Estimation of Load Capacity of Pipe Piles in Sand Based on Cone Penetration Test Results

Pipe piles can be classified as either closed- or open-ended piles. In the present paper, the load capacity of both closed- and open-ended piles is related to cone penetration resistance qc through an experimental program using calibration chamber model pile load tests and field pile load tests. A total of 36 calibration chamber pile load tests and two full-scale field pile load tests were analyzed. All the test piles were instrumented for separate measurement of each component of pile load capacity. Based on the test results, the normalized base resistance qb/qc was obtained as a function of the relative density DR for closed-ended piles, and of both the relative density DR and the incremental filling ratio (IFR) for open-ended piles. A relationship between the IFR and the relative density DR is proposed as a function of the pile diameter and driving depth. The relationship between IFR and DR allows the estimation of IFR and thus of the pile load capacity of open-ended piles at the design stage, before pile driving operations.     

Load Testing of a Closed-Ended Pipe Pile Driven in Multilayered Soil

Piles are often driven in multilayered soil profiles. The accurate prediction of the ultimate bearing capacity of piles driven in mixed soil is more challenging than that of piles driven in either clay or sand because the mechanical behavior of these soils is better known. In order to study the behavior of closed-ended pipe piles driven into multilayered soil profiles, fully instrumented static and dynamic axial load tests were performed on three piles. One of these piles was tested dynamically and statically. A second pile served as reaction pile in the static load test and was tested dynamically. A third pile was tested dynamically. The base of each pile was embedded slightly in a very dense nonplastic silt layer overlying a clay layer. In this paper, results of these pile load tests are presented, and the lessons learned from the interpretation of the test data are discussed. A comparison is made of the ultimate base and limit shaft resistances measured in the pile load tests with corresponding values predicted from in situ test-based and soil property-based design methods.     

Prediction of Ground Movements due to Pile Driving in Clay

This paper evaluates theoretical predictions of ground movements caused by the installation of driven (or jacked) piles in clay. The predictions are based on an approximate analysis framework referred to as the shallow strain path method that simulates undrained pile penetration from the stress-free ground surface. Large strain conditions close to the pile are solved numerically, and closed-form analytical expressions are obtained from small strain approximations at points further away. These results show that, for closed-ended cylindrical piles of radius R and embedment L, the normalized displacements δL∕R2 are functions of their dimensionless position x∕L. In contrast, for a planar sheet pile or unplugged open-ended pile, the far-field soil displacements at x∕L depend only on the wall thickness w; i.e., δ∕w = f[x∕L]. The proposed analyses show favorable agreement with data from a variety of available sources including field measurements of (1) building movements caused by installation of large pile groups; (2) uplift of a pile caused by driving of an adjacent pile within a group; and (3) spatial distributions of ground movements caused by installation of a single pile (both cylindrical closed-ended and sheet pile wall), including a particularly detailed set of measurements in a large laboratory calibration chamber. The comparisons show that the proposed analysis is capable of reliably predicting the deformations within the soil mass but generally underestimates the vertical heave measured at the ground surface. Further investigation suggests that this discrepancy may be related to the occurrence of radial cracks observed at the ground surface during pile installation and is consistent with tensile horizontal strains computed in the shallow strain path method analyses.     

Behavior of Open- and Closed-Ended Piles Driven Into Sands

Both the driving response and static bearing capacity of open-ended piles are affected by the soil plug that forms inside the pile during pile driving. In order to investigate the effect of the soil plug on the static and dynamic response of an open-ended pile and the load capacity of pipe piles in general, field pile load tests were performed on instrumented open- and closed-ended piles driven into sand. For the open-ended pile, the soil plug length was continuously measured during pile driving, allowing calculation of the incremental filling ratio for the pile. The cumulative hammer blow count for the open-ended pile was 16% lower than for the closed-ended pile. The limit unit shaft resistance and the limit unit base resistance of the open-ended pile were 51 and 32% lower than the corresponding values for the closed-ended pile. It was also observed, for the open-ended pile, that the unit soil plug resistance was only about 28% of the unit annulus resistance, and that the average unit frictional resistance between the soil plug and the inner surface of the open-ended pile was 36% higher than its unit outside shaft resistance.     

