Seimsic Force on Piles

[Adeeel]

If you need to determine the lateral force on the piles of a pile cap, do you consider Pile Cap selfweight to determine the seismic force on the piles? If Yes, is there any guide about that in any code?

I got many different answers but no body has strong support for his opinion.

 

[McEngr]

I would use the pilecap self-weight but not he weight of the piles beneath. I do not have a reference other than the SEAOC SDM Volume 1.

 

[Adeeel]

Well McEngr, this what I think too but nothing to support it.

 

[dakota_79]

Codes can't be prescriptive about everything (though God knows they try!). Some things you just need to use your judgement; err on the side of being conservative. Assuming piles are the only thing providing lateral resistance, it would both err on the side of being conservative and make a good deal of sense to throw in contribution from the cap self-weight. Can't imagine that being a significant factor in any design, regardless.

 

[McEngr]

Sorry I couldn't be of better help adeel. I would think the lateral forces could get huge and hopefully the friction of a slab could help prevent these forces from occurring. Definitely a gray area in my opinion with lots of assumptions involved.