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The Problem of Pile Group–Pile Cap Interaction

Article in Géotechnique · January 1971

DOI: 10.1680/geot.1971.21.2.135

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 BUTTERFIELD, R. & BANERJEE, P. K. (1971). Gdotechnique 21, No. 2, 135-142.

THE PROBLEM OF PILE GROUP-PILE CAP INTERACTION

R. BUTTERFIELD* and P. K. BANERJEE~

SYNOPSIS
The Paper presents an elastic analysis of two prob-
lems concerning the interaction with the supporting
ground of an arbitrarily spaced group of piles,
embedded in a smooth ground contacting pile cap of
any shape, namely the load displacement behaviour
of the system and the load distribution between the
piles in the group and the cap. The problems are
formulated as an integral equation developed from
Mindlin’s analysis for a point load embedded within
a semi-infinite ideal elastic half space. The effect
on the response of the system of the pile length to
diameter ratio, pile cap size and the compressibility
ratio of the pile and supporting medium has been
investigated and specific results are presented
graphically for a single pile with a square cap and
typical pile groups in square and rectangular arrays.
La Communication presente une analyse Clastique
de deux problemes portant sur l’interaction, avec le
sol de support, d’un groupe de pieux places arbi-
trairement, loges dans le sol et en contact avec un
casque de pieu de toute forme. Ces problemes sont
le comportement du d&placement de charge du
systeme, et la repartition de la charge entre les
pieux du groupe et le casque. Les problemes sont
Cnonces sous forme d’equation integrale decoulant
de I’analyse de Mindlin pour charge ponctuelle a
I’interieur d’un milieu elastique ideal. On a
egalement etudii! l’effet sur la reponse du systeme de
la longueur du pieu par rapport au diametre, de la
dimension du casque et du rapport de compression
du pieu et du milieu de support, et les resultats
specifiques sont present&s sous forme graphique
pour un seul pieu a casque carre et pour des groupes
de pieux disposes en carri! ou en rectangle.

INTRODUCTION

Although the load displacement behaviour of a pile group-pile cap system is of major
importance to foundation engineers, the majority of available field and laboratory studies on
piles have been concerned either with single piles or groups of piles where the cap does not
make contact with the ground.
Theoretical analyses of pile and pile group behaviour have also avoided the interaction
problem, with the exception of that given by Poulos (1968a) who considered a single rigid pile
with a rigid circular contacting cap.
Advances have been made in the elastic and elastic-plastic analysis of compressible pile
groups which have shown encouraging correlation with field load-displacement measurements
(Poulos and Davis, 1968; Mattes and Poulos, 1968; Poulos, 1968b; Butterfield and Banerjee,
1971). This Paper extends the elastic analysis to the complete compressible pile group-rigid
cap system of any geometry, where the piles are bonded to the supporting medium, which is
assumed to be an ideal elastic half space, and the smooth cap is in contact with the ground.

METHOD OF ANALYSIS

The detail of the analytical method used has been described by Butterfield and Banerjee
(1971a, 1971b) and only the outline of the essential steps is given.

(a) Mindlin’s solution for a point load embedded in the interior of a semi-infinite elastic
solid is adopted as a convenient singular solution.
(b) By distributing such point loads over the pile cap-supporting medium interface C
(Fig. I) and the pile shaft and pile base-medium interfaces S an integral representa-
tion can be obtained giving the vertical displacement at all points in the medium
in terms of fictitious stress intensities 4.

