CHAPTER – 1.

FOUNDATIONS
1.8.2 Deep Foundations
Deep foundations may be of the following types:
1. Deep strip, rectangular or square footings. 3. Pier foundation or drilled caisson foundation.
2. Pile foundation. 4. Well foundation or caissons.

1. Deep strip, Rectangular or Square footings:

The usual strip, rectangular or square footings come under the category of deep foundations, when the depth
of the foundation is more than the width of the footing.

2. Pile foundation.
Pile foundation is that type of deep foundation in which the loads are taken to a low level by means of
vertical members which may be of timber, concrete or steel.

Pile foundation may be adopted

(i) Instead of a raft foundation where no firm bearing strata exists at any reasonable depth and the loading is
uneven,
(ii) When a firm bearing strata does exist but at a depth such as to make strip or spread footing
uneconomical, and
(iii) When pumping of sub-soil water would be too costly or timbering to excavations too difficult to permit
the construction of normal foundations.

Classification of Piles

C.Based on
E.Based on
A.According to B.Based on Mode of method of
D. Based on use displacement of
material used Transfer of Loads construction/
soil
Installation
a)Timber Piles a)End-bearing Piles a)Driven Piles a)Load bearing a)Displacement
(point bearing piles) Piles Piles
b)Concrete Piles b)Friction Piles b)Driven and Cast- b)Compaction b)Non-
(cohesion piles) in-situ Piles Piles displacement Piles
c)Steel Piles c)Combined end bearing c)Bored and Cast- c)Tension Piles
and friction Piles in-situ Piles (Uplift Piles)
d)Composite Piles d)Screw Piles d)Sheet Piles
e)Jacked Piles e)Fender Piles

A. According to material used

Timber piles: Timber piles are made from tree trunks and are well seasoned, straight and free from all
defects. In India, timber piles mostly made up of sal tree trunks. These piles are available in length between
4 to 6 m. Timber piles are used where good bearing stratum is available at a relatively shallow depth.

Concrete piles: Concrete piles are either precast or cast in situ. Precast piles are cast and cured at the casting
site and then transported to the site for installation. These piles are adequately reinforced to with stand
handling stresses along with working stresses. Precast piles are normally suitable for short lengths. Cast-in-
situ piles are constructed by drilling hole in the ground and then filling the hole by concrete after placing the
reinforcement.

Steel piles: Steel piles are usually of rolled H-sections or thick pipe sections. These piles are used to
withstand large impact stresses and where less disturbance from driving is desired. Steel sheet piles and H-
piles are generally used to support the open excavation and to provide seepage barrier.

Composite piles: A pile which is made up of two materials like concrete and timber or concrete and steel is
called composite pile. Composite piles are used in situations where a part of the pile is permanently under
water. The part of the pile which will be under water can be made of untreated timber and the other part can
be of concrete.
B. Based on Mode of Transfer of Loads
End bearing piles: The piles which transfer its load to a hard and relatively incompressible stratum like
rock or dense sand are called end bearing piles. These piles derive its bearing capacity from end bearing at
the pile tip.

Friction piles: The piles which do not rest on hard stratum but derives its carrying capacity from skin
friction or adhesion between the pile surface and surrounding soil are called friction piles.

Friction-cum-End-bearing piles: The piles rest on hard strata and resist the structural load partly by
bearing and partly by friction. These piles are used when bearing capacity of soil strata lying under them is
not sufficient to resist load of the structure.

C. Based on method of construction/ Installation

Driven piles: Driven piles may be of concrete, steel or timber. These piles are driven into the soil by the
impact of hammer. Boring is not required for this type of piles. When a pile is driven into granular soils it
densities the soil and increases strength of soil. But when a pile is driven in saturated clay, the soil instead of
being compacted gets remolded with reduction in strength.

Bored piles: Bored piles are constructed in pre-bored holes either using a casing or by circulating stabilizing
agent like betonies slurry. The borehole is then filled with concrete after placing the reinforcement. The
advantage of bored pile is that there is no damage due to handling and driving which is common in driven
piles.

Driven and cast-in-situ piles: It is a type of driven pile. They are constructed by driving a steel casing in to
the ground. The hole is then filled with concrete by placing the reinforcement and the casing is gradually
lifted.

Bored and Cast-in-situ Piles: Bored and Cast-in-situ Piles may be straight bored piles or piles with one or
more bulbs at intervals, cast at the site. The latter are known as under-reamed piles.

Screw piles: Screw piles are an increasingly popular and remarkably effective deep foundation option. Each
screw pile is composed of a steel pipe shaft with a 45° cut at the bottom and two or more formed helical
plates welded outside.

