Experimental and Numerical Behavior of Horizontally Loaded Piled Rafts with a Defective Pile

Abstract

The present paper aims to investigate the effects of defective piles in horizontally loaded piled raft foundations. Close to real scale foundation models of defective and intact three-piled systems were submitted to horizontal load tests. The models used bored type piles drilled with 5 m in length and 0.25 m in diameter, connected to a concrete raft founded on a tropical soil pro le at the University of Campinas research site. Based on the experimental data, a tridimensional nite element analysis was initially calibrated and consequently used to study the effects of the defective element at the pile load distribution and the horizontal subgrade forces at the pile shaft. The results show that the presence of a defective pile increases the raft tilting, which affects both vertical and horizontal load distributions among the raft and the piles, and among trailing and leading piles.

Displacement and Internal Force Response of Mechanically Connected Precast Piles Subjected to Horizontal Load Based on the m-Method

“…Bringing y 1 and φ 1 into the geometric condition, Equation ( 21) yields intermediate variables y 2 and φ 2 at Section 2. Then, bringing the above intermediate variables y 1 and φ 1 into Equations ( 19) and (20), respectively, the pile displacement and internal force response of the upper and lower piles can be obtained, which is the expression of the overall pile response of the mechanically connected pile with fixed constraints at the pile bottom.…”

“…Our latest public bridge regulations issued in 2019 [19] provided a detailed and systematic introduction to the calculation of horizontal displacement and action effects of elastic piles by the m-method, proposing a weight conversion method for the equivalent m-value of the scale factor for multi-storey foundations and a correction method for the maximum bending moment of the pile. García et al [20] performed horizontal load tests on near-true scale foundation models of defective and intact three-pile systems. On the basis of the experimental data, a preliminary calibration of the 3D finite element analysis was carried out, which was subsequently used to investigate the effect of defective elements on the pile load distribution and the horizontal base force at the pile shaft.…”