* Senior Lecturer, Civil Engineering Department, University of Southampton.

t Senior Scientific Officer, Highways Engineering Computer Division, Department of the Environment.
135
136 R. BUTTERFIELD AND P. K. BANERJEE

Fig. 1. General arrangement

NOTATION

B width of a square pile cap WC), vertical displacements of the cap-

D diameter of piles WPz3) soil and pile-soil interfaces
f,(Ps)* functions determined from the respectively
MPs) solution of the pile domain w> matrix representation of W(P,)
G shear modulus of the soil medium and W(P,)
matrix calculated from K(P, QJ, WI(P)> vertical displacements of a point
[Kl
K(P,, Qc) and so on wzm P due to the fictitious intensi-
ties acting at the cap-soil inter-
K(P, Qo) kernel function evaluated from
Mindlin’s solution at point face and pile-soil interfaces re-
designated by the co-ordinates spectively
in brackets W vertical displacement of the cap
length of the pile AC, AS weighting functions for the cap-
L
soil and pile-soil interfaces
m, n elemental divisions representing
respectively
the discrete cap-soil interface
fictitious stress intensities
and pile-soil interfaces re-
fictitious stress intensities on the
spectively cap-soil and the pile-soil inter-
N number of piles in the group faces respectively
P total load applied to the system equivalent loading defined as AC&
PC field point on the cap-soil interface or AS+,
P, field point on the pile-soil matrix representation of Q,
interface ratio of Young’s modulus of pile
load point on the cap-soil interface material to the shear modulus
;: load point on the pile-soil interface of soil
S spacing of piles in the group Poisson’s ratio of soil
Vs) radial displacement of the pile-soil stress components on the plane at
interfaces z=o
 PROBLEM OFPILE GROUP-PILE CAPINTERACTION 137
(c) Since this integral representation exists, in the ordinary sense, for displacements at
points on the surface it can be equated directly to the displacement boundary
conditions of the problem and values of the fictitious intensities obtained from a
numerical solution of the resulting integral equation (Banerjee, 1969).
The effective pile cap-medium interface area (i.e. the total cap area less that occupied by
the group of iV piles) is represented by C (Fig. 1) and Qc and PC are points on C. Similarly
Qs and P, are points on S, the total pile shaft plus pile base interface area for all N piles; P is a
general field point in the medium.
The vertical displacement W,(P) of P due to a fictitious normal direct stress do acting at
QCon an element dC of C can be written as

W,(P) = j-&K(P, QC) dC . . . . , . . . (1)

Similarly the vertical displacement W,(P), due to fictitious shear and direct stresses +a acting
at Qs, on elements dS of the shaft and base areas respectively, included in S, can be written as

W,(P) = s, &K(P, Qs) dS . . . . . . . (2)

where K(P, QC) and K(P, Qs) can be obtained from Mindlin’s equations (Mindlin, 1936; Butter-
field and Banerjee, 1971a).
Hence the total vertical displacement W(P) of P due to the interface intensities dc and
ds is
W(P) = W,(P)+W,(P) . . . . . . . (3)

This equation satisfies equilibrium and compatibility conditions everywhere in the half space
and, because of the particular singular solution chosen, the following boundary conditions
referred to the Cartesian axes shown in Fig. 1
(Jzz = OX. = (Tyz= 0 atz=O outside C
. . . (4)
a,, = uyz = 0 atz=O inside C >
If P is at PC on C equations (l)-(3) give

W’o) = ~&V’,. Qc)dC+ s,&.W,,Qs) dS - . . . (5)

Similarly when P is at P, on S

W’s) = ~,4&(% Qc)dC+ j)sWs,Qs) dS . . . - (6)

Equations (5) and (6) have singularities in the kernels K when either points P, and Qo or P,
and Qs coincide. Nevertheless the displacements W are continuous throughout the half
space and the equations are readily solved numerically (Banerjee, 1969; Butterfield and
Banerjee, 1971b) for given values of W(P,) and W(P,).
The solutions obtained do not take into account radial displacement compatibility at the
pile shaft-medium interfaces, i.e. if U(P,) is the radial displacement of P, on S the correct
boundary conditions
U(P,) = 0 for a rigid pile
. . . . (7)
U(P,) = fr(P,) for a compressible pile >
are not satisfied. Butterfield and Banerjee (1971a) showed that this approximation has a
negligible effect on the load sharing and the load displacement behaviour of a pile group.
13s R. BUTTERFIELD AND P. K. BANERJEE

Such an analysis can be applied to pile groups of any geometry within a rigid cap of
any shape when the vertical displacements at the interfaces are specified as

