Comparison of lateral bearing capacity of tapered pile groups with simple piles in granular soils using numerical method

Complex interactions between piles in a pile group together with the interactions between the piles and the surrounding soil, cause difficulties in the analysis of the behavior of a pile group. One of the neglected problems so far, is the problem of tapered pile group under lateral loading. The purpose of this study is to compare lateral bearing capacity of tapered pile group with simple piles with the same volume in sandy soils. In this order, finite element based software Plaxis 3D Foundation has been used for modeling and assessing of the results. The comparison between the results obtained from pile group consist of 9 tapered piles with equal distance and different lengths with simple pile group indicated that lateral bearing capacity of tapered pile group with length to diameter ratio less than 15, is greater than that of simple pile group. As this ratio increases, lateral bearing capacity of tapered pile group would be less than that of simple pile group, and vice versa. © 2015 ejge.