Prediction of the Axial Bearing Capacity of Piles by SPT-based and Numerical Design Methods

Abstract

The prediction of the axial capacity of piles has been a challenge since the beginning of the geotechnical engineering profession. In recent years determining bearing capacity of piles from in-situ testing data as a complement of static and dynamic analysis has been used by geotechnical engineers. The Standard Penetration Test (SPT) is still the most commonly used in-situ test and pile capacity determination by SPT is one of the earliest applications of this test. On the other hand, the acceptance of numerical analyses in geotechnical problems is growing and finite element calculations are more and more used in the design of foundations. In this paper, different approaches for estimating the bearing capacity of piles from SPT data have been explained and compared with numerical method. Then, comparisons between numerical and empirical results are presented and discussed.