Numerical analysis of piled-raft foundation considering sand cushion effects

The piled-raft foundation is a new design concept as one of the effective methods of foundation to reduce settlements of structures. On the other hand, an alternative piled-raft system with disconnection gap, sand cushion, between the pile and raft was investigated to compare the influence of ultimate bearing capacity and settlement. Load-settlement relation curves are used to evaluate the ultimate bearing capacity. In the numerical analyses, a plane strain elasto-plastic finite element model (Mohr-Coulmb model) is used to present the response of the piled-raft foundation.