Abstract
Abstract Settlement of pile-supported structures on soft soil remains a critical serviceability issue, particularly when nonuniform structural loading and time-dependent consolidation act simultaneously. This study evaluates the settlement response of a low-rise steel-framed industrial building founded on soft coastal deposits using a coupled structural–geotechnical numerical approach. Actual column reactions obtained from a three-dimensional ETABS model were applied directly to pile caps of different configurations in a finite element consolidation analysis. Subsurface conditions were characterized using Cone Penetration Test data and supporting laboratory results, and the soil response was represented using the Mohr–Coulomb constitutive model. The analysis considered immediate settlement, long-term consolidation settlement, differential settlement, and angular distortion over a 10-year period. The results indicate that settlement is concentrated in the pile cap zones and is governed primarily by load intensity and pile cap configuration. The six-pile cap system exhibited greater deformation than the four-pile cap system; however, the maximum total settlement was 23.98 mm and the computed angular distortion ranged from 1/2000 to 1/2058, both of which are well within the allowable limits of SNI 8460:2017. Time-dependent analysis further shows that immediate settlement dominates the overall response, while consolidation-induced settlement is limited because excess pore water pressure dissipates rapidly. The findings demonstrate the value of integrating actual structural reactions into three-dimensional geotechnical analysis for realistic serviceability assessment.