Building frame-pile foundation-soil interactive analysis

Abstract

The effect of soil-structure interaction on a simple single storeyed and two bay space frame resting on a pile group embedded in the cohesive soil (clay) with flexible cap is examined in this paper. For this purpose, a more rational approach is resorted to using the three dimensional finite element analysis with realistic assumptions. The members of the superstructure and substructure are descretized using 20 node isoparametric continuum elements while the interface between the soil and pile is modeled using 16 node isoparametric interface elements. Owing to viability in terms of computational resources and memory requirement, the approach of uncoupled analysis is generally preferred to coupled analysis of the system. However, an interactive analysis of the system is presented in this paper where the building frame and pile foundation are considered as a single compatible unit. This study is focused on the interaction between the pile cap and underlying soil. In the parametric study conducted using the coupled analysis, the effect of pile spacing in a pile group and configuration of the pile group is evaluated on the response of superstructure. The responses of the superstructure considered include the displacement at top of the frame and moments in the superstructure columns. The effect of soil-structure interaction is found to be quite significant for the type of foundation used in the study. The percentage variation in the values of displacement obtained using the coupled and uncoupled analysis is found in the range of 4-17 and that for the moment in the range of 3-10. A reasonable agreement is observed in the results obtained using either approach.