Finite Element Modelling of Prestressed Concrete Piles in Soft Soils, Case Study: Northern Jakarta, Indonesia

Abstract

Jakarta is faced with limited land resources due to its position as the capital city of Indonesia. Therefore, numerous high-rise buildings are being constructed to solve this problem and provide accommodations for a large number of Jakarta residents. Studies have shown that prestressed concrete piles (spun piles) are commonly used as the foundations of high-rise buildings in metropolitan cities across Indonesia, especially in the Northern Jakarta Coastal area, which is predominant with deep soft soils deposit. To further assess and verify the ultimate capacity of the pile, a static loading test was conducted. However, not all results from the field test produced ideal, accurate, precise, and reliable load-settlement curve (until failure) results. Therefore, this study aims to determine the soil properties for the analysis of prestressed concrete spun piles with a diameter of 600 mm in the Northern Jakarta coastal area based on the standard penetration test values (SPT-N). It is a case study of a well-documented static pile load test using the kentledge system. Back analyses were performed by the finite element method to obtain the extrapolated load-settlement curve. Furthermore, the effect of interface strength between pile and soil on the load-settlement curve was also investigated. The results showed that a reduction of interface strength leads to a smaller load–settlement curve. In addition, several geotechnical engineering parameters of soil, such as the undrained shear strength and effective young's modulus, were established using data from an in-situ soil site investigation and empirical correlations with SPT-N.