Experimenta Lstudy of Behavior of Piled Raft Foundations under Vertical Loading in Sand

Several numerical studies have been carried out to analyze the behavior of piled raft foundations, but very few experimental studies are reported in literatures. The conventional approach for the design of piled raft foundations ignores the raft load sharing and it has been assumed that the piles carry the whole of structural loads. This approach is unduly conservative and lead to an uneconomic design. Only when the piles cap is elevated from the ground level, this design method is valid. In a piled raft foundation, pile-soil-raft interaction is complicated. The available laboratory studies are mainly focused on steel piles. The present study aimed to evaluate the behavior of piled raft foundations in sand, using experimental physical models.