Performance Analysis of a Piled Raft Foundation System of Varying Pile Lengths in Controlling Angular Distortion

Abstract

The performance of a vertically-loaded floating piled raft foundation in very soft and deep layers of compressible subsoil, in terms of its ability to control key factors such as bending moment and pile-raft coefficient, was presented and discussed in previous research. The other critical factor that needs to be evaluated is the angular distortion of the foundation. This paper presents the effectiveness of the piled raft foundation system in controlling the angular distortion of the foundation. A comprehensive analysis of this proposed foundation system for various pile lengths in soft compressible subsoil was carried out. Different pile groups with 9 × 9 arrangement of piles were loaded vertically. A total combination of 45 pile group cases with different pile lengths, pile spacing, and raft thicknesses was analyzed. Results showed lower angular distortion for the proposed foundation system, which indicated that a piled raft with varying pile lengths is most efficient in controlling angular distortion as compared to piled rafts with equal pile lengths.