Abstract: The static drill rooted nodular pile is a new type of composite pile foundation; its tip bearing capacity is promoted as the existence of the enlarged cemented soil base. A group of model tests and ABAQUS simulation are used to investigate the tip bearing capacity of this pile foundation. The results of ABAQUS simulation show that the ultimate tip bearing capacity reaches the maximum value when the nodular pile tip is about at the middle of the enlarged cemented soil base in sandy or clayey soil; while the bearing capacity will be promoted with the thickness of the cemented soil between the nodular pile tip and base soil layer decreasing if the base layer is rock; as a result, the nodular pile tip should be at the middle of the enlarged cemented soil base as the static drill rooted nodular pile is mainly used as frictional pile foundation; the internal friction, cohesion and elastic modulus of the cemented soil have little influence on the tip bearing capacity of the static drill rooted nodular pile; the ultimate bearing capacity of the static drill rooted nodular pile will be promoted with the diameter of the enlarged cemented soil base increasing.

Key words: static drill rooted method, nodular pile, enlarged cemented soil base, tip bearing capacity, three dimensional modeling