ABSTRACT
Insights into the behaviour of piles in swelling ground resulting from a reduction in effective vertical stress, based on Finite Element Analyses, are presented. It was found that pile behaviour was heavily dependent on slippage along the pile-soil interface. Some reduction in the frictional up-lift on a pile inside a group was observed due to pile-soil interaction, which was governed by the configuration of pile group, interface friction, stiffness of the soil and upward soil movement. It is illustrated that a maximum ratio of steel reinforcement of 1.0–2.0% typically is required along the entire length of a bored pile embedded in swelling soil.
