ABSTRACT
Caisson (Well) foundation has been widely used in South Asian countries like Nepal, India for construction of bridge piers and abutments. Generally, the caisson is cast in the ground and slowly sunk to the desired depth by gravity. But, due to sinking difficulties, designers are discarding it despite its several advantages. To overcome such a peculiar situation by taking advantage of caisson foundation, a composite caisson-pile foundation (CCPF) has been recently proposed and used to construct a bridge foundation in Nepal. This study aims to investigate the load-settlement behaviour of CCPFs resting on sand subjected to vertical load using three-dimensional finite element analyses. Through other numerical and experimental studies, the accuracy of the finite element analysis was proven to be correct and valid. A detailed parametric study is conducted, which includes the influence of pile length, number of piles and friction angle on the performance of CCPF embedded in sand.
