Abstract: The geological properties of the soil are poor in soft soil areas, and the ultimate skin friction and tip resistance provided by the foundation soil are also limited in these areas. The material strength of the precast pile shaft can’t be fully mobilized in soft soil areas. Filling sand into the foundation soil in precast pile construction process can improve the properties of the foundation soil and promote the frictional capacity of the pile-soil interface as well. The compressive bearing capacity of pile foundation can then also be enhanced. A group of field tests as well as ABAQUS simulation are used to investigate the bearing capacity of the sand filled nodular pile. The following conclusions can be gained based on the measured and simulation results: the compressive bearing capacity of the sand filled nodular pile is obviously better than the compressive bearing capacity of the conventional pipe pile in soft soil areas; the axial force of the sand filled nodular pile decreases sharply at the nodes along the nodular pile, and the nodes along the nodular pile can promote the shaft bearing capacity of the pile foundation; the shaft bearing capacity of the sand filled nodular pile is much better than that of the conventional pipe pile in soft soil areas, and the enlarged shaft resistance coefficient is about 1.15-1.40.

Key words: nodular pile, sand filled, bearing capacity, ABAQUS, three-dimensional modeling