Piles

steel u.c.

291

reinforcement cap plate plan

plan 50 mm cover top 100 mm cover bottom

pile cap

100 mm steel pile section

F ig. 14.20
section

R ein f o r c ed p ile h ea d .

F ig. 14.19 Pile c a p , t y p ic a l r ein f o r c em en t .

staggered piles

Single column loads supported on larger pile groups can create signicant shear and bending in the cap which will need top and bottom reinforcement as well as shear links (see Fig. 14.19). The heads of r.c. piles should be stripped and the exposed reinforcement bonded into the pile cap for the necessary bond length. Pile caps to steel piles can be reduced in depth if punching shear is reduced by capping and/or reinforcing the head of the pile, as shown in Fig. 14.20. Piles for continuous capping beams supporting load-bearing walls can be alternately staggered to compensate for the eccentricity of loading due to the 75 mm out-of-line tolerance (see Fig. 14.21).

plan on capping beam

F ig. 14.21 C o n t in u o u s c a p p in g b ea m .

14.8 Design of foundations at pile head

A general description of ground beams and pile caps is discussed in Chapter 9 (see section 9.5.8) and restraints and cap/beam details are briey mentioned. In addition to providing restraint, the ground beam is also used to transfer loads from the superstructure to the pile and can be used with or without pile caps. For example, two alternative layouts are shown in Fig. 14.22 indicating a wide ground beam solution and a narrow beam using pile caps. Where the increased width of the beam needed to accommodate the pile diameter, plus the total of all necessary tolerance, is only slight and where a reduction in beam depth helps to compensate for the additional concrete, a wider beam omitting the pile caps can be more economic.

Often the ground beam can be designed compositely with the walls above and by using composite beams a standard nominal size ground beam, dictated mainly by the practicalities for construction, can be used. This has the advantage of standardizing shuttering, reinforcement and excavation, making site construction simple, economic and quicker than the traditional solution. Many different beams designed ignoring the benet of the contribution from the structure above can severely complicate the foundations (see Fig. 14.23). When considering the use of composite action, consideration must be given to services which may pass through below ground level in these zones. It is often the case that in adopting composite beams the resulting shallow beams can be more easily made to pass over the services. The use of composite action should however be used with caution if there is a requirement to maintain exibility of future layout. Any modications involving the introduction of major

292 F o u n d a t io n T y p es: S elec t io n a n d D esig n

ground beam

ground beam

cap

pile

pile

section

section

plan w id e ground beam

plan pile cap and narrow ground beam

F ig. 14.22 A lt er n a t iv e b ea m /c a p la y o u t s.

stand ard nominal ground beam for practical construction composite beam d esign

d ifferent beam siz es d ue to vary ing load normal r.c. beam d esign

F ig. 14.23

C o m p o sit e a c t io n v er su s n o r m a l d esig n .

load -bearing w alls

openings in the walls would invalidate the design assumption that the wall and foundation act together. A further help in standardizing a smaller and more economic section is that composite action often makes it possible to precast the beams alongside the excavation and roll them into position, speeding up construction. For building structures the basic alternative foundations for support on piles generally adopted consists of one or a combination of the following: Type 1 Concrete ground beams with or without caps supporting the main superstructure load but with a oating ground oor slab between the main wall (see Fig. 14.24). Type 2 Concrete ground beams and suspended in situ or precast concrete oor slabs (see Fig. 14.25). Type 3 Flat slab construction (see Fig. 14.26 ).

movement joints oating slab

movement joint

ground beams

piles ty pical section th rough piled found ation w ith oating ground slab

F ig. 14.24 Piles a n d oating g r o u n d sla b .