Reliability-Based Sustainable Design of Piled Raft-Supported Structure

Abstract

Past failures of pile foundation-supported structures during earthquake had lead engineering community to develop sustainable design guideline. Dynamic soil-structure interaction (DSSI) is important in seismic design because it leads to increased or decreased response that of conventional fixed base design. Inherent variability of soil parameters and modeling considerably affects the dynamic response of structure which leads to precise estimation of safety factor. This study attempts to propose a reliability-based design solution for piled raft foundation considering interaction among soil-pile and superstructure under seismic loading. In situ variability of undrained shear strength of soil and different DSSI modeling is incorporated. Response statistics of an idealized structural system supported on piled raft foundation embedded in homogenous soft clay is calculated using Monte Carlo simulation (MCS). Probability of failure is assessed and design implications are also suggested. Finally, this study highlights importance of reliability-based design of piled raft foundation and rational choice of DSSI modeling which may help sustainable design of piled raft foundation.