A MIXED SOLUTION FOR THE PILE GROUP SETTLEMENT IN NON-HOMOGENEOUS FOUNDATION

A new method for calculating the settlement of group piles in non-homogeneous soils is presented in this study. Firstly, assuming the shear stiffness coefficient of the non-homogeneous soils grows exponentially with the increase of depth, the stress field caused by frictional resistant along piles is obtained by using the shear deformation method, and the model for calculating the interactions between piles is built. And on that basis, the load transfer method is used to deduce the fundamental differential equation of piles, which is solved by power series solution. Therefore, the new method for calculating the settlement of group piles is obtained and it can take into account the blind-effect between piles and the non-homogeneous characteristics of soils. Meanwhile,the programming process is simple and convenient for application. Finally, the feasibility of the present method is proved through comparing the results of the two examples.