

UNIFORM VERTICAL LOADING
Mukul Kalita1, Dr. Utpal Kumar Nath2
1
Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, School of Technology, Assam Don Bosco University, Guwahati-781017
2
Associate Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Assam Engineering College, Guwahati-781013
E-mail: mukulkalita138@gmail.com, E-mail: ukn.ce@aec.ac.in (Corresponding Author)

Abstract
A raft foundation is a shallow foundation system which covers the entire plan area of a structure. When the raft foundation has
adequate bearing capacity but the settlement is not within allowable limit, a group of piles is strategically added under the raft to reduce the
settlement and/or relieve the raft of some load. This study presents the three dimensional finite element analysis of a piled-raft foundation
subjected to non-uniform vertical load in two types of soil condition - soft clay and loose sand. The study has been carried out for unpiled raft as
well as for 4-piled and 9-piled rafts, with varying pile length. Vertical loading, pile diameter, Poissons ratio and elastic modulus of raft, piles and
soil are kept constant throughout the analyses. Focus is thereby on two parameters, i.e. number of piles and pile length. Numerical analyses of
unpiled raft and piled-raft on the two different soil conditions are also carried out. Variation in the maximum values of settlements, bending
moments, torsional moments and shear forces in the raft due to varying pile number and pile length in clay and sandy soil are investigated and
general conclusions are made.

Keywords finite element analysis, piled-raft, vertical load, numerical analyses

1. INTRODUCTION
In the past few decades, there has been an increasing recognition that the use of pile groups in conjunction with the raft can lead to
considerable economy without compromising the safety and performance of the foundation. Such a foundation makes use of both the raft and the
piles, and is referred to here as a piled-raft. The use of piled-raft foundation has become popular in recent years, as the combined action of the
raft and the piles can increase the bearing capacity, reduce settlements, and the piles can be arranged so as to reduce deflection in the raft. A piled
raft foundation is economical compared to the pile foundation because piles in this case do not have to penetrate the full depth of soil stratum but
it can be terminated at higher elevations.
The main objective of the study is to investigate the influence of some of the factors such as pile length and number of piles on the
behavior of piled raft foundation system. The scope of this work is to investigate the variation of the peak values of settlement, bending moments,
torsional moments, shear forces and axial forces for un-piled raft and piled-raft due to change in length of piles in soft clay and loose sand, and
to compare all the results for the two types of soil considered and arrive at some general hypothetical conclusions.

2. METHODOLOGY
In this study a 16 m x 16 m raft with 0.6 m diameter massive circular piles were analyzed using a finite element software package
Plaxis 3D Foundation. A plane strain finite element model was used to model the piled raft foundation. The raft and piles were assumed to be
linearly elastic. The Mohr-Coulomb yield criterion was used to represent both the soil types soft clay and loose sand, as elastic-perfectly plastic
material. A single layer homogenous isotropic soil with water table at a depth of 6 m from ground level was assumed for the study. Here an
undrained condition was assumed and total stress analysis was carried out using plastic calculations. The soil was discretized as 15 noded
triangular elements. The piles and raft were modelled using a plate element. The side skin friction in piles was taken into account by applying
interface reduction factor Rinter. Sub-soil thickness is considered to a depth of 30 m from ground surface for both the soil types. A non-uniform
vertical loading in the form of concentrated column loads has been imposed on the piled raft. Effect of lateral loading is pseudo-statically
considered by making one half of the piled raft heavier compared to the other half. The loading and geometric details of the model have been
depicted in the figure below:

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International Journal of Advanced in Management, Technology and Engineering Sciences ISSN NO : 2249-7455

Figure 1: Piled-raft configuration for analysis

The various geometric and material properties of soil, raft, piles and interfaces are tabulated below:

Table 1: Properties of the soil being used in the study

Soil type Soft Clay Loose Sand

Material model Mohr-Coulomb Mohr-Coulomb
0
Angle of friction (u) 0 280

Stiffness (Eref) 1.5 x 104 kN/m2 6 x 103 kN/m2

Cohesion (Cu ) 30 kN/m2 1 kN/m2

Poissons ratio () 0.35 0.30
0
Dilatancy angle () 0 10
Saturated unit weight (sat) 17 kN/m3 18 kN/m3

Unsaturated unit weight (d) 15 kN/m3 16 kN/m3

Drainage condition Undrained Undrained
Permeability 0.25 m/day 1 m/day
Depth of water table 6m 6m

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International Journal of Advanced in Management, Technology and Engineering Sciences ISSN NO : 2249-7455

