*

Pile Groups:

A pile foundation usually consists of a group of piles installed fairly close

together and joined by a slab, known as the pile cap on top of the piles.
Typical arrangements of piles are shown below.
Minimum Spacing between Piles of a group

Pile Condition Minimum Spacing C/C

Point bearing piles hard or dense stratum 2.5D or 80 cm
Friction Piles 3D or 110 cm

Group Action: ‫فعل مجموعة الركائز‬

When a pile is installed immediately adjacent to each other the
respective bulbs of vertical pressure can overlap as shown in Fig. below,
because of this super position of vertical stresses at points within the soil. It
is to be expected that the bearing capacity of a pile group can be less that
the summation of the individual pile capacities which is called group
action.
Efficiency of pile Group (Eg): ‫كفاءة مجموعة الركائز‬

Since the pile group is not necessarily equal to the sum of the
capacities of the piles in the group but sometimes its less or greater as
will be seen later, in general:

Where: n = No. of piles in group

The efficiency (Eg) is influenced by the following:
1- The sequence and No. of soil strata.
2- Nature of soil (sand or clay).
3- Load per pile.
4- Spacing of piles.
5- No. of piles in group.
6- Method of installation including sequence of pile construction.

Pile Groups in Cohesive Soils:

For piles group placed in clayey soil, the efficiency is unity (1) for
large spacing (> 8D) but decreases as the spacing decreases because of the
overlapping in the bulb of stress of the closely spaced piles.
The efficiency can be calculated as:

1- The converse Labarre formula

Where: n = number of rows of piles in a group.

m = number of columns.
 (In degrees)

B = Pile width or (D) diameter

S = Pile spacing (c/c), all spacing must be equal.

Note: it can be concluded that higher efficiency factor can

be obtained for:
a- Piles having smaller length /diameter ratio.
b- Larger spacing
c- Smaller no. of piles in group.

1- The Feld efficiency factor (Eg):

Feld assumed that each pile reduces the capacity of the adjacent pile
by (1/16).
 1(1-(8/16))+ 4(1-(5/16)) + 4(1-(3/16))
Or, Eg = ---------------------------------------------- = 0.722
9
This empirical formula can be used for any configuration.
Ultimate Bearing Capacity of pile group:

To estimate the group load capacity in clay as stated by Terzaghi and

Peck, the group capacity is the lesser of (a) or (b)>

a- Block Failure: if the spacing is very small (less than the critical 3D) the
group will fail as a block (soil shearing around the perimeter of the group)
such failure called block failure.
The Capacity of this block can be estimated as follows:

Where:
= a verage undrained shear strength of soil between 0 and D m
below the surface
= Undrained shear strength of soil at base of pile (at depth D).
= Bearing capacity factor = 9
= width of group
= length of group
b- The group capacity is the sum of the ultimate capacities of individual
piles in the group (taking Eg into consideration).

Where:
n = No. of Piles
Eg = Efficiency of group.
The allowable capacity of a group can be determined by using FS (2-3).

Pile Groups in Cohesionless Soils:

Driving piles into cohesionless soils can cause considerable
compaction in the adjacent soils. This compactive effect can make the
bearing capacity of the pile group greater than the sum of the
individual pile strengths. In the case of group, if the spacing are too
close, it can actually become impossible to drive the remaining piles to
the required depth, which is why a pile group in cohesionless soils
should be driven from the center outwards.
The efficiency of group Eg is:

Where: n = number of piles per raw.

m = number of raws in group.
B = Pile width or (D) diameter
S = Pile spacing (c/c)
Cd = perimeter of the cross section of pile over depth (d).
Hence the ultimate bearing pile of group (Qg)ult:

Generally Eg is taken as 1.0 for driven pile group, Bored piles

have no compactive effect and may even create loosening of the soil
adjacent to the pile shafts and Eg=0.7 is generally taken.
Example: Refer to Fig. below, Given m=4, n=3, B=305mm,
S=1220mm and depth D=15m. the piles are square and embedded in a
homogenous clay with Cu=70 kN/m2. Using FS=4, determine the
allowable load bearing capacity of the group pile.
Sol:

From Fig. (1): for Cu=70, then α=0.63 “using Tomlinson Method”
As Block:

Pile Groups Subjected to Moment:

To calculate the ultimate bearing capacity for each pile in a group
subjected to moment. The following formula can be used:

Where:
P = Total pile reaction resulting from moment and load.
Σv= Sum of vertical loads acting on the foundation.
Mx, My = Moments about x and y axes, respectively.
n = No. of piles.
y& x =Maximum Distance of pile from x and y axes.
Σy2 &Σx2 = Sum of the squares of the distance to each pile.

For Example:
Σy2 = 6 * (0.5 S)2 = 1.5S2
Σx2 = 4 * (S)2 = 4 S2

Σx2 = 8 *x22 + 8*x12

Σy2 = 8*y22 + 8 *y12
Example:the plan of group of 9 piles is shown in Fig below, a load of
3250 kN, inclined at 10o to the vertical and act in direction parallel to the
X-X and its point of applications has eccentricities ex = 0.5m , ey = 0.7m.
Determine the values of vertical load and horizontal load that should be
used to check the suitability of the pile.

Sol:
Horizontal component of Inclined Load
= 3250 * Sin 10o = 564 kN
Vertical component of Inclined Load
= 3250 * Cos 10o = 3200 kN
For this pile group X = 2m , Y = 1.5m
Σx2 = 6 * 22 = 24
Σy2 = 6 * 1.52 = 13.5

Example: For group of 12 piles, the applied load 6000 kN and

Mx = 4800 kN.m , My = 3000 kN.m, calculate the ultimate load on the
pile.

-- -+

+- ++
Σx = 6 * (0.75) + 6*(2.25) = 33.75
2 2 2

Σy2 = 8 * (2)2 = 32
Where: X = 2.25, y = 2
Example: For Pile cap shown in Fig. below, if the total load on the pile
cap is 3000 kN and the piles are installed wholly in clay, calculate the
efficiency of the group.
Sol.

H.W: Find the max. pile capacity for the pile group shown in Fig.
below. If My = 500 kN.m, V = 7200 kN
Ans: (859.5 kN)

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