Study on the load sharing in piled raft foundation

Piled-raft coefficient is becoming a popular foundation system among the engineering for heavy structures. For the purpose of economical designing, understanding of the load sharing between piles and raft is very important. These load-sharing characteristics depend upon the factors associated with piles, soil and their interaction. In this study series of model test were conducted on the piled-raft foundation to understand the impact of the different factors on the load sharing behavior of pile. The length of the pile, diameter of the pile, number of piles, configuration of the piles, and relative density of the soil is considered as variable parameters in this study. The results obtained from the model tests have shown that the pile-raft coefficient increases with increase in the length, diameter and number of piles. While the piled-raft coefficient decrease with increase in the relative density. Also it was found that the piled-raft foundation with the arrangement of the piles nearer to the center of the pile have greater piled raft coefficient. A mathematical model based upon the regression analysis is also developed, which is found satisfactorily in the prediction of the piled-raft coefficient.