Effect of interactions between piled raft components and soil on behavior of piled raft foundation

The use of piled raft foundations has been considered as an economical alternative to conventional deep foundations because a portion of the applied load is thought to be transferred to the raft. In analyzing the behavior of a piled raft as a settlement reducer, an accurate estimate of settlement of the system should be made, based on the adequate understanding of nonlinear behavior of piles in layered soils as well as the interaction between the raft, soils, and piles. This study developed a computer program incorporating an approximate hybrid analysis method for the practical design of piled raft foundations. In the presented method of analysis, the interactions between pile-soil, raft-soil, pile-soil-pile and raft-soil-pile are considered, and the effect of nonlinear behavior of piles and the interactions between piled raft components and soil are investigated by comparing with 3-dimensional FEM program analysis results.