Pile Foundation

Abstract

Pile Foundation The first difficult problem confronting the designer of a foundation is to establish whether or not the site conditions are such that piles must be used. Principal situations in which piles may be needed . The most common case is that in which the upper soil strata are too compressible or generally too weak to support heavy vertical reactions transmitted by the superstructure. In this instance, piles serve as extensions of columns or piers to carry the loads to a deep, rigid stratum such as rock . If such a rigid stratum does not exist within a reasonable depth, the loads must be gradually transferred, mainly by friction, along pile shafts