Pile Cap Design
Design a pile cap supporting a column over a group of driven or drilled piles. Distributes the factored column loads to individual piles, checks that no pile is overloaded, evaluates two-way (punching) shear around the column and around individual corner piles, and designs the cap flexural reinforcement. Handles 2-pile, 3-pile, 4-pile, and 6-pile configurations.
What this calculates
Individual pile reactions under axial load and moment (Pi = P/n ± M·xi/Σxi²), maximum pile reaction vs. allowable pile capacity, two-way punching shear around the column and around corner piles on critical perimeters at d/2, one-way shear at d from the column face, and required top and bottom reinforcement in both directions.
Inputs
Total factored axial load from the column
Factored moment at the column base (if any)
Number of piles in the group (2, 3, 4, or 6)
Center-to-center pile spacing
Allowable axial capacity per pile
Pile diameter or width
Column dimension
Pile cap total thickness
Cap concrete compressive strength
Reinforcement yield strength
Outputs
Maximum factored pile reaction
Maximum pile load vs. allowable capacity
Two-way shear ratio at column critical perimeter
Required bottom reinforcement in the long direction
Required bottom reinforcement in the short direction
Methodology
Pile reactions per statics: Pi = Pu/n ± Mu·xi/Σxi² where xi is each pile's distance from the centroid. Punching shear around the column per ACI 318-19 Section 22.6, with the critical perimeter at d/2 from the column face. If corner piles are within d/2 of the cap edge, individual pile punching is also checked. Flexure designed at the column face as a cantilever with pile reactions as point loads. Minimum cap depth is typically 3 ft for transfer length. Reinforcement per ACI 318-19 Section 22.2.
Code References
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