ESTIMATION OF Pile Load Capacity

For pile capacity estimation, two basis

•Pile capacity in Granular Soils
•Pile capacity in Cohesive Soils
The total pile capacity is expressed as
Qu = Qb + Qs
= qb.Ab + fs.As
Qu = ultimate pile capacity
Qb = End bearing Capacity, qb = end bearing, Ab = area of pile base, p/4.D2
Qs = Skin friction capacity, fs = unit skin friction, As= surface area of pile shaft, pDL

fs
fs
 Load Transfer Mechanism
•Load is partly taken by shaft,
Qs, and partly by end, Qp

•How Qs & Qp are related to

total load?

Q1
•The frictional resistance is
fully mobilized at low relative
displacement b/w soil and Pile
at about 0.5% to 1% of pile dia
or 5-10mm settlement.

•The end bearing is fully

mobilized at larger settlement
of about 10-20% of Pile dia

•In case of deep foundation, the

soil fails in punching mode
under the pile base
 Mobilization of Qs & Qb with settlement of pile

Straight shaft Piles

Uder-reemed or
belled piles
 Behavior of Pile in different soils
a. Pile resting on hard bed;
buckling of pile in weak
surrounding soil
b. General shear failure in
strong base soil
c. Soil of uniform strength;
load taken by both Qs
and Qp, no definite failure
d. Low strength of base soil’
load mainly taken by
shaft
e. Uplift resistance is only
due to skin resistance in
downward direction,
point resistance is zero
 Factor Safety in Pile design
• The allowable load is governed solely from consideration
of tolerable settlement.
• The working load for all pile types in all soils is taken
equal to sum of base resistance plus shat resistance
divided by a suitable safety factor which is normally
taken as 2.5~3
Qa = (Qb+Qs)/2.5~3
• In case the value of Qb and Qs can be obtained
independently, the allowable load can be taken as
Qa= Qb/3 + Qs/1.5
As Qs is mobilized at very small settlement usually 5~8
mm, whereas Qb is mobilized at large settlement
Pile Capacity in Cohesionless Soils
Qu = qb.Ab + fs.As
a) Base Resistance, qb:
by Terzaghi equation for cohesionless soils
qb = gDfNq + 0.5gBNg
As B or Dia of pile is very small as compared with pile length, so B is ignored, so
second term is taken as zero, therefore
qb = gDfNq .. or .. . qb = p’ x Nq*
So Qb = qb.Ab
p’= effective overburden pressure at the base level
Nq* = Bearing capacity factor including necessary shape
factors and depends on f
For bored pile f=28; Nq=8 (NAFAC)
 Pile Capacity in Cohesionless Soils
a) Base Resistance, qb:
• As evident from previous equation that
the base resistance in cohesion less Effective
soil depends on overburden pressure at
the pile base, however, the increase of OB, p’
p’ is limited to certain depth called
critical depth as below:
• Lc =10D for loose sand
• Lc= 15D for medium dense sand
• Lc= 20D for dense sand
• Average Lc=15D
• The concept of critical depth was
introduced by Vesic and is attributed to
arching action in granular soils
• As per Tomlinson, the base resistance
to be limited to 11MPa.
• As per De Beer (1965) the base
resistance qb for a bored pile is about
one third of that of a driven piles
qb (bored) =1/3qb (driven pile)
 Bearing Capacity Factor, Nq*

By NAVFAC

a) Base Resistance, qb:

f 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40
Driven Piles 10 15 21 29 42 62 86 145

Bored Pile 5 8 10 14 21 30 43 73
a) Base Resistance, qb: Bearing Capacity Factor, Nq*

Meyerhof, 1976

The values of Nq* are for drilled piles; for bored pile Nq* is taken as
1/3 of driven piles
 Bearing Capacity Factor, Nq*
a) Base Resistance, qb:

Berezantsev Nq*

The values of Nq* are for drilled piles; for bored pile Nq* is taken as
1/3 of driven piles
Pile Capacity in Cohesionless Soils
b) Shaft resistance

fs = p’.Ks.tand ----------unit resistance

Qs= (p’.ks.tand).As ----total skin capacity

Ks = coefficient of earth pressure

Ks=1-1.5 for driven pile, Ks=1.8(1-sinf)
ks=0.7 for bored pile or equal to Ko=1-sinf
p’ =effective overburden at mid depth
d=angle of friction at pile/soil interface
d =3/4 f for concrete pile, d =20 for steel pile

Notes: 1. As per Tomlinson, the shaft resistance, fs, to be limited to

110 kPa
2. As per De Beer (1965) the shaft resistance for bored piles should be based
on f=28 deg which corresponds to loose condition
 Class Problem
• A 12 m long and 300 mm diameter pile is
driven in a uniform deposit of sand, f=40.
GWT is at a greater depth. The unit weight
of sand is 18 kN/m3. Nq= 137. Calculate
safe load capacity of the pile.
Class Problem
 Class Problem 2
• Find out allowable compressive capacity
of 12inch diameter RCC pile with a total
length of 45 ft driven in medium dense
sand. W/T is at a depth of 10 ft. Ks=1.5,
saturated weight of soil = 110 pcf, f= 32.
Factor of safety = 2.5
 ASSIGNMENT PROBLEM

For the soil profile shown in figure,

calculate Qu and Qa for a concrete pile
of 45 cm with overall FS=2.5.
Use conventional method for calculation
of Qs and Berezantsev’s method for
calculating Qb.

Data:
Take d=3/4f and Ks=1/2Kp for each
layer

Hint: from given data calculate Gs by

using Eq: gd=gwGs/(1+e)
Calculate gsat by Eq:
gsat = (Gs+e)gw/(1+e)