Hello, how can we neglect the soil springs between the shallow foundation and the soil beneath it in case where the foundation is sitting on piles and the design requires that all loads are transferred exclusively to the piles? If it's by defining a dummy soil the plate's interface element, what properties should it have? Can it be done by making the plate element few millimeters above the soil, hence they become contactless?
Thank you for your valued help.
Hi,
The only way is seperating them physically since interfaces work through the longitudinal direction of interface. But few milimeters will give you mesh problems. You need to be generous on the gap to not create mesh issue.