Optimization of precast piles

Abstract

The precast foundations of concrete are deep piles driven in situ with a high-quality concrete, due to its regularized and controlled production at factories. This concrete can be reinforced or prestressed so it can resist flexure, traction and shear force within the soil, and even during the transport and handling. The precast pile to be treated in this current study is the centrifuged pile, which has a circular hollow section. This type of piles has a high-quality concrete, less self-weight, cheap cost of machinery (pile driver) and dispensable digging. Under the eyes of sustainability, nowadays people concern a lot about the reduction of construction supplies, avoiding the excessive waste of those. The objective of this research is to optimize the calculus of precast concrete piles sizing with circular hollow section to minimize the involved components, consequently reducing the final cost of the item. In the optimization problem, the project variables are the diameter, the thickness and the length of the piles, the objection function is the volume, and the project constraints are defined by the ABNT norms. Therefore, in order to optimize, it’s needed to evaluate the bearing loads, and the soil and pile structure resistance, searching for an optimal cost, ensuring the safety of the construction with less consumption of steel and concrete, attending to the project constraints. Thus, will be used the Excel’s function SOLVER, allied with the semiempirical methods described by Aoki-Velloso (1975) and Décourt-Quaresma (1978) to obtain optimal project values.