Ultimate Bearing Capacity Analysis of Pile Caps with New Socket Connections

Socket connection need a groove reserved in the cap to accommodate a bridge pier, which greatly weaken the vertical bearing capacity of the cap. The conventional treatment measure is to increase the thickness of the cap, and the corresponding cost will increase. The measures to enhance the vertical bearing capacity of socket caps without increasing the thickness of the cap were discussed in this paper, including a rough interface at the bottom of the pier, additional hanging bars, high-strength grouting material in the seam, and large-diameter metal corrugated pipes, etc. Based on a previous test, the finite element analysis of the vertical bearing capacity of pile caps with new socket connections was carried out. The analysis parameters included the construction method, steel bar diameter in the bottom of the cap, socket depth, thickness of the bottom plate, pile length, and friction coefficient, etc. The bearing capacity M–N relation of the full-scale model was also analyzed. Research indicated the vertical bearing capacity of the cap is mainly provided by rough interfaces, the bottom plate, and the additional hanging bars, and the contribution of the three parts was about 40%, 34%, and 26%; the vertical bearing capacity was proportional to the areas of steel bars on the cap and the thickness of the bottom plate, and was inversely proportional to the length of the pile. To obtain the vertical bearing capacity of the overall cast-in-place plan for the socket cap, the thickness of the cap needs to be increased by 27%. At last, a design formula for the calculation of the vertical bearing capacity was proposed.

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