A Local Design Method for Pile Foundations

The work at hand attempts to propose a local pile design method based on pile load test results for a reference site. Such LPDM is simply based on the identification of three dimensionless quantities, such as the capacity ratio CR, the stiffness ratio SR, and the group settlement ratio_Rs. To prove the LPDM reliability, experimental data collected during years in the Neapolitan area (Italy) have been used to obtain the abovementioned coefficients. Then, LPDM has been applied, as a preliminary design method, to three well-documented case histories applying capacity and settlement-based design (CBD and SBD) approaches. The satisfactory agreement between the geometry in the original design of piles and the one obtained by applying the LPDM proves that the proposed methodology may be very helpful for preliminary design, allowing for reasonable accuracy while requiring few hand calculations.

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