Analysis of Load Tests on Piles Driven through Calcareous Desert Sands

The ultimate bearing capacity of short, precast concrete piles driven into calcareous sands was examined by pile-load tests carried out at two sites in Kuwait. The piles had a 0.3 m × 0.3 m square cross section and extended to a maximum depth of 12 m. They were driven through a loose-to-compact calcareous surface sand layer underlain by a competent dense-to-very-dense siliceous cemented sand deposit. The pile tips and part of the pile shafts were embedded in the lower layer. The base resistance and shaft friction were calculated using the Meyerhof method for a layered soil profile. The method employs the standard penetration test N values. The results indicate that a great portion of the pile capacity is due to base resistance. The skin friction mobilized is small and consists of two components corresponding to the two layers penetrated along the pile shafts. The calculated pile capacities were very close to the measured values. The unit skin friction is not constant along the pile shafts.     

Case History Evaluation of Laterally Loaded Piles

This paper examines seven case histories of load tests on piles or drilled shafts under lateral load. Since the current design software to estimate lateral load resistance of deep foundations requires p-y curves. The first approach used was correlative whereby soil parameters determined from in situ tests [standard penetration test (SPT) and cone penetration test (CPT)] were used as input values for standard p-y curves. In the second approach p-y curves were calculated directly from the stress deformation data measured in dilatometer (DMT) and cone pressuremeter tests. The correlative evaluation revealed that, on the average, predictions based upon the SPT were conservative for all loading levels, and using parameters from the CPT best predicted field behavior. Typically, predictions were conservative, except at the maximum load. Since traditionally SPT and CPT correlation-based p-y curves are for “sands” or “clays,” this study suggests that silts, silty sands, and clayey sands should use cohesive p-y curves. For the directly calculated curves, DMT derived p-y curves predict well at low lateral loads, but at higher load levels the predictions become unconservative. p-y curves derived from pressuremeter tests predicted well for both “sands” and “clays” where pore pressures are not anticipated.     

Shaft Capacity of Open-Ended Piles in Sand

This paper presents the results from an experimental investigation designed to examine the effect of soil-core development and cyclic loading on the shaft resistance developed by open-ended piles in sand. An instrumented open-ended model pile was installed either by driving or jacking into an artificially-created loose sand deposit in Blessington, Ireland. The tests provided continuous measurements of the soil-core development and the radial effective stresses during installation and subsequent load tests. The equalized radial effective stresses developed at the pile-soil interface were seen to be dependent on the degree of soil displacement (plugging) experienced during installation, the distance from the pile toe, and the number of load cycles experienced by a soil element adjacent to the pile shaft. A new design method for estimating the shaft capacity of piles in sand is proposed and compared with measurements made on prototype field-scale piles.     

Assessment of the Axial Load Response of an H Pile Driven in Multilayered Soil

Most of the current design methods for driven piles were developed for closed-ended pipe piles driven in either pure clay or clean sand. These methods are sometimes used for H piles as well, even though the axial load response of H piles is different from that of pipe piles. Furthermore, in reality, soil profiles often consist of multiple layers of soils that may contain sand, clay, silt or a mixture of these three particle sizes. Therefore, accurate prediction of the ultimate bearing capacity of H piles driven in a mixed soil is very challenging. In addition, although results of well documented load tests on pipe piles are available, the literature contains limited information on the design of H piles. Most of the current design methods for driven piles do not provide specific recommendations for H piles. In order to evaluate the static load response of an H pile, fully instrumented axial load tests were performed on an H pile (HP?310×110) driven into a multilayered soil profile consisting of soils composed of various amounts of clay, silt and sand. The base of the H pile was embedded in a very dense nonplastic silt layer overlying a clay layer. This paper presents the results of the laboratory tests performed to characterize the soil profile and of the pile load tests. It also compares the measured pile resistances with those predicted with soil property- and in situ test-based methods.     

