Experimental study on the horizontal bearing characteristics of long-short-pile composite foundation

Long-short pile composite foundations bear both vertical and horizontal loads in many engineering applications. This study used indoor model tests to determine the horizontal bearing mechanism of a composite foundation with long and short piles under horizontal loads. A custom experimental device was developed to prevent excessive eccentricity of the vertical loading device caused by the horizontal displacement. ABAQUS software was used to analyze the influence of the load size and cushion thickness on the horizontal bearing mechanism. The results reveal that a large vertical load leads to soil densification and increases the horizontal bearing capacity of the composite foundation. The magnitude of the horizontal displacement of the pile and the horizontal load borne by the pile are related to the piles' positions. Due to different pile lengths, the long piles exhibit long pile effects and experience bending deformation, whereas the short piles rotate around a point (0.2 L from the pile bottom) as the horizontal load increases. Selecting a larger cushion thickness significantly improves the horizontal load sharing capacity of the soil and reduces the horizontal displacement of the pile top.