Pile Foundations

Foundation
The lowest load bearing part of a building is
termed as foundation.

Broadly speaking foundation is divided into two parts

1.Shallow Foundation

2.Deep Foundation
 Shallow Foundation
When the ratio of depth of the foundation D to the width of
foundation B is equal to or less than is termed as shallow
foundation

Shallow foundations transfer the loads to the immediate

soil surface below the structure thus not transmitting it
to greater depth (or sub surface).
All types of footings are shallow foundation like strap
footing, combined footing, Stepped footing.
 When the subsoil conditions are stable enough to retain a
superstructure providing enough bearing capacity, then we provide
shallow foundations.
Important parameters to be considered while selecting
Shallow Foundations are

Knowledge of the nature of superstructure and

the loads to be transmitted to the foundation.
Subsurface conditions. (For e.g if the rock stratum
is hard and stable then shallow foundation is
preferred
Existing conditions like the bearing capacity of soil.

After analysis of all the safety conditions one can also

incorporate the cost parameter in choosing the type of
foundation.
 Pile Foundation
Deep foundations are required when the
soil at shallow depth is not capable of
supporting structural loads.
Deep foundation will be adopted if a firm stratum
having desired bearing capacity cannot be reached by
open excavation. The purpose of pile foundations is
to transmit a super structure load to deeper load
bearing strata,
to withstand lateral, vertical, uplift load and to
minimize the settlement. A structure can be
founded on piles if the soil immediately
beneath its base does not have adequate
bearing capacity to withstand the desired
structural loads
Classification of Piles:
Timber piles: Timber piles are made from tree
trunks, straight and free from all defects. Usually
available length will be 4m to 6m. Timber piles are
used where good bearing stratum is available at a
relatively shallow depth.
Concrete piles:

Concrete piles are either precast or cast in-situ. Precast piles are cast

and cured at the casting yard and then transported to the site for

installation. These piles are adequately reinforced to withstand

handling stresses along with working stress. Precast piles are

generally used for short lengths. Cast-in-situ piles are constructed by

drilling hole in the ground and then filling that hole with freshly

prepared concrete after placing the reinforcement.

Steel Piles: Steel piles are usually of rolled H-sections or thick pipe

sections. These piles are used to withstand large impact stresses and

where fewer disturbances from driving is desired. These piles are also

used to support open excavations and to provide seepage barrier.

Composite piles: A pile made up of two different materials like concrete

and timber or concrete and steel is called composite pile. Composite

piles are mainly used where a part of the pile is permanently under water.

The part of the pile which will be under water can be made of untreated

timber and the other part can be of concrete.

 Classification based on the function:
End bearing piles: Piles which transfer structural load to a hard and

relatively incompressible strata such as rock or dense sand are known as

end bearing piles. These piles derive the required bearing capacity from

end bearing at tip of the pile.

Friction piles: These are piles which derive carrying capacity from skin

friction or adhesion between the pile surface and surrounding soil.

Tension pile: These piles can be used to anchor down the structures

which are subjected to uplift pressure due to hydrostatic force.

Compaction piles: These piles are used to compact
loose granular soil to increase its bearing capacity.
Compaction piles do not carry load and hence they can
be of weaker material. Sand piles can be used as
compaction piles.
Anchor piles: These piles are generally used to provide
anchorage against horizontal pull from sheet piling

.
 Based on material and
composition

1. Concrete Pile
2. Timber Pile
3. Steel Pile
4. Composite Pile
Based on the method of
installation

Bored Pile: Bored piles are constructed in pre-bored holes

either using a casing or by circulating stabilizing agent like

bentonite slurry. The borehole is filled with concrete after

placing or lowering reinforcement.

Driven piles: Driven piles may be of concrete, steel or timber.

These piles are driven into the soil strata by the impact of a hammer.

Generally boring is not used in these cases. When pile is driven into

granular soils it densifies (compaction) the soil and increases strength

of soil.
Driven and Cast-in-Place Piles: These piles are formed by driving a tube with a

closed end into the soil strata, and then filling the tube with freshly prepared concrete.

The tube may or may not be withdrawn afterwards.

Driven and Cast-in-situ piles
Under reamed pile is also called as cast-in-situ concrete
pile.
Load transfer Mechanism

Skin
Resistance

Tip Resistance
Mechanism of distribution of applied load into skin resistance

along the length of pile and base resistance (tip resistance) at

top of the file. We consider the pile shown in figure above. If

the applied on the pile increases gradually we can determine the

load distribution and plot the same as shown in figure below.

 Load(Q)

Length

Curves showing the load

taken by shaft
Base or Tip of Pile
 The Load carrying Capacity Determination
of Single Pile by using

1. Static Formulae

2. Dynamic Formulae

3. Penetration Test Data

4. Load Tests
 Static Formula
Static formula to determine Bearing Capacity from the
static analysis the ultimate bearing capacity can be
expressed from the sum of point resistance due to skin
friction.
Qu = Qp+Qs
Q =ultimate bearing load
Qp = End Bearing resistance (Point resistance)
Qs= resistance due to skin friction
Hence
Qp = qpAp
qp = end bearing resistance
Ap = Area of tip of pile
Qs = fs.As
fs = unit skin resistance
As = surface area of pile contact with soil
qp = CNc+ q’Nq+0.5ƴ BNƴ (for strap footing)
qp = CNc+ q’Nq+0.4Bƴ Ñƴ (for square footing)
qp = CNc+ q’Nq+0.3Bƴ Ñƴ (for circular footing)
for pile foundation third term is neglected because it
is very less compared to other two term
Finally the equation becomes
qp = CNc+ q’Nq
C = Cohesion factor
Nc, Nq = Bearing capacity factor taken for
general shear.
Driven Pile
Dilatancy is the volume change observed in granular materials
when they are subjected to shear deformations.
Skin friction