Prediction of pile group settlement by the finite element method

Abstract

In this research, a nonlinear three dimensional finite element program has been developed. The formulation for hexahedral element matrices were derived by using the isoparametric finite element discretization technique based on the work of Monkar (10). The method for predicting pile-group settlements with three dimensional idealization associated with the developed finite element program has been presented. Focus was put on the case of axially loaded driven pile groups situated in a soft soil stratum with the pile tips embedded in an underlying stiffer soil stratum and different soil layers underlying the pile tips were also included in the analysis. Applications of the proposed method to practical problems have been investigated and discussed extensively. Finally, the pile-group settlements predicted by the proposed method were compared to those obtained by Poulos's method and field measurements and their results were in good agreement.