Abstract: The pile head settlement of a single pile in homogeneous soil and multilayered soils can be subdivided into three aspects, including the pile tip settlement induced by mobilized load at the pile tip, the compression of pile shaft, and the settlement caused by the skin friction. Based on the settlement of a single pile and the equivalent pier method, a simplified calculation approach for average settlement of pile groups is obtained. The nonlinear relationship between the pile tip load and the settlement at the pile tip, and the nonlinear settlement induced by the skin friction can be taken into account, as well as the pile shaft compression. The settlements of a single pile and pile groups drawn from the present method are generally in good agreement with the measured values and the calculated values estimated from other methods.

Key words: single pile, pile groups, homogeneous soil, multilayered soils, settlement, compression of pile shaft, equivalent pier method