Piled foundations could be affected negatively as a result of passive loadings caused by nearby soil movement-induced activities, and failure of piles could happen in some sever cases. This paper deals with the numerical analysis of passively loaded pile groups and piled raft in sand. The complexity involved in such problems due to pile-soil, pile-pile, pile-cap, soil-cap, and moving soil-stable soil interaction needs a powerful tool to make three dimensional analysis possible. In the current study, PLAXIS 3D software was used to back analyse laboratory tests carried out by the authors. ''Embedded pile'' feature in which the pile is represented by beam elements, while soil-pile interaction along the pile shaft and at the pile tip is described by special interface elements was employed. The Mohr-Coulomb elastic-plastic constitutive model was used to describe the sand behaviour. Although an overestimation of the predicted deflection was obtained, the general trend of bending moment profiles of piles was in a reasonable agreement with those obtained experimentally. A number of limitations were identified as possible reasons behind the overestimation of the predicted deflections. Furthermore, parametric studies are adopted to consider the effects of pile diameter, pile-soil stiffness and pile group configuration on the response of passively loaded pile groups.

A series of laboratory model tests on batter pile groups embedded in sand was carried out in a specially designed testing box. The lateral responses were investigated for 1 × 2 capped batter pile groups when subjected to lateral soil movements (passive loading) with different configurations; Vertical-Vertical (VVL), Batter-Vertical (BVL), Vertical-Batter (VBL) andBoth-Batter (BBL). The effect of pile group arrangement and batter angle on the bending moment, shear force, soil reaction, pile rotation and deflection behaviour of the passive batter pile groups were studied. It is observed that the behaviour of the individual piles in a group was significantly affected by the batter angle and the pile group arrangement. It is also shown that under passive loading, batter pile groups with (BBL) configuration of (-10 o , +10 o ) offered more resistance to the lateral soil movement compared to other pile group arrangements, while (VVL) configuration offered the least resistance.

Passive loadings due to lateral soil movement induced activities are highly influencing the serviceability and safety of constructions. This research aims to investigate the influence of axial loads, sand density and the depth of moving soil on the lateral behaviour of piled raft under progressively moving sand. In order to achieve this goal taking into account the complex interaction effects of piles, cap and subsoil, a laboratory apparatus and small scale models have been designed and fabricated carefully to ensure a reasonable simulation of this geotechnical problem. It is found that the above parameters play an important role in the response of piled foundations. The value of soil displacement at which the measured moment reaches its ultimate value decreases as axial loads increase. Peak displacement of the raft has been found to be a function of soil density.

Basrah is considered as the economic capital of Iraq. In recent years, it showed a rapid growth in population and, accordingly, an increasing investment in construction industries. This paper presents information about the geotechnical characteristics of Basrah soil. For this purpose, geotechnical data have been collected covering wide areas of the city. The study area was divided into two zones, one of them was further divided into three subzones. For each of the zones considered, geotechnical information including typical soil profiles, Standard Penetration Test (SPT-N) values, Atterberg limits, sieve analysis results, consolidation test results and other physical aspects were given. Furthermore, chemical analysis of Basrah soil was also presented. According to field and laboratory results, soils in this region can be classified into two distinct zones. The eastern zone, which mainly forms of soft and medium cohesion soils extended from the soil surface down to a depth of (16 – 26) m, and, the western zone, which can be identified by the sandy surficial and stratigraphic soil.