Computation of Negative Skin Friction For RC Piles

1. Sketches for the calculation

Final Platform Level
Effective Stress = P0’
H0 Compacted Fill NSF1
EGL
Effective Stress = P1’
GWT = Hw Effective Stress = P2’ NSF2
H1
Neutral Depth, L1 = 0.75 H1
Soil 1: Soft Sandy CLAY - Compressible Soil NSF3
Effective Stress = P3’

Subsoil Layer 2 : Stiff Sandy CLAY or Sandy SILT –Assumed Non – Compressible Soil

2. Basis of Calculation
a) Bulk density of fill = 19.0 kN/m3
b) Bulk density of soft CLAY are 15.0 kN/m3.
c) Density of water = 10 kN/m3.
d) Use BH-10 as it is the most critical boreholes by observation from borehole
logs.

3. Information from Boreholes

Borehole Depth of Ground Thickness Thickness Neutral

No. Water Table from of Future of Soft Silt, Depth,
EGL, Fill Soil,
Hw H0 H2 L1
(m) (m) (m) (m)
BH-10 2.35 1.00 16.5 12.375

4. Computation of effective stress at depth of existing ground level, ground water

table, top soil / compressible soil layer interface & neutral depth

The computed P1’, P2’ and P3’ are as follows:

Borehole P1’ P2’ P3’

No. (kN/m2) (kN/m2) (kN/m2)
BH-10 1.0 x 19 = 19.0 19 + 2.35 x 15 = 54.3 + (12.375-2.35) x (15.0
54.3 – 10.0) = 104.4

5. Computation of Negative Skin Friction at Each Levels (NSF1, NSF2 & NSF3)

Negative skin friction is computed based on  method. The formula is as follows:

NSF = v’ ( As)

Where, NSF: Negative skin friction
: adopted as 0.22.
v’ : Effective overburden stress
As : Pile shaft surface area from top of pile to neutral depth (L1).
L1 : Neutral Depth = 0.75 x compressible soil thickness

Negative skin frictions from final platform level to existing ground level (NSF1),
existing ground level to ground water table (NSF2), from ground water table to
neutral depth (NSF3) are computed separately.

Therefore,

NSF1 =  (P1’ / 2) (H0 x P) where P is perimeter of piles.

NSF2 =  [(P1’ + P2’) / 2] ( Hw x P)
NSF3 =  [(P2’ + P3’ ) / 2] ( L1 - Hw) x P)

NSF1, NSF2 and NSF3 are computed as follows:

Borehole NSF1 NSF2 NSF3 Total NSF

No. (kN/m) (kN/m) (kN/m) (kN/m)
BH-10 2.1 P 19.0 P 174.0 P 195.1 P
Adopted = 200 P

For different size of piles, the computed negative skin frictions are as follows:

Pile Type Pile Size Pile Perimeter Estimated NSF Adopted NSF
(mm) (m) (kN) for Design
(kN)
Square 300 1.20 240 250
RC Piles 400 1.60 320 350