Numerical Simulation of Combined Pile Raft Foundation under Horizontal Loading

Abstract

Raft foundations generally have the ability to reduce differential settlement, contrarily causing excessive settlement. In order to overcome this, piles are used along with the raft termed as combined pile-raft foundation system. Due to the lack of availability of simplified tools and intricacy of work, the combined pile raft foundation remains as an untouched area in research. This paper explores the performance of 2x2 numerically simulated combined pile-raft foundation embedded in sand exposed to pure horizontal load using ABAQUS 3D. The effect of horizontal loading in terms of displacement is studied by varying the raft thickness, length and spacing to diameter ratios respectively for the combined pile-raft foundation having a pile diameter of 500mm. The model is validated using the existing findings. Based on this study, it is inferred that the raft thickness effect remains inconsequential whereas the length to diameter ratio and spacing to diameter ratio has an impact on the static response of the combined pile-raft foundation system.