Numerical Analysis of Piles in Layered Soils: A Parametric Study

In this paper, numerical analysis of a pile-soil interaction problem is presented considering the parameters influencing the axial load-deformation behavior of the pile embedded in a layered soil medium. The analysis is demonstrated with parametric solutions of a pile with underlain model soil strata under the axial force. An attempt is made to ascertain the extent of influence of elastic properties of the pile, geometry of the pile, end conditions of the pile and the elastic properties of the underlain soil strata on the response of the piles under axial loads lying in a model soil layers in terms of the settlement of the pile and the internal deformation of the pile. The study revealed that the increase in modulus of elasticity of pile improves the settlement resistance of the pile, increase in the ratio of cross sectional dimensions causes decrease in the top deformations of the pile, the settlement of the pile reduced to a great extent when the cross section of the pile adopted is non circular instead of circular and increase in the elastic modulii of top and bottom layers of soil has decreased the settlement of the pile to a great extent, but elastic modulus of soil layers other than top and bottom has got negligible influence on the settlement of the pile. Keyword numerical analysis, pile, parametric study, layered soil, pile-soil interaction