08-13-2009, 11:12 PM
Very interesting topic. To be honest i never agree modeling pile in SAFE using point spring but there are "no other choice"...what i mean by no other choice is not related with the fact that this is the best and most used method for office design but really because SAFE is the only software that compatible with ETABS.:P
Currently what I'm doing is modeling the whole pile raft in ETABS export it to SAP2000 to model the nonlinear spring of the soil presented by q-z, t-z and p-y spring and soil beneath the raft with area spring (I just don't know how to model nonlinear spring in ETABS, hope anybody can help with this). After that run the nonlinear analysis and voila. This nonlinear soil-pile-structure interaction becomes more cumbersome in combination with dynamic. I believe this is the reason why SAFE point spring model is "the best easiest and hopefully conservative choice" so far.
Currently what I'm doing is modeling the whole pile raft in ETABS export it to SAP2000 to model the nonlinear spring of the soil presented by q-z, t-z and p-y spring and soil beneath the raft with area spring (I just don't know how to model nonlinear spring in ETABS, hope anybody can help with this). After that run the nonlinear analysis and voila. This nonlinear soil-pile-structure interaction becomes more cumbersome in combination with dynamic. I believe this is the reason why SAFE point spring model is "the best easiest and hopefully conservative choice" so far.