ABSTRACT
This paper presents a study on the mobilization of negative skin friction (NSF) through end-bearing piles for a soil profile containing soft soils sandwiched between stiff residual soil layers. A commercially available finite element package PLAXIS 2D has been used for the analysis. The model has been validated using case study results available in the literature. The position of the neutral plane and magnitude of drag load is analyzed with the change of soil layer thickness for different pile diameters and axial loads. All results were compared with an analytical method suggested in Sri Lankan guidelines and the variation among results was less than 20%. Pile settlement and axial shortening significantly affect the mobilization of NSF whereas the magnitude of the axial load has no significant effect. It can be concluded that finite element analysis can reasonably predict the mobilization of NSF on piles installed through layered soil profiles.
