TABLE OF CONTENTS Pile foundation is a broader field, therefore only a selective part is going to be presented in this chapter. An overview of the pile foundation can be found for example in Tomlinson 1994; Kempfert et al. 2003. Hence, this chapter focuses specially on questions relating with pile foundations in soft underground. Independent from this, however, an overview of pile systems has been compiled, whereby some part of the contents has been taken from Kempfert et al. 2003.
Piles, as an important type of deep foundation, are generally used to transfer axial and horizontal building loads over low strength soil layers or through water body into load bearing strata. Typical applications are:
single pile foundations for the transfer of single loads
pile group foundations for surface loads, and
combined pile-raft-foundations as a special type of pile foundation, with additional transfer of load through contact pressure between the raft and the soil between the piles.
The requirements for a pile or a pile foundation are governed primarily by the type of structure, the construction methods and the low strength subsoil conditions. Only actual piles will be discussed in this chapter, excluding construction methods such as vibrated concrete piles, slurry trench elements, caisson foundations, or columns constructed by jetting methods. Some information on column type foundation can be found in chapter 7.
A long tradition exists in Germany in applying codes to the design and construction of various pile types. In the mean time several European Codes have now been developed...