W(P,) = constant = 1, say, on C

and either W(P,) = constant = 1, say, on S for rigid piles . . . (8)
or W(P,) = f,(P,) for compressible piles I
The function f,(P,) allows for pile compressibility and can be included in the analysis by an
iterative procedure (Butterfield and Banerjee, 1971a).
The equations resulting from the substitution of (S) into equations (5) and (6) can be cast
into a convenient matrix form by dividing the various interfaces into discrete elements
m the number of elemental divisions AC of the cap-medium interface C each carrying an
equivalent fictitious loading Qj, = &AC
1znumber of elemental divisions AS of the pile shaft and base-medium interface for each
of the N piles in the group, each element carrying an equivalent fictitious loading
Qs = &AS

Equations (5) and (6) can now be written as

W(Pc)i zj$r (@c)J(P,, Qdi,+ ,zl(@P,),K(Pc,

Qdij . * * (9)

where over the cap interface i = 1,2. . . m and over the total pile interfaces k = 1, 2. . . nN.
Combining equations (9) and (10) into one matrix equation gives
(W} = [K](Q) . . . . . . . . (11)

where (W} is an (m f rtN) vector of prescribed vertical displacement of the system boundaries.
[ZQ is a fully populated (rn+~N)~ matrix and (01 is an (m + nN) vector of the unknown
fictitious forces which are obtained by way of

{@} = {W}/[K] . . . . . . . . (12)

and from which the stresses and displacements everywhere in the supporting medium can be
calculated (Banerjee, 1969; ButterfieId and Banerjee, 1971b).

RESULTS

The effects of length to diameter ratio, group size, pile compressibility ratio (Ais the ratio of
E for the pile material to G for the medium), the distribution of the load between the cap and
the individual piles in the group and the influence of the cap on the vertical stiffness of the
pile group have been studied and typical results are presented graphically in Figs 2-6.
Figure 2(a) shows a comparison between the load displacement behaviour of a single
axially loaded pile with a square pile cap (Z?=2+X)) and that of a similar single pile without a
cap. The presence of the pile cap produces only a small increase in the stiffness of the system
( < 5%) for all but short piles (L/D < 20).
The distribution of the total load between the cap and the pile is shown in Fig. 2(b) for a
rigid and a compressible pile. For 20 < L/D 6 40 the cap carries 1525% of the load although,
from Fig. Z(a), the effect of this load redistribution on the stiffness of the system is very small.
These results are in general agreement with those of Poulos (1969a) for a rigid pile with a
circular contacting cap. Similar information for a 4 pile group is shown in Figs 3(b) and 3(c)
 PROBLEM OF PILE GROUP-PILE CAP INTERACTION 139
LID
0 20 40 60 80 loo

60

- - -Without cap
-With cap

CShear modulus
w Displacement of head of pile
D Diameter of shaft
I i

Percentage of load carried by cap

0 20 40 60 80 100

b)

Fig. 2. (a) Load displacement characteristics of single piles with and

without a pile cap. W is the vertical displacement of the system of
piles of diameter D and length L under a vertical load P. (b) Load
distribution between the square cap B x B and a single pile

and again, even though a rather higher proportion of the load is taken by the cap for the
particular geometry used, the increase in stiffness is negligible.
The effect of pile spacing s and pile stiffness h on the load displacement behaviour of a
capped 2 pile group is shown in Fig. 3(a), a doubling of the pile spacing produces only a 510%
increase in system stiffness over the practical range of A.
Figures 4(a) and 5(a) show the effect of varying s for capped 5 pile and 3 x 3 pile groups.
Each doubling of s almost quadruples the cap area but in all cases for 20 <L/D ~40 each
doubling increases the system stiffness by only about 25%.
The results are summarized in Fig. 6 where the effect of ground contacting caps and cap
size on system stiffness is given for 2,5 and 3 x 3 groups in terms of a settlement ratio R. R is
 LID
0 IO 7.0 30 40
LID
0 7.0 40 60 so II
I
I r/D-S

