SOIL PILE CAP STATIC INTERACTION ANALYSIS BY FINITE AND INFINITE ELEMENTS

A direct analysis of pile-soil static interaction by the combination of finite and infinite elements is presented. The pile and the near-field soil medium are modelled by finite elements, whereas the far-field soil medium is modelled by mapped infinite elements. Axially loaded single piles and single piles with caps subject to monotonic loading are investigated. The soil is assumed to be either elastic or elastic - perfect plastic. A weak zone is introduced around the pile to approximately account for slip between the soil and the pile. Numerical results show that this approach is quite efficient and versatile for various soil-structure interaction problems.