Application of FEM to Evaluate Pile Loading Test in Some Special Situations

Abstract

Based on results of pile load tests, this paper demonstrated the procedure of employing the finite element method (FEM) to predict the behavior of bored piles, especially the defective piles, in some special situations. The main aspects of the FEM simulation of the defective behaviors were explored. The pile defects caused by geotechnical and construction related problems were discussed and a procedure for tracing the causes of these defects was proposed. This paper suggests detecting the defects at pile shaft and/or piling base by controlling interface parameters. To verify the feasibility of the proposed procedure, two case studies on defective piles were thoroughly investigated. The first case is about a bored pile in granular soil; the second one is for a rock socket. Good agreement between predicted and measured responses was observed.