Pile group action under vertical loads in different soil types

Abstract

A study of the behavior of overconsolidated clay using numerical modeling is conducted. The numerical modeling has been applied to simulate a case study from Alzey Bridge, Germany. The simulated case study is of two bridge foundations each rests on 6 piles. The soil stratification consists mainly of overconsolidated stiff clay. Finite element analyses program Plaxis-3d was used to simulate the case study. Three-dimensional analysis was conducted. Mohr-Coulomb model as well as effective Hardening Soil model was used during the numerical modeling of the case. A comparison between the results of the pile group settlement for the two used constitutive laws was performed. The Hardening Soil model has been chosen as it showed more realistic results than the Mohr-Coulomb model, and its results are compatible with the monitored ones.