Measured settelements of super-long piles and pile groups for a building of 323 m in height in Wenzhou

The data based on the static load tests and settlement observations show that the compression of the piles accounts for a considerable part of the total settlement of the piles under the working loads. Simultaneously, the side resistance of the piles takes a large part while the end resistance of the piles takes a small one. The ultimate pile-soil relative displacement of 17~20 mm is needed for the super-long piles to bring their side resistance into full play at the upper half of the piles in the clay. After that, the soil slides and the friction is degraded. The settlement of pile-group foundation increases as the load becomes larger and larger. The rules are as follows: the main building and the podium settle down simultaneously at low floors (below the 5th floor); then the main building continues its settlement and has a ‘settling promotion effect’ to the completed podium with taller floors (above the 30th floor); after the 30th floor, the podium shows upwarping because of the ‘pulling up effect’ due to the large relative settlement of the tube of the main building’s, while the total settlement is small, so the differential settlement in the edge points and surrounding points of the main building, podium and tube is not obvious. And the settlement ratio of the pile groups first increases and then decreases with the increase of loads.