PILE FOUNDATIONS

Out Line
Types of Piles
Load Carrying Capacity of Piles
Dynamic Formulae
Static Formulae
Pile Load Tests
Pile Driving
Load Carrying Capacity of Pile Groups
Settlement of Pile Groups
Negative Skin Friction
Types of Piles
Classification based on the function

Classification based on material and composition

Classification based on method of installation

Classification Based on the Function
End-Bearing Piles: Used to transfer load through the
pile tip to a suitable bearing stratum, passing soft
soil or water.
Friction Piles: Used to transfer loads to a depth in a
frictional material by means of skin friction along the
surface area of the pile.
Tension or uplift piles: Used to anchor structures
subjected to uplift due to hydrostatic pressure or to
overturning moment due to horizontal forces.
Compaction piles: Used to compact loose granular
soils in order to increase the bearing capacity. Since
they are not required to carry any load, the material
may not be required to be strong; in fact, sand may
be used to form the pile. The pile tube, driven to
compact the soil, is gradually taken out and sand is
filled in its place thus forming a sand pile.
 Classification Based on the Function
Anchor piles: Used to provide anchorage against horizontal pull from sheetpiling or water.
Fender piles: Used to protect water-front structures against impact from ships or other floating objects.
Sheet piles: Commonly used as bulkheads, or cut-offs to reduce seepage and uplift in hydraulic
structures.
Batter piles: Used to resist horizontal and inclined forces, especially in water front structures.
Laterally-loaded piles: Used to support retaining walls, bridges, dams, and wharves and as fenders for
harbour construction.
 Classification Based on Material & Composition
Timber piles:
Length may be up to about 8 m; splicing is adopted for
greater lengths.
Diameter may be from 30 to 40 cm.
Timber piles perform well either in fully dry condition
or submerged condition.
Alternate wet and dry conditions reduce the life of a
timber pile; to overcome this, creosoting is adopted.
Maximum design load is about 250 kN.
Steel piles
These are usually H-piles (rolled H-shape), pipe piles,
or sheet piles (rolled sections of regular shapes).
They may carry loads up to 1000 kN or more.
 Classification Based on Material & Composition
Concrete piles
These may be precast or cast-in-situ.
Precast piles are reinforced to withstand handling
stresses.
They require space for casting and storage, more time to
cure and heavy equipment for handling and driving.
Cast-in-situ piles are installed by pre-excavation, thus
eliminating vibration due to driving and handling.
The common types are Raymond pile, Mac Arthur pile and
Franki pile.
Composite piles
These may be made of either concrete and timber or
concrete and steel.
These are considered suitable when the upper part of the
pile is to project above the water table. Lower portion may
be of untreated timber and the upper portion of concrete.
Otherwise, the lower portion may be of steel and the upper
one of concrete.
 Classification based on method of installation
Driven piles:
Timber, steel, or precast concrete piles may be driven
into position either vertically or at an inclination.
If inclined they are termed batter or raking piles.
Pile hammers and pile-driving equipment are used for
driving piles.
Cast-in-situ piles
Only concrete piles can be cast-in-situ.
Holes are drilled and these are filled with concrete.
These may be straight-bored piles or may be under-
reamed with one or more bulbs at intervals.
Reinforcements may be used according to the
requirements.
Driven and cast-in-situ piles
This is a combination of both types. Casing or shell may
be used.
The Franki pile falls in this category.
 Pile Driving
The operation of forcing a pile into the
ground is known as pile driving.
The equipment used to lift the hammer
and allow it to fall on to the head of the
pile is known as the pile driver.
Pile hammers are of the following types:
Drop hammer
Single-acting hammer (steam or pneumatic)
Double-acting hammer (steam or pneumatic)
Diesel hammer (internal combustion)
Vibratory hammer
Load Carrying Capacity of Piles
The ultimate bearing capacity of a pile is the maximum load which it
can carry without failure or excessive settlement of the ground.
Or
The ultimate load carrying capacity, or ultimate bearing capacity,
or the ultimate bearing resistance of a pile is defined as the
maximum load which can be carried by a pile and at which the pile
continues to sink without further increase of load.
The allowable load is the safe load which the pile can carry safely
and is determined on the basis of:
Ultimate bearing resistance divided by suitable factor of safety
The permissible settlement
Overall stability of pile foundation
Load Carrying Capacity of Piles
The load carrying capacity of a pile can be determined by

