Journal Article

Pile–Soil Interaction and Group Pile Effect in Composite Foundation Under Different Pile Length Conditions

He, Dongliang, Liu, Hongwei, Lin, Hang, Cheng, Yanhui

2025

Overview

With the rapid development of urbanization and infrastructure construction, the requirements for the foundation design of high-rise buildings and large bridges are increasing. Pile foundations, as important supporting structures, are widely used in weak foundations and high-rise buildings. However, pile groups show significant advantages in bearing capacity, settlement control, and structural stability, while also bringing complex pile–soil interactions and group pile effects. Based on an FLAC3D numerical simulation (version 3.0), this paper constructs a pile group composite foundation model under different pile length conditions and analyzes the influence of pile–soil interaction on the group pile effect. The results show that pile length has a significant impact on the settlement and bearing capacity of the pile group composite foundation. When the pile length exceeds a certain critical value (23.4 m in this study), the interaction between piles is enhanced, the bearing capacity of the soil between piles is improved, the pile–soil stress ratio is reduced, and the overall settlement is effectively controlled. Moreover, there are obvious differences in settlement and stress distribution between pile group composite foundations and single-pile composite foundations, and the group pile effect can lead to greater settlement and more complex stress distribution. Therefore, when designing pile group composite foundations, factors such as pile length, pile spacing, and geological conditions should be fully considered to optimize foundation performance. This study provides a theoretical basis and reference for the design and optimization of pile group composite foundations, highlighting the importance of considering pile length and pile–soil interaction in practical engineering applications.

• Publisher: MDPI AG
• Subject: Accuracy / Analysis / bearing capacity / Bridge foundations / Bridges / Building design / Buildings / Construction / Deformation / Design / Design optimization / Engineering / Geology / group pile effect / High rise buildings / Load / Mathematical models / Numerical analysis / numerical simulation / Pile bearing capacities / Pile foundations / Pile groups / pile–soil interaction / Sensitivity analysis / settlement / Simulation / Simulation methods / Skyscrapers / Soil bearing capacity / Soil stresses / Soil-pile interaction / Soil-structure interaction / Soils / Stress distribution / Stress ratio / Structural stability / Tall buildings / Urbanization