Practical Solution for Group Stiffness Analysis of Piles

Abstract

This paper presents a practical solution for group stiffness estimate of vertically loaded piles. The solution is based on a variational approach for pile groups in a soil modeled using a load–transfer curve method. Using the present method, the group stiffness of piles can be easily obtained based on spreadsheet calculation and this is very useful for practical purpose. The paper also presents comparison between results from modeling the soil using load–transfer curves and as an elastic half space. Their difference in estimating the group stiffness of piles is addressed.