Abstract
Foundation is one of the most important parts of a building and infrastructure in the construction industry. The increase in demand of high-rise buildings and infrastructure due to limited land availability, increases the demand for efficient foundation systems. Researchers have performed various numerical and experimental studies to investigate the most viable foundation type for high rise buildings. Helical pile raft foundation, is one of the main focus of the current research study. In helical pile, some load is taken by skin friction, end bearing and some is taken by the helix attached. In case of helical pile raft, apart from the abovementioned phenomenon, raft also contributes towards the bearing capacity of a foundation. The current study is carried out to investigate the settlement and load carrying capacity of helical pile and helical pile raft (HPR) foundation. In this study, small scale models of helical pile raft foundation is prepared and placed in a rectangular box filled with cohesionless soils. Instrumentation of the model is carried out using settlement transducers and load cells to record the settlement and load applied, respectively. Results of different HPRs with varying number of piles are compared, and it was concluded that the HPR foundation has greater load carrying capacity than the conventional pile raft foundation. In addition, it was concluded that the HPR foundation is more efficient in controlling the settlement behaviour.