Evaluation of vertical spring stiffness of piles in rock using Plaxis 2D

In recent years, the need for collaboration between geotechnical and structural engineers has
increased due to improved understanding of the soil-structure interaction problems. For structural
engineers, one of the inputs for superstructure analysis in structural software programs like etabs,
SAP, etc is the value of spring stiffness (vertical and lateral) for structures resting on pile foundations.
Existing solutions like API method (1993) and T-Z curves are not very reliable for piles in rock. Plaxis
2D finite element program is widely used in geotechnical engineering practice because of advanced
soil models, meshing tools and robust iterative and calculation framework. The vertical spring stiffness
of the piles embedded in rock can be evaluated by creating an axisymmetric model in Plaxis 2D with
side interface as shown in the Fig 1a. The pile is modelled as a non-porous volume element with
linear elastic model and a side interface. The interface material should be defined the same as the
adjacent soils with appropriate strength reduction or friction factor. The load should be applied in
increments with separate calculation phases so that the load-displacement curve for the pile can be
obtained. Both the vertical displacement at the top and the bottom of the pile should be measured
from Plaxis 2D and load-settlement curve as shown in Fig 1b should be plotted. The pile settlement
shown in Fig 1b is indicative of mobilisation of both skin friction and end bearing resistance. The initial
linear portion of the curve with small displacements indicated that up to this point very little end
bearing resistance is mobilized. One of the advantages of this analysis is that displacement due to
elastic shortening of the pile is accounted for and it aids the structural engineer to assess the spring
stiffness for each load separately which reduces the risk of variation with a single value of spring
stiffness.

Fig 1a Fig 1b

Interface

Soft clay

Pile (900mm ϕ)

ECBF Rock
 Fig 1c

0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 4500 5000
0

10

pile settlement (mm)

20

30

40

50

60

70

80
Load (kN)
Top Bottom

Fig 1: (a) Axisymmetric pile model (900mm dia) in Plaxis 2D (b) Plaxis results (deformed mesh output)
(c) load-settlement curve for pile plotted using Plaxis 2D results