A simplification of existing analytical solutions together with an extended hybrid model is proposed for estimating the horizontal impedance of batter pile groups subjected to harmonic loading. The solutions are given through compact interaction factors and analogue pile‐soil‐pile interaction elements. Benefits and pitfalls of the simplified models are elucidated through a comprehensive comparison with a refined finite element model. The effect of varying center‐to‐center pile distance with respect to depth is discussed. It is shown that the analytical model is able to represent pile‐soil‐pile interaction rather well within the specified framework.

This paper presents a comprehensive numerical study on kinematic response of vertical and batter pile groups in soft soil, where soil non-linearity, batter angle, pile spacing and excitation frequency are related to pile-cap displacements, rotations, maximum pile moments, shear forces and axial forces. The finite element model is constructed in OpenSees MP, and parallel computing is utilized for a better (faster) performance. Results reveal that soil non-linearity has a profound impact on the kinematic interaction. Increasing batter angle decreases horizontal displacements but increases rotations. Batter pile groups yield lower spectral accelerations compared to vertical pile groups. For high 𝑃𝐺𝐴, the spectral accelerations of the pile-cap may be lower compared to the spectral acceleration of the seismic input motion. Estimation using non-linear interaction factors conservatively estimates pile-cap displacements and rotations, while roughly captures the effects with respect to batter angle and frequency content within the specified framework.