A Numerical Study of Impact Pile Driving in Different Soil Conditions

High-rise buildings in emerging nations like India now commonly use piling foundations due to urbanization. The process of pile driving, which involves placing piles into the ground, can cause vibrations that can permanently damage nearby structures. A numerical study was conducted to simulate the effects of pile driving and gain a better understanding of its impact. The simulation considered actual soil conditions and focused on the axisymmetric continuous impact pile driving process. To accurately depict the dynamic behavior of the piles and surrounding soil, an Adaptive Mesh Technique called Arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian (ALE) was employed. Artificial boundary conditions were implemented to prevent wave reflection at the simulation’s right-side boundary. The soil’s behavior was mimicked using the elastic–plastic Mohr–Coulomb (MC) properties, which account for its deformation under stress. Measurements of peak particle velocity (PPV) were taken to assess ground vibrations caused by pile driving, and the results were compared to international design codes’ upper and lower bounds. To mitigate vibrations in layered soil conditions, active screening techniques were employed. The study examined the PPV response at a distance of 4 m from the pile axis, and it also included modelling open trenches as barriers. The examination revealed that the mitigation strategy involving open trenches significantly reduced the maximum vibration levels observed in the study. This finding suggests that these strategies can effectively minimize the adverse impact of pile driving vibrations on nearby structures.