Dynamic Formulae

Static Formulae

Pile Load Tests

Penetration Tests
Dynamic Formulae
When a pile hammer hits the pile, the total driving energy is equal
to the weight of hammer times the height of drop or stroke.
An additional energy is imparted by the stream pressure during the
return stroke in double acting hammer.
The total downward energy is consumed by the work done in
penetrating the pile and by certain losses.
It is also assumed that soil resistance of dynamic penetration of
pile is the same as to the penetration of pile under static or
sustained loading.
Engineering News formula
Hileys formula
Engineering News Formula (A.M.Wellington, 1818)

Where, = Allowable load

H = Height of Fall (cm)
W = Weight of Hammer (kg)
F = Factor of Safety = 6
S = Final set (penetration) per blow (cm), usually taken as average penetration,
cm per blow for the last 5 blows oa a drop hammer, or 20 blows of a steam hammer
C = Empirical Constant
= 2.5 cm for drop hammer
= 0.25 cm for single and double acting hammers
Engineering News Formula
Drop hammers:

Single acting steam hammers:

Double acting steam hammers:

Where, a = Effective area of piston (cm2)

p = Mean effective steam pressure (kg/cm2)
Hileys Formula (IS: 2911 (PART 1), 1964)
(Friction Piles)

Where, Qf = Ultimate load on pile

W = Weight of hammer, kg
H = Height of drop of hammer, in cm
S = Penetration or set, in cm per blow
C = Total elastic compression = C1 +C2 +C3o
C1 +C2 +C3 = Temporary elastic compression of dolly and packing, pile and soil
respectively
= efficiency of hammer, variable from 65% for double acting steam hammer to 100%
for drop hammer
= efficiency of hammer blow (i.e. ratio of the energy after impact to striking energy
of ram)
Hileys Formula (IS: 2911 (PART 1), 1964)
(W > eP)
- (W < eP)
P = Weight of pile, helmet, follower
e = coefficient of restitution
(variable from zero for a timber pile with poor
condition of head or for excess packing in the driving cap
to 0.5 for double acting hammer driven steel piles
without driving cap or reinforced concrete piles without
helmet but with packing on top)
Hileys Formula (IS: 2911 (PART 1),
1964) (End Bearing Piles)
A value of 0.5P is substituted

H is sometimes referred as effective fall of hammer

For double acting hammer, the rated energy in the same

length unit as S and C is substituted for W H

The allowable load is obtained by using a factor of safety 2

or 2.5
Comments about the use of dynamic formulae
Dynamic formulae are best suited to coarse grained soils for which the
shear strength is independent of rate of loading, because they allow no
development of excess pore pressure around the pile during driving if
saturated or dry
The great objection to any of the pile driving formulae is the uncertainty
about the relationship between the dynamic and static resistance of soil.
In case of submerged loose uniform fine sands, impact of driving may cause
liquefaction of soil, thus showing much less resistance than that which will
occur under a static load. Similarly, a very dense saturated fine sand may
show an increased driving resistance which decreases.
For clays, the dynamic formulae are valueless because the skin friction
developed in clay during driving is very much less (due to change in soil
structure from flocculant to dispersed or due to thixotropic effect) that
which occurs after a period of time. Also, the point resistance is much more
at the time of driving because of pore pressure development in clay, which
reduced later on when the pore pressure dissipate.
Comments about the use of dynamic formulae
Dynamic formulae give no indication about probable future
settlement or temporary changes in soil structure.
The formulae do not take into account the reduced bearing capacity
of pile when in a group.
Law of impact used for determining energy loass is not strictly valid
for piles subjected to restraining influence of the surrounding soil.
In engineering formula, the weight of the pile and hence its inertia
effect is neglected.
Energy loss due to vibrations, heat and damage to dolly or packing
are not accounted.
In Hileys formula, a number of constants are involved, which are
difficult to determine.
Static Formulae
The static formulae are based on the assumption that the ultimate bearing
capacity Qup of a pile is the sum of the total ultimate skin friction Rf and total
ultimate point or end bearing resistance Rp
Qup = Rf + Rp

