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SPX — Simple Pile X

Version 1.0.1 · Windows 64-bit

SPX covers the complete cycle of a single pile or a pile group under a cap: from the borehole to the detailing drawing, through bearing capacity, settlement, structural analysis with soil-structure interaction and reinforced concrete design.

Compared with SPO, it adds raked piles, stratigraphic profile modelling and the editable reader for borehole PDFs.

Project limits

100pile caps
30piles per cap
200piles in total
20boreholes

The first three act together, and whichever is reached first governs: a hundred caps of thirty piles would be three thousand, and the real ceiling is two hundred.

What it does

  • Bearing capacity

    Three semi-empirical methods side by side — Aoki-Velloso, Décourt-Quaresma and Teixeira — with results by level, so the length can be chosen by reading down the column.

    Formulation

  • Settlement

    Cintra & Aoki, separating the elastic shortening of the pile from the soil contribution. Group settlement and load × settlement curve by Van der Veen.

    Formulation

  • Soil-structure interaction

    Horizontal and vertical Winkler springs, with \(K_h\) increasing with depth and \(K_v\) from the allowable stress.

    Formulation

  • Structural analysis

    3D frame in finite elements on an elastic foundation, with raked piles defined by rake and azimuth.

    Formulation

  • Design

    Biaxial bending with axial force of a circular section with interaction diagram, second-order effects by curvature and shear by the truss model.

    Formulation

  • Outputs

    DXF detailing and DOCX calculation report, ready for drawing sheets and project files.

    Manual

  • Borehole PDF reader

    Editable extraction of PDF borehole logs, so you don't type three hundred rows of \(N_{SPT}\) by hand.

    Manual

Workflow

SPX is organised in eight tabs, which follow the natural order of the project. The rule is simple: each tab depends on the previous ones.

1Pile cap setup
→
2Borehole / NSPT
→
3Soil properties
→
4Geotechnical results
→
5Structural analysis
→
6Design
→
7DXF detailing
8Report

Step 6 feeds both final outputs: the drawing and the calculation report.

# Tab What is decided there
1 Pile Cap Setup Geometry, number and arrangement of piles, pile type, restraints, materials, cover
2 Borehole / NSPT \(N_{SPT}\) profile and soil codes, metre by metre
3 Soil Properties Unit weights and parameters per layer
4 Geotechnical Results Bearing capacity by the three methods and settlement
5 Structural Analysis Finite element model and internal forces along the pile
6 Design Longitudinal and transverse reinforcement
7 Detailing (DXF) Construction drawing
8 Report Calculation report in DOCX

Tab 4 is the decision point

This is where the pile length is chosen. The table gives the allowable load for every possible toe level, by the three methods side by side. A large divergence between the methods is information, not a defect: it shows that the profile is sensitive to the formulation and that the case deserves a load test.

Pile types

Type Aoki-Velloso Décourt-Quaresma Teixeira
Bored with slurry ● ● ●
Bored without slurry ● ● ●
Continuous flight auger (CFA) ● ● ●
Precast ● ● ●
Root pile ● ● ●
Franki ● ● ●
Omega ● ● ●

The coefficients for each combination are in Parameter tables.

Next steps