pile supported slab with uplift

[Enhineyero]

I am doing a design for a slab that will resist high uplift force (due to buoyancy) and imposed gravity loads. The slab will be supported by piles (on pilecaps) the pile capacity (both tension and compression) has already been figured out by the Geotech engr.

How will i model the spring support in SAFE? because the spring support (kN/mm) has only 3 options in safe. a.) tension only, b.) compression only, and c.) linear (both tension & compression). but the problem is the pile has different capacity for tension and compression (compression capacity is far greater than tension capacity). so i cannot use option C.

any suggestions?

 

[slickdeals]

Run two models, one for bouyant forces to check for pile tensile capacity and design for reinforcing and the other for gravity loads to design for gravity. You should get an order of magnitude of the gravity vs buoyant forces and more than likely your pile and slab design will be controlled by uplift rather than gravity.