Side Resistance Assessment of Drilled Shafts Socketed into Rocks: Empirical Versus Artificial Intelligence Approaches

Drilled shafts socketed into rock are widely used to transfer heavy structural loads through weak overburden strata to underlying bedrock, which can sustain the load. Numerous studies have been conducted in the recent years to predict the side resistance of rock socketed shafts under vertical loads. The problem is extremely complex owing to the large number of factors that affect the socketed shafts behavior. This study investigates the applicability of the existing empirical equations to predict the side shear resistance of drilled shafts socketed into rock using a compiled shaft load tests database. The compiled database is, also, analyzed to investigate the possibility of establishing an empirical equation for improving the prediction of side shear resistance of the drilled socketed shafts. In addition, an artificial intelligence approach, a fuzzy logic scheme, is established in this study to evaluate the applicability of such approaches to predict the side resistance of drilled shafts socketed into rock formation. The established approaches exhibited a good comparison between the predicted and the monitored values.