Effects of Construction on Laterally Loaded Pile Groups

Full-scale lateral load tests on a group of bored and a group of driven precast piles were carried out as part of a research project for the proposed high-speed rail system in Taiwan. Standard penetration tests, cone penetration tests (CPT), and Marchetti Dilatometer tests (DMT) were performed before the pile installation. The CPT and DMT were also conducted after pile installation. Numerical analyses of the laterally loaded piles were conducted using p-y curves derived from preconstruction and postconstruction DMT and by applying the concept of p multipliers. Comparisons between preconstruction and postconstruction CPT and DMT data and evaluation of the results of computations show that the installation of bored piles softened the surrounding soil, whereas the driven piles caused a densifying effect.     

Behavior of Step Tapered Bored Piles in Sand under Static Lateral Loading

The behavior of step tapered bored piles in sand, under static lateral loading, was examined by field tests at one site in Kuwait. A total of 14 bored piles including two instrumented piles were installed for lateral loading. The soil profile consists of medium dense sand with weak cementations and no groundwater was encountered in the boreholes. Laboratory tests were carried out to determine the basic soil characteristics and the strength parameters. Both the ultimate lateral capacity and the deflections at applied loads were examined. The results indicate increased lateral load carrying capacity and decreased deflections at different applied loads for the step tapered piles due to the enlargement or strengthening of the upper section of the piles. The advantages of using this type of pile is emphasized including the cost saving resulting from an economical design.     

Pile Bearing Capacity Factors and Soil Crushabiity

The existence of large magnitude stresses at the tip of a bearing pile is a well known phenomenon leading to crushing of soil grains and thus affecting pile behavior. Classical foundation design calculations which assume that the soil fails in shear and neglect volume change can be safely used where stress levels or particle strengths prevent crushing, however in the case of weak grains or high foundation stresses consideration should be given to the effects of grain crushing and the resulting volumetric compression. Model pile tests have been carried out in two skeletal carbonate sands and a standard silica sand with the aim of examining the variation of skin friction and end bearing capacities with degree of penetration. The mobilization of the strength of crushable soils requires a much higher strain level while at the same time the end bearing pressure on the model piles exceeded 10?MPa inducing considerable particle breakage. The peak skin friction for all sands occurred at a settlement normalized by pile diameter, S/D, of less than 0.1. At this point the carbonate sands generally had lower skin friction values than the silica sand. Further displacement caused a rapid decrease in skin friction for all three materials. At higher lateral stresses the less crushable Toyoura silica sand generated higher skin frictions. Samples of Chiibishi sand were sectioned and photographed. It was observed that a spherical plastic zone was formed at the base of the pile which expanded with increasing S/D and a degraded layer of broken particles developed around the pile as S/D increased. Large values of the Marsal particle breakage factor were restricted to a zone extending outwards to one pile radius. An end bearing capacity modification factor has been proposed to adapt the conventional bearing capacity equation for soil crushability. This modification factor is a function of soil compressibility and degree of penetration. The factor was shown to decrease with increasing soil compressibility and increase with normalized penetration S/D.     

Numerical Analysis of Laterally Loaded 3 × 3 to 7 × 3 Pile Groups in Sands

The coupled bridge foundation-superstructure finite-element code FLPIER was employed to predict the lateral response of the single piles and 3 × 3 to 7 × 3 pile groups founded in both loose and medium dense sands. The p-multiplier factors suggested by McVay et al. for laterally loaded pile groups with multiple pile rows were implemented for the predictions. The soil parameters were obtained through a back-analysis procedure based on single pile test results. The latter, as well as the numerical predictions of both the single and group tests, are presented. It was found that the numerical code FLPIER did an excellent job of predicting the response of both the single piles and the 3 × 3 to 7 × 3 pile groups. The latter involved the predictions of lateral load versus lateral deflection of the group, the shears and bending moments developed in the individual piles, and the distributions of the lateral loads in each pile row, which were all in good agreement with the measured results.     