Jacked Pile:
A pile (usually sections of pipe spliced together) which is forced into the ground to abearing stratum, jacking
it against a building or structure above; used primarily for underpinning.

D. Based on use

Load bearing piles: It bears the load coming from the structure. The Piles are generally driven vertically or
in near vertical position. When horizontal forces to be resisted, the inclined piles may be driven in an
inclined position and such inclined piles are termed as the batter piles

Compaction piles: These piles are used to compact loose granular soil to increase its bearing capacity.
Compaction piles do not carry load and hence they can be of weaker material. Sand piles can be used as
compaction piles.

Tension pile: Tension piles are also called uplift piles. These piles are used to anchor down the structures
subjected to uplift due to hydrostatic pressure.
Sheet piles: The piles of thin steel sheets, driven in the ground to enclose soft material, used in cofferdams.
The piles are not required to carry any load but should be strong to take lateral pressure of earth filling,
water, etc.

Fender piles: When the piles are used to protect concrete deck or other water front structures from the
abrasion or impact that may be caused from the ships or barges (when they are tied up at the deck) they are
called fender piles. The fender piles are ordinarily made up of timber.

E. Based on displacement of soil

Displacement piles: Displacement piles cause the soil to be displaced radially as well as vertically as the
pile shaft is driven or jacked into the ground.

Non-displacement piles: With non-displacement piles (or replacement piles), soil is removed and the
resulting hole filled with concrete or a precast concrete pile is dropped into the hole and grouted in.

3. Pier foundation or drilled caisson foundation.

A Pier foundation consists of a cylindrical column of large diameter to support and transfer large super-
imposed loads to the firm strata below. The difference between pile foundation and pier foundation lies in
the method of construction. Though pile foundations transfer the load through friction and/or bearing, pier
foundations transfer the load only through bearing. Generally, pier foundation is shallower in depth than the
pile foundation. Pier foundation is preferred in a location where the top strata consists of decomposed rock
overlying a strata of sound rock. In such a condition, it becomes difficult to drive the bearing piles through
decomposed rock. In the case of stiff clays, which offer large resistance to the driving of a bearing pile, pier
foundation can be conveniently constructed.

Pier foundations may be of the following types:

(i) Masonry or concrete pier (ii) Drilled caissons.

These are shown in Fig.34.

When a good bearing stratum exists upto 5 m below ground level, brick masonry or concrete foundation
piers in excavated pits may be used [Fig.34 (a)]. The size and spacing of the piers depends upon the depth of
hard bed, nature of overlying soil and super-imposed loads.

The terms drilled caissons, foundation pier or sub-pier are interchangeably used by engineers to denote a
cylindrical foundation.

A drilled caisson is largely a compressed member subjected to an axial load at the top and reaction at the
bottom. Drilled caissons are generally drilled with the mechanical means.

Fig.34 pier foundations. Fig.35 well foundation

Drilled caissons may be of three Types:
(i) Concrete caisson with enlarged bottom [Fig.34 (b)],
(ii) Caisson of steel pipe with concrete filled in the pipe [Fíg.34 (c)] and
(iii) Caisson with concrete and steel core in steel pipe [Fig.34 (d)].

4. Well foundation or caissons.

Well foundations or caissons are box like structure-circular or rectangular-which are sunk from the surface
of either land or water to the desired depth. They are much large in diameter than the pier foundations or
drilled caissons. Caisson foundations are used for major foundation works, such as for:
(i) bridge piers and abutments in rivers, lakes etc,
(ii) Wharves, quay walls, docks.
(iii) Break waters and other structures for shore protections.
(iv) Large water front structures such as pump houses, subjected to heavy vertical and horizontal loads.

Well foundations or caissons are hollow from inside, which may be filled with sand, and are plugged at the
bottom. The load is transferred though the perimeter wall, called steining (Fig.35).
Well foundations are generally adopted for bridge piers etc.

Bottom Plug: Transfers the load of structure from well to the ground. It is cast under water after the final
depth of well is reached. No reinforcement is provided. The mix should have min. cement content of
330kg/m3

Sand Filling: Sand filling shall commence after a period of 3 Days of laying of bottom plug. It helps in
increasing the weight of the foundation which provides more stability to the structure. It also counteracts
buoyant force of water.

Intermediate Plug: The function of the plug is to keep the sand filling sandwiched & undisturbed. The
concrete used for intermediate plugging is also M25.

Top Plug: After filling sand up to the required level a plug of concrete is provided over it as shown on the
drawing. It at least serves as a shuttering for laying well cap.

Well Cap: It is needed to transfer the loads and moments from the pier to the well or wells below. It is
designed as two way slab.