Bearing capacity of micropiled-raft system

The micropile has been mainly used under the concept of supplementing structural support or reinforcing soft ground. For the micropiled-raft system which uses a micropile and a raft in combination in particular, it is generally considered as ground reinforcement rather than foundation components considering the bearing capacity of the micropile in many cases. In this study, the bearing capacity mechanism of the micropiled-raft system is investigated through a physical model test and numerical method. The numerical results have shown that not only the slender-pile-effect of the micropile, but also the ground reinforcement effect, increase the bearing capacity considerably. The bearing capacity formula of the micropiled-raft system is derived based on the failure mechanism obtained through model tests. The formula is verified and proposed as a design chart.