Finding the criteria for thickness of pile cap for it to behave as a rigid

member for the following assumption is valid :

force in pile = P/A (+/-) M/Z
I have made a STAAD model of pile cap (2 mx2m) with five no piles.
(See the STAAD model)
I am studying the effect of variation of pile cap thickness on the pile
reaction.
For the study I have considered central pile , and plotted the graph of
variation of pile recation wrt to thickness.
Pile selected = 500 dia , 60 T capacity , L =15 m (see exel file)
from this pile stiffness K is calculated which is applied is support at pile
locations.
Following observation from analysis :
As the thickness is increasing , the load on the central pile decreases
and gets distributed to peripheral piles ; which is an expected
behaviour since the pile cap becomes rigid, it distributes the load to a
wider area.
See the graph , as the thk increases , the central pile recation becomes
less and less and becomes parallel to x axis i.e thickness.
Ideally , there is one thickness , which will make reactions in al the pile
same i.e P/N .(in this case , difference in pile reactions is very less
I have tried to increase the thk to 20 m
I think for practical purpose , thickness of 1.2 to 1.5 wheregraph
become assymptotic is fairly o.k.

Regards,
Damodar S Kamat