Piled Raft on Sandy Soil- An Extensive Study

Abstract

In recent years, designers have recognized that in addition to bearing capacity, settlement of foundations must be taken into account. To reduce settlement of buildings, piled raft appears to be a solution for structures found on soft ground. To investigate the performance of piled rafts, model tests have been conducted on circular, square and rectangular raft supported on piles with different spacings between piles. Numerical analyses were carried out to verify the results obtained in the model tests. The performance of a 14-story building was analysed to compare with the settlement readings obtained. The results of numerical analyses appear to be very encouraging as the results of the analyses well agree with the results of model tests, as well as the settlement readings collected in 790 days for this 14-story building. The value of numerical analyses in back analyses and in prediction of settlement of buildings has thus been confirmed.