Observed Performance of Long Steel H-Piles Jacked into Sandy Soils

Full-scale field tests were performed to study the behavior of two steel H-piles jacked into dense sandy soils. The maximum embedded length of the test piles was over 40?m and the maximum jacking force used was in excess of 7,000?kN. The test piles were heavily instrumented with strain gauges along their shafts to measure the load transfer mechanisms during jacking and the subsequent period of static load tests. Piezometers were installed in the vicinity of the piles to monitor the pore pressure responses at different depths. The time effect and the effect of installation of adjacent piles were also investigated in this study. The test results indicated that, although both piles were founded on stiff sandy strata, most of the pile capacity was carried by shaft resistance rather than base resistance. This observation implies that the design concept that piles in dense sandy soils have very large base capacity and small shaft resistance is likely to be inappropriate for jacked piles. It was also found that the variation in pore pressures induced by pile jacking was closely associated with the progress of pile penetration; the pore pressure measured by each piezometer reached a maximum when the pile tip arrived at the piezometer level. A nearby pile jacking was able to produce large tensile stresses dominating in the major portion of an installed pile; both the magnitude and distribution of the induced stresses were related to the penetration depth of the installing pile.     

Assessment of Direct Cone Penetration Test Methods for Predicting the Ultimate Capacity of Friction Driven Piles

This paper evaluates the applicability of eight direct cone penetration test (CPT) methods to predict the ultimate load capacity of square precast prestressed concrete (PPC) driven friction piles. Analyses and evaluation were conducted on 35 driven friction piles of different sizes and lengths that were failed during pile load testing. The CPT methods, as well as the static α and β methods, were used to estimate the load carrying capacities of the investigated piles (QP). The Butler–Hoy method was used to determine the measured load carrying capacities from pile load tests (Qm). The pile capacities determined using the different methods were compared with the measured pile capacities obtained from the pile load tests. Four criteria were selected as bases of evaluation: the best fit line for Qp versus Qm, the arithmetic mean and standard deviation for the ratio Qp/Qm, the cumulative probability for Qp/Qm, and the histogram and log normal distribution for Qp/Qm. Results of the analyses showed that the best performing CPT methods are the LCPC method by Bustamante and Gianeselli as well as the De Ruiter and Beringen method. These methods were ranked number one according to the mentioned criteria.     

Shaft Capacity of Continuous Flight Auger Piles in Sand

This paper presents the results of a series of field experiments performed to study the development of shaft resistance on continuous flight auger piles installed in sand. The test piles were instrumented in order to separate the shaft and base resistance, and to allow the determination of the distribution of shaft resistance along the pile shaft. The tests highlighted the importance of accurate calculation of the shaft resistance for nondisplacement piles. At a typical maximum allowable pile head settlement of 25?mm, more than 71% of the pile resistance was provided by shaft friction. Conventional methods of estimating shaft resistance were assessed. It was found that methods which incorporated parameters directly interpreted from in situ test results provided the most consistent estimates. In the final section, differences between the shaft resistances mobilized on displacement and nondisplacement piles are considered.     

Centrifuge Modeling of Torsionally Loaded Pile Groups

This paper reports a series of centrifuge model tests on torsionally loaded 1×2, 2×2, and 3×3 pile groups in sand. The objectives of the paper are to investigate: (1) the response of the pile groups subjected to torsion; (2) the way in which the applied torque is transferred in the pile groups; (3) the internal forces mobilized in these torsionally loaded pile groups and their contributions to resist the applied torque; and (4) the influence factors that affect the load transfer, such as soil density and pile-cap connection. In these model tests, the group torsional resistances of the pile groups increased monotonically in the test range of twist angles up to 8°. Both torsional and lateral resistances of the individual piles were simultaneously mobilized to resist the applied torque. The torsional resistances were substantially mobilized at small twist angles, while the lateral resistances kept increasing in the whole range of twist angles. Thus, the contribution of the torsional resistances to the applied torque decreased at large twist angles. The piles at different locations in a pile group could develop not only different horizontal displacements, but also different pile–soil–pile interactions and load–deformation coupling effect, hence, the torsional and lateral resistances of the piles are a function of pile location. The soil density had a more significant effect on the torsional resistances than on the lateral resistances of the group piles.     