Table 2: Properties of the materials being used in the study

Material Bored Pile Raft (Floor) Basement wall

Material model Linear elastic Linear isotropic Linear isotropic

Material type Non-porous Non-porous Non-porous

Stiffness (Eref) 2.15 x 107 kN/m2 2.15 x 107 kN/m2 2.15 x 107 kN/m2

Poissons ratio () 0.15 0.15 0.15

Unit weight (sat) 25 kN/m3 25 kN/m3 25 kN/m3

Permeability 0 m/day 0 m/day 0 m/day

Table 3: Properties of the soil-pile and soil-raft interface

Soil type Soft Clay Loose Sand

Rinter 0.8 0.9

Angle of friction (i) 00 25.60

Cohesion (Ci) 24 kN/m2 0.8 kN/m2

Table 4: Dimensions of the materials being used in the study

Material Pile Raft Basement wall

Diameter, D 0.6m - -

Thickness, d - 0.8m, 1.0m, 1.2m, 1.4m, 1.6m 0.5m

Length, L 8m, 10m, 12m, 14m, 16m - -

Number, N 0, 4, 9 - -
Spacing, S 6m - -
S/D ratio 10 - -

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International Journal of Advanced in Management, Technology and Engineering Sciences ISSN NO : 2249-7455

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

3.1. Effect of Number of Piles

The maximum positive bending moment in raft increases with the number of piles included. For loose sand, the increments over non-
piled rafts are 6.6 % and 15.2% for rafts with 4 pile group and 9 pile group respectively. Again for soft clay, the increments in positive bending
moment for piled rafts with 4 and 9 pile groups were found to be 21.5 % and 26.1% over non-piled rafts.

Figure 2: Maximum Positive Raft Moment versus Number of Piles

The observations are similar to those interpreted from the previous one. The only difference being the negative bending moment for a
piled raft with 9-pile group were considerably higher (49.5% and 50.1% respectively for loose sand and soft clay) compared to a 4-pile group
(only 6.35% and 18.07%).

Figure 3: Maximum Negative Raft Moment versus Number of Piles

Silmilar trend of increasing values is observed in case of torsional moment in raft. For pile groups of 4 and 9 respectively the plots
show almost a regular increasing trend with 29.5% and 49.2% increment in case of in loose sand and that of 23.0% and 51.1% in soft clay.

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International Journal of Advanced in Management, Technology and Engineering Sciences ISSN NO : 2249-7455

Figure 4: Maximum Torsional Raft Moment versus Number of Piles

The maximum shear forces in raft are found to be first decreasing and then increasing with the number of piles connected to the raft.
For a raft with a 4 pile group, the maximum shear force was found to be less (6.3%for loose sand and 9.9% for soft clay) than a raft without pile
support. But the trend becomes reverse as more number of piles are added to the system. For a raft with 9 pile group the maximum shear forces
were found to be increased by 22.4% abd 21% in loose sand and soft clay respectively.

Figure 5: Maximum Shear Force in Raft versus Number of Piles

The maximum vertical deflection or settlement of a piled-raft was found to be less than an unpiled raft for the same thickness of raft.
The settlement here changes inversely with the number of piles included. The percentage decrease of setlement for 4 pile and 9 pile groups are
respectively:
15.2% and 21.5% in case of loose sand
11.1% and 14.4% in case of soft clay

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Figure 6: Maximum Deflection of Raft versus Number of Piles

3.2. Effect of Pile Length

It is observed that the maximum sagging bending moment in raft decreases with increase in pile length, for loose sand and soft clay
with pile diameter and raft thickness remaining constant. For a 9 pile group, there are almost 14% reduction in positive raft moment for both the
types of soil over a pile length increment from 8m to 16m.

Figure 7: Maximum Positive Raft Moment versus Pile Length for a 9-Piled Raft

Other parameters remaining same, the maximum hogging bending moment in raft decreases with increase in pile length, for both the
types of soil. Over a pile length increment from 8m to 16m, there are almost 10% and 12% reduction in positive raft moment for clay and sand
respectively for a 9-piled raft.

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Figure 8: Maximum Negative Raft Moment versus Pile Length for a 9-Piled Raft

The maximum torsional moment in raft decreases uniformly with increase in pile length, for both the types of soil. Almost 10% and
12% reduction in maximum raft torsion has been observed for clay and sand respectively when the pile length is gradually increased from 8m to
16m.

