BEHAVIOR OF BEARING CAPACITY ON PILE FOUNDATION DURING FLUCTUATING GROUNDWATER LEVEL

Abstract

The recent decrease in the groundwater level in the Bangkok area has mainly occurred due to
inappropriate water pumping for industrial and agricultural activities. This inappropriate pumping is not only
causing land subsidence but is also affecting the load capacity of the soil around the piles. At present, the
groundwater level in the Bangkok area is showing a tendency to increase to the ground surface thanks to the
reduction in groundwater pumping. This is an important issue of research into the soil load capacity behavior
around piles with changes in the groundwater level. This study focuses on the bearing capacity behavior of a single
pile by comparing the results of centrifuge tests and the results of previous studies. The test results are compared
for each groundwater level. Finally, the results of the tests are summarized into two parts. The first part is that the
bearing capacity of the soil around the pile is related to the changing groundwater level but inversely. The soil
strength is seen to decrease as the groundwater level increases or rises to the ground surface. The bearing capacity
in clay mainly depends on the consolidation process. The second part is that the results of the pile load behavior
from the centrifuge tests tend to be like those of the previous studies. Therefore, centrifuge test results can be used
to evaluate and design pile foundations in the Bangkok area with changing groundwater levels.