Question

For a rigid pile cap with vertical piles at middle and raking piles at the sides, what is pattern of load distribution of piles in such agreement?

Answer

Because of effect of interaction of individual piles, central piles tend to settle additional than edge piles while pile cap is under a uniform load. Then, raking piles at edge take up a higher fraction of total loads and are theme to higher axial and pliant loads in case pile cap is stiff. In extreme case, failure of these raking edge piles could happen.