Abstract: The current design specifications on pile foundations (JGJ94-2008) define the bending, shear and punching design procedures for the pile caps. Throughout the derivations of four different loading conditions at the pile cap, this paper concluded that the current code requirement is underestimate the load and therefore is unsafe. The improved formulas for the bending, shear and punching failure modes are proposed.

Key words: Pile Caps, Shallow Foundation, Bending Capacity, Shear Capacity, Punching Capacity