Consolidation settlement of vertically loaded pile groups in multilayered poroelastic soils

Abstract

Pile groups are commonly used as the foundations of many structures including those used in transportation infrastructures. Consolidation settlement of a pile foundation is an important design parameter. A theoretical model is developed in this study to estimate the consolidation settlement and axial load transfer of vertically loaded pile groups in multilayered poroelastic soils. The multilayered saturated soil is modeled according to Biot's poroelasticity theory. In order to determine quasi-static response of pile groups, the interaction problem is first formulated in the Laplace transform domain. Vertical displacement compatibility is enforced at the pile-soil interface to simulate the pile group-soil interaction. Axial deformation of each pile is represented by an exponential series with undetermined coefficients, which are obtained from a variational approach. Vertical displacement influence functions due to a buried uniform vertical load applied to the layered soil are required in the formulation. The application of an exact stiffness matrix method yields the required influence functions. Time-domain solutions are obtained by employing a numerical Laplace inversion method. Numerical results for time-dependent vertical stiffness and consolidation settlement are presented for different pile group configurations, layer profiles, pile elastic moduli and pile lengths.