Figure 9: Maximum Raft Torsion versus Pile Length for a 9-Piled Raft

The maximum shear force in raft tend to show a decreasing trend with increase in pile length, for both the types of soil, although a
well-defined pattern of decrement cannot be ascertined. Over a pile length increment from 8m to 16m, there are almost 8% and 13% reduction
in maximum raft shear force for clay and sand respectively.

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Figure 10: Maximum Raft Shear Force versus Pile Length for a 9-Piled Raft

The maximum vertical deflection or the settlement of raft varies inversely with the length of piles. For both the types of soil, it is seen
that the maximum deflection in raft decreases significantly with increase in pile length from 8m to 16m, the maximum reduction being 14% for
clay and 19% for sand over that range of pile length increment.

Figure 11: Maximum Deflection of Raft versus Pile Length for a 9-Piled Raft

Significant effects of pile length on maximum axial forces in piles have have observed for both the types of soil. Maximum pile axial
is seen to be increasing uniformly with with increase in pile length. For a pile length increment from 8m to 16m, increase in maximum pile axial
values are:
Almost 35% for soft clay and
Almost 36% for loose sand

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Figure 12: Maximum Pile Axial Force versus Pile Length for a 9-Piled Raft

4. CONCLUSION

The general observations of this study can be summerized as follows:

The force parameters viz. bending moments, torsional moments, shear forces etc. are considerably higher for a raft which is supported
by piles compared to an unpiled raft. Again these forces acting on the raft go on increasing with more number of piles being connected. As for
the piles, they will act only to reduce the settlement of the raft. The maximum vertical deflection or the settlement of pile changes inversely with
the length of piles. For both the types of soil, it is observed that the maximum vertical deflection of piles decreases significantly with increase in
pile length from 8m to 16m, the maximum reduction being 17% for clay and 19% for sand over that range of pile length increment. The force
parameters viz. bending moments, torsional moments, shear forces etc. effectively get reduced in the raft when the length of piles beneath the
raft is increased with other parameters remaining the same. Significant reduction in vertical deflection of raft can be achieved by increasing pile
length. Hence increasing the length of piles is an effective way of settlement reduction for the system.
It is obvious that the force parameters and the settlement values cannot be decreased indefinitely by simply increasing the length of
piles. Beyond a certain length of piles the reduction would be insignificant and the law of diminishing return may come into effect. Hence for
an efficient and economic design, the optimum length of piles needs to be calculated that will give minimum values of settlements and force
parameters in the system.

5. REFERENCES
[1] Maharaj, D. K., and Gandhi, S. R., Non-linear Finite element analysis of piled- raft foundations, Proceedings of the Institution of
Civil Engineers Geotechnical Engineering 157, 2004 Issue GE3 pp. 107113.
[2] Novak, J., Reese, L. C., and Wang, S. T., Analysis of Pile-Raft Foundations with 3D Finite-Element Method, Proceedings of the
2005 Structures congress and 2005 Forensic Engineering Symposium, New York.
[3] Sanctis, L. D., Alessandro, and Mandolini, A., Bearing Capacity of Piled Rafts on Soft Clay soils, Journal of Geotechnical and
Geoenvironmental Engineering, Vol. 132, No.12, 2006, pp. 1600-1610.
[4] Chow, H. S. W., Analysis of piled-raft foundation with piles of different length and diameter, Ph.D. Thesis, 2007.
[5] Oh, E. Y. N., Huang, M., Surarak, C., Adamec, R., and Balasubramaniam, A. S., Finite element modeling for piled raft foundation
in sand, Eleventh East Asia-Pacific Conference on Structural Engineering & Construction (EASEC-11), Building a Sustainable
Environment, November 19-21, 2008, Taipei, Taiwan.
[6] Giretti, D., Modelling of piled raft foundations in sand, Ph.D. thesis (2009).
[7] Oh, E. Y. N., Lin, D. G., Bui, Q. M., Huang, M., Surarak, C., and Balasubramaniam, A. S., Numerical analysis of piled raft
foundation in sandy and clayey soils, Proceedings of the 17th International conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical
Engineering (ICSMGE 2009): 1159-1162.
[8] Rabiebi, M., Parametric Study for Piled Raft Foundations, Electronic journal of Geotechnical Engineering Volume 14, Bundle A,
2009.
[9] Lee, J., Kim, Y., and Sangseom, J., Three-dimensional analysis of bearing behaviour of piled raft on soft clay, Computers and
Geotechnics, Volume 37, Issue 1-2, pp. 103-114, 2010.

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