Study on the Bearing Characteristics of Composite Foundations with Permeable Concrete Piles

Permeable concrete piles, which combine the advantages of rigid piles and drainage consolidation techniques, have been widely applied in soil foundation treatment. In this study, the optimal mix proportion of the permeable concrete pile material was first determined through laboratory experiments; subsequently, based on the experimental results, numerical simulations were employed to investigate the load-bearing characteristics of composite foundations reinforced with permeable concrete piles under applied loads. The experimental results indicate that when the designed porosity is set between 20% and 35%, and the water-to-cement ratio is 0.3, the actual porosity closely approximates the design value, achieving a favorable balance between compressive strength and permeability. Numerical simulation results reveal that as the axial force in the permeable concrete piles attenuates with depth, the side friction of piles exhibits an overall increasing trend. Compared with impermeable piles, the pile–soil stress ratio and the load-sharing ratio of permeable piles gradually decrease under high loads; furthermore, the settlement and pile–soil stress ratio of the composite foundation is significantly influenced by factors such as pile length, pile diameter, cushion modulus, inter-pile soil modulus, and the modulus of the pile material.