Parametric study on the location of rubber in a concrete pile subjected to both static and dynamic loads in heterogeneous soil

Abstract

Piles have been used a lot for the past decades to support building and structural elements built on weak soils. Throughout the years, scientists started to be more aware of the dangers of the earthquake in soils susceptible to liquefaction. Liquefaction is a dangerous phenomenon that could cause severe damage to structures. During past years, fibers are being introduced to concrete to enhance its ductility. In this study, rubber was implemented in the piles. Many cases were studied. In this study, it was obviously detected that no matter where you place the earthquake load (whether on the bottom of the soil profile, bottom of piles or bottom of the building) the displacements will not change: placement of the earthquake load in plaxis has no impact on the analysis regarding displacements. It was also obvious, in this study, that putting rubber on the pile, whether on its bottom, middle, interface of soils or top of the pile, decreased the displacements significantly. For design purposes, peak displacements were used to do the comparison between cases. To avoid resonance, the best place to insert the rubber is at the top of the pile.