SIMULAÇÃO NUMÉRICA NÃO LINEAR DE PROVA DE CARGA BIDIRECIONAL EM ESTACAS ESCAVADAS

Resumo

For the foundation design development it is essential to determine the allowable load capacity
and the prediction of the foundation elements displacements. Thus, it is known that the load test is a
suitable way to establish the load-displacement characteristics. In this context, the bidirectional test is
used for performance evaluation of in-situ molded piles by applying load to an expansive cell located
within the pile. However, these geotechnical tests can present high cost and long execution process,
which sometimes make their application unfeasible. Thus, these procedures can be represented by
mathematical models, provided that the initial and boundary conditions of the problem are known.
PLAXIS 3D, a software that uses the Finite Element Method, is intended for three-dimensional
deformation analysis and stability in Geotechnical Engineering and can be used to simulate pile
behaviour under bidirectional load tests. Therefore, this work proposes to perform a nonlinear numerical
analysis of bidirectional load tests on drilled piles using the PLAXIS 3D software and the results are

compared with those obtained through on-site tests, where a good approximation in the load-
displacement curve can be observed.