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Civil Engineering/Structural enginering how to design piles caps which can support more than five piles

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Expert: - 4/2/2010


Question
I am a structural engineer here in Dubai

Now i have faced to design a pile cap which can transmit a load to five six and eleven piles

I am familiar to design pile caps which can support up to four piles using the truss analogy method

Now i am looking from you to send me the derivation of the formulas and how to design reinforced concrete pile caps

Answer
Hi Taddesse,

Actually you can design a pile cap with up to 5 piles (5th one directly under the column in the middle) using traditional methods.

However, for anything more than 5 piles, you end up having pile-grouping effects and also for the design of the cap you need need to use finite element analysis, taking into account the reletive stiffnesses of the piles, the ground and the raft/pile cap. There are also approximate analysis methods such as given in these websites:

http://www.hnd.usace.army.mil/techinfo/ti/818-02/chap5.pdf

http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-093099-180817/unrestricted/Chapte...

There are also spreadsheets available, such as:

http://www.designspreadsheets.com/pile-group  

Civil Engineering

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Arshad Khan

Expertise

I can answer any questions to do with civil and structural engineering consultancy and construction industry in East Africa and the Middle East, and specifically with the analysis and design of reinforced concrete structures. My particular expertise is in the aseismic design and optimisation of tall buildings.

Experience

Employment history: 36 years in Construction and consultancy in the UK, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, Eritrea, South Africa, Somalia, Zambia, Austria, Bahrain, Kuwait, Doha and the U.A.E.

Organizations
.Fellow of Institution of Structural Engineers (UK) .Fellow of Institution of Civil Engineers(UK) .Member of the Institution of Engineers, Kenya .Registered Engineer, ERB, Kenya .Member of the Architectural Association of Kenya (Engineers Chapter) .Chartered Engineer (UK)

Publications
•1984: International Conference on the Art and Practice of Structural Design, London •1994: 3rd Int. Kerensky Conference in Structural Engineering, Singapore •2008: International Conference on High-Rise Towers, Abu Dhabi

Education/Credentials
BSc, 1st Class Hons, in Building Engineering, University of Bath, UK MSc in Concrete Structures and Technology, University of London. Diploma of Imperial College, UK.

Awards and Honors
•Science Congress Special Award (for 2-seater Hovercraft - 1968) •Institution of Civil Engineers Award for outstanding performance at Bath University (1975) •Concrete Society Postgraduate study Bursary Award (1976) •Consular Representative for British High Commission, Nairobi. (1995 to 1998) •Examiner for Institution of Civil Engineers Professional Interviews, Nairobi. (1997 to 1998) •Branch Representative in Vienna for PI assessment for Inst. of Struct. Engrs. (1999 to date)

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