40

2
0 04
4‘

- Without cap
-- - Withup

Fig. 3(a) Fig. 3(b)

Fig. 3(a). Load displacement characteristics of a capped group

of two piles

Fig. 3(b). Load displacement characteristics of 4 pile groups

with and without a pile cap

Fig. 3(c). Distribution of load between the pile cap and the
individual piles in 2 pile groups and 4 pile groups

Fig. 4(a). Load displacement characteristics of 5 pile groups

with a square cap

Fig. 4(b). Distribution of load between the pile cap and the
individual piles in a 5 pile group

Fig. 5(a). Load displacement characteristics of 9 pile groups

with a square cap

Fig. 5(b). Distribution of load between the pile cap and the
individual piles in 9 pile groups

Fig. 3(c)
 LID S/D
IO 20 30 40
25 5 75 IO
I
r Phi
- i-w 0 -.
-= .-. J .___
--- x=blc4
x --L_
___--_----

- . ? -.-_
_.~~_----- -’
/--
-s
E 20 ------
,
>C Pile I
%
ij
1
2 40

66
X ButterReId
and Bmerjw(l97la) \

Fig. 4(a) Fig. 4(b)

IO

9 pilegrovp
i
1
Fig. 5(a) Fig. 5(U J
142 R. BUTTERFIELD AND P. K. BANERJEE

-Without cap
- --Withop

S/D
Fig. 6. Comparison of the settlement ratios of cap bearing pile groups
with free standing pile group*

the ratio of group displacement under a load of N x P to the single uncapped pile displacement
under load P.
Figures 4(b) and 5(b) show the way in which the load is shared between the different piles
in capped 5 and 3 x 3 pile groups for various values of s and h. It is interesting that, although
for closely spaced piles (s 2~ 3D) the load displacement behaviour of groups with contacting
and floating caps is similar, there is a difference in the load distribution between the individual
piles in the groups, e.g. the points marked x show comparable floating cap results from
Butterfield and Banerjee (1971a).

CONCLUSIONS
An elastic analysis has been presented for the general compressible pile group problem
including a rigid smooth ground contacting cap. The results show that the load displacement
characteristics of similar pile groups with typical floating or contacting caps are little different,
the contacting cap increasing the system stiffness by 515% depending upon the group size
and pile spacing. The loads carried by the individual piles in the groups with contacting caps
differ substantially from those occurring in similar floating cap systems. The proportion of
the total group load taken by contacting caps of normal dimensions on piles with 20 <LID < 40
ranges from 20% to 60% depending on the group size and pile spacing, being higher for the
larger groups at larger spacings (Figs 4(b) and 5(b)).

REFERENCES
BANERJEE, P. K. (1969). A contribution to the study of axially loaded pile foundations. Ph.D. thesis,
University of Southampton.
BUTTERFIELD, R. & BANERJEE, P. K. (1971a). The elastic analysis of compressible piles and pile groups.
Gbotechnique 21, No. 1, 43-60.
BUTTERFIELD,R. & BANERJEE, P. K. (1971b). A rigid disc embedded in an elastic half space. J. S.E. Asian
Sot. Soil .Engng 2, No. 2.
MATTES, N. S. & POULOS, H. G. (1968). Settlement of single compressible pile. J. Soil Mech. Fdns Diq.
Am. Sot. civ. Engrs 95, SMl, 189-207.
MINDLIN, R. D. (1936). Force at a point in the interior of a semi-infinite solid. Physics 7, May, 195-202.
POULOS, H. G. (1968a). The influence of a rigid pile cap on the settlement behaviour of an axially loaded
pile. Trans. Instn civ. Engrs Aust. C E 10, No. 2, 206.
POULOS, H. G. (196813). Analysis of the settlement of pile groups. Gtotechnique 18, No. 4, 449-471.
POULOS, H. G. & DAVIS, E. H. (1968). The settlement of single axially-loaded incompressible piles and piers.
Gkotechnique 18, No. 3, 351-371.

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