Qup = As .rf + Ap .rp

where, As = Surface area of pile upon which the skin friction acts
Ap = Area of cross section of pile on which bearing resistance acts (A may be
taken as the cross sectional area at the lower one-third of the embedded length)
rf = average skin friction
rp = unit point or toe resistance
A factor of safety of 2.5 or 3 may be adopted for finding the allowable load
Static Formulae
For Cohesive Soil:
Point bearing is generally neglected for individual pile action,
since it is negligible as compared to frictional resistance.
The unit skin friction may be taken equal to the shear
strength of the soil multiplied by a reduction factor (or m)
rf = average skin friction along the length of the pile
= c (or mc)
rp = Nc cp = 9 c p
Qup = As . mc + 9 cp .Ap
Static Formulae
Where, m (or ) = adhesion coefficient (or reduction factor) depends
upon type of clay, can be determined by pile load test. For a depth of pile
less than 20 dia., its value is 0.4 For deeper piles, value ranges from 0.4
(at c = 170 kN/m2) to 1 (for c = 90 kN/m2)
c = Average undrained cohesion along the length of pile
cp =Average undrained cohesion of soil at pile tip.
c & cp may be taken equal to qu/2

Value of
Consistency N Value Bored piles Driven cast-in-situ piles

Soft to very soft <4 0.7 1.0

Medium 48 0.5 0.7
Stiff 8 15 0.4 0.4
Stiff to hard > 15 0.3 0.3
Static Formulae
The allowable load for the pile is given by dividing Qup by a
suitable factor of safety F
Qa = Qup /F
The IS code recommends that for working out safe load, a
minimum factor of safety of 2.5
Two different values of safety factors are adopted for shaft
resistance (or skin friction) and base resistance
Qa = ((As . mc)/ F1 )+ 9 ((cp .Ap )/ F2)
Static Formulae
For non-cohesive soil
rf = K tan ( Z + q)
rp = 0.3 B Nq (for circular piles)
rp = 0.5 B Nq (for rectangular or square piles)
Where, K = Coefficient of lateral earth pressure
= Density of soil
q = surcharge on the ground
Z = depth of centre of gravity of the pile below ground surface
B = least lateral dimension of rectangular or square pile (or diameter of circular pile)
= angle of internal friction
Nq = Meyerhofs non-dimensional factor (resultant bearing capacity factor)
Pile Load Tests
Each load increment is kept for
sufficient time till the rate of
settlement becomes less than
0.02mm per hour.
The test piles are loaded until
ultimate load is reached.
The test load is increased to a value
2.5 times the estimated allowable
load or to a load which causes a
settlement equal to one-tenth of pile
diameter, whichever occurs earlier.
If the ultimate load is cannot be obtained
The allowable load is taken as:
One-half to one-third of the final load which causes
settlement equal to 10% of pile diameter
Two-thirds of the final load which causes a total settlement
of 12mm
Two-thirds of final load which causes a net settlement
(residual settlement after the removal of load) of 6mm.
Penetration Tests
Dutch cone penetration test can be applied with sufficient
accuracy to determine the ultimate bearing capacity of piles
in cohesionless soils
rp = qc

