Experimental study of geotextile as plinth beam in a pile group-supported modeled building frame

This paper presents the experimental results of static vertical load tests on a model building frame with geotextile as plinth beam supported by pile groups embedded in cohesionless soil (sand). The experimental results have been compared with those obtained from the nonlinear FEA and conventional method of analysis. The results revealed that the conventional method of analysis gives a shear force of about 53%, bending moment at the top of the column about 17% and at the base of the column about 50–98% higher than that by the nonlinear FEA for the frame with geotextile as plinth beam.