Strength of reinforced concrete pile caps

Discrepancies exist in the provisions for the design of reinforced concrete pile caps with regard to shear, between the two UK codes for structural concrete design, namely BS 8110 and BS 5400. These discrepancies have arisen in the historical development of the codes, and the implication is that one code is unsafe or the other is over-conservative. This paper summarises the current code requirements, the nature of the discrepancies, and the reasons why they have arisen. A review is given of the available experimental data on the strength of pile caps, and their usefulness in addressing the code discrepancies. Inadequacies in this experimental knowledge base, and the need for further research, are highlighted