Load Acting on a Pile Group
The pile group can be used to found both bridge abutments and arbitrary civil engineering structures. To determine the load acting on a pile group can be rather complicated. The load can be applied at several locations as concentrated load (column), distributed along the line (wall), or over the area. The procedure shows a simple way of determining the load at a given point by adopting an arbitrary static program.
- We start from the model of a structure in the static program
- Providing no joint is defined in the center of the pile cap, we introduce it.
- A fixed support in all 6 directions is assigned to the joint (fixed, fixed, fixed, fixed, fixed, fixed)
- If the joint is not found on the pile cap (beam model), we connect it with the actual structure (The stiffness should correspond to other elements)
- Apart from the new joint, we remove all boundary conditions on the analyzed model
- Perform analysis - the joint reactions correspond to the load, which is input into the "Pile group" program - the function for importing the load can also be utilized
Note: internal hinges found in the structure must be changed to fixed-end supports for the static program to find a solution.
Structure with a fixed support
Support reactions ready for import into the "Pile group" program
Load imported into "Pile group" in the frame "Load"