SETTLEMENT OF PILE GROUPS - PRACTICAL APPROACH

A simple and practical approach is presented for the analysis of settlement of large pile groups embedded in an isotropic elastic half-space with adequate accuracy but without the expense of a complete rigorous analysis. The approach is based on the superposition of the interaction factors between piles within a group. An approximate closed-form analytical model is suggested to evaluate these interaction factors in homogeneous and nonhomogeneous soils. The values of the interaction factors computed by the analytical model agree reasonably well with those by the more rigorous boundary element approach. For pile groups with different pile configuration and pile compressibility, the theoretical solutions computed by the present approach are close to those by the boundary element or boundary integral approach. The settlements at working load level of two field pile groups embedded in stiff overconsolidated clay computed by the present approach are in reasonably good agreement with measured results.