rf = 2fc

where, qc = unit resistance of Dutch cone penetrometer

fc = Static skin friction on the shaft of the penetrometer
 Pile Group
When several closely spaced piles are grouped
together, it is reasonable to expect that the soil
pressure developed in the soil as resistance will
overlap.
The bearing capacity of a pile group may or may not be
equal to the sum of the bearing capacity of individual
piles constituting a group.
Theory and tests have shown that the total bearing
capacity value Qug of a group of friction piles,
particularly in clay, may be less then the product of
the friction bearing value Qup of an individual pile
multiplied by the number of piles n in a group
There is no reduction due to grouping occurs in end
bearing piles.
For combined end bearing and friction piles, only the
load carrying capacity of the frictional portion is
reduced.
Pile group
The
bearing capacity of the group of friction piles can be estimated by
multiplying nQup by a reduction factor called the efficiency of pile group
Qug = nQup.
Where, Qug = load carried by group of friction piles
Qup = load carried by each friction pile
n = number of piles
= efficiency of pile group
The efficiency of pile group depends upon:
Characteristics of pile
Length, diameter, material etc.
Spacing of pile
Total number of piles in a row
Number of rows
Pile group efficiency of pile group

Converse
Labarre Formulae

Where,
m = number of rows
n = number of piles in a row
=
d = diameter of pile
s = spacing of pile

Seiler-Keeney Formulae

s = average spacing, center to center, in meters

Felds Rule
According to this rule,
the value of each pile is
reduced by one-
sixteenth on account of
the effect of the
nearest pile in each
diagonal or straight row
 Pile Group Design
The area of the pile group, along failure surface is approximately equal to the
perimeter P of the pile group multiplied by the length L of the pile.
The ultimate load
Qug = PLrf + Arp
Where, A = Cross-sectional area of pile group, at base = B x B

p = Perimeter of pile group = 4B

rp= shear strength of soil = c = = qu/2 (for clay soils)

Qug = 4BLrf + BxB 9cp

Piles of the group are so spaced that they act individually, rather than acting in the group.

The total load capacity of n piles is

Qun = n Qup
The ultimate load Qu of a pile group will be equal to less of Qug and Qun
Permissible load will be equal to Qu /F
 Pile Group Design

The pile spacing which utilizes the full capacity of each

pile can be most easily by trial.
A spacing of 3 times the diameter of piles is commonly
selected as trial spacing and checked against the
resistance Qg is at least equal to the capacity of single pile
multiplied by the number of piles in group.
The safe load on a group of piles driven through
compressible layers to firm material is equal to the number
of piles in the group multiplied by the safe load per pile, no
need of reduction factor
Settlement of Pile Group in Clay
The settlement of a pile group of friction piles can be
computed on the assumption that the clay contained
between the top of the piles and their lower third point is
incompressible and that the load is applied to the soil at this
lower third point of the pile.
The pressure of soil below this level is ignored.
The load is assumed to be uniformly distributed at this
level, and is spread at an angle 30 degrees with the vertical.
The soil below this layer is divided into a number of layers,
and the are calculated at the middle of each layer.
Settlement of Pile Group in Clay

The
settlement of each layer is

Where, H = thickness of the layer

= initial voids ratio
= initial stress at centre of the layer =
Z = depth of the centre of the layer below ground
= additional stress due to piles
The total settlement = ..
Negative Skin Friction
Negative skin friction is a downward drag acting on a pile due to the
downward movement of the surrounding compressible soil relative to the
pile.
This happens when the surrounding compressible soil has been recently
filled or formed.
As the soil consolidates, the earth fill moves downwards, developing
friction forces on the perimeter of the pile which tend to carry the pile
farther into the ground.
The negative skin friction may also be developed by the lowering of the
ground water, the increase in effective stress causes consolidation of
the soil, with the resultant settlement and friction force being developed
on the pile.
Negative Skin Friction
For
individual piles, the magnitude of negative friction Qnf
May be taken as:
For cohesive soils: Qnf = p.c. Lf
For granular soils: Qnf = 0.5
Where, p = perimeter of the pile
= depth of fill or soil which is moving vertically
c = cohesion of soil in zone of
K = earth pressure coefficient
= unit weight of soil
f = coefficient of friction