Performance of Long-Driven H-Piles in Granitic Saprolite

There has been much advancement using conceptual models and analytical methods to explain various aspects of pile performance. They are mainly based on the findings of model tests and full-scale pile tests in fine-grained and coarse-grained soils, and driven piles on land are normally less than 40?m. Design methods developed from this data bank of pile geometries and soil conditions for long piles should be treated with caution. In this paper, 13 H-piles of 34–60?m and 7,096?kN capacity founded on granitic saprolite are studied. Among them, two piles were restriked at different time intervals. All piles were axially load tested statically using a maintained load method. In contrast to the short rigid piles founded on weaker soil, their load-transfer mechanism varied with the magnitude of applied load and pile length. They deformed almost linearly at small loads and might have buckled when the loads were large and the creep settlements were found to be length dependent. Existing criteria might not be able to interpret failure loads sometimes, but a pile dynamic analyzer was found to give the best estimate on pile capacity.     

Database Assessment of CPT-Based Design Methods for Axial Capacity of Driven Piles in Siliceous Sands

Numerous cone penetration test (CPT)-based methods exist for calculation of the axial pile capacity in sands, but no clear guidance is presently available to assist designers in the selection of the most appropriate method. To assist in this regard, this paper examines the predictive performance of a range of pile design methods against a newly compiled database of static load tests on driven piles in siliceous sands with adjacent CPT profiles. Seven driven pile design methods are considered, including the conventional American Petroleum Institute (API) approach, simplified CPT alpha methods, and four new CPT-based methods, which are now presented in the commentary of the 22nd edition of the API recommendations. Mean and standard deviation database statistics for the design methods are presented for the entire 77 pile database, as well as for smaller subset databases separated by pile material (steel and concrete), end condition (open versus closed), and direction of loading (tension versus compression). Certain methods are seen to exhibit bias toward length, relative density, cone tip resistance, and pile end condition. Other methods do not exhibit any apparent bias (even though their formulations differ significantly) due to the limited size of the database subsets and the large number of factors known to influence pile capacity in sand. The database statistics for the best performing methods are substantially better than those for the API approach and the simplified alpha methods. Improved predictive reliability will emerge with an extension of the database and the inclusion of additional important controlling factors affecting capacity.     

Evaluation of a Minimum Base Resistance for Driven Pipe Piles in Siliceous Sand

This paper provides a rational method for evaluating a realistic lower bound for the base resistance of pipe piles in siliceous sand. Separate expressions are developed to represent the response to load of the pile plug, the sand below the pile base, and the sand below the pile annulus. These expressions are combined to give the overall base response of a pipe pile. Predicted responses are compared with databases compiled on the ultimate capacities of pipe piles and with base pressure-displacement characteristics observed in static load tests. The estimations are shown to match observed base resistances of large diameter piles for which the coring mode of penetration during driving dominates.     

Termination Criteria for Jacked Pile Construction and Load Transfer in Weathered Soils

Pile jacking is a piling technique that provides a noise- and vibration-free environment in the construction site. To improve termination criteria for pile jacking and to better understand the behavior of jacked piles, two steel H piles were instrumented, installed at a weathered soil site, and load tested. A set of termination criteria was applied to the test piles, which includes a minimum blow count from the standard penetration test, a specified final jacking force, a minimum of four loading cycles at the final jack force, and a specified maximum rate of pile settlement at the final jacking force. The two test piles passed all required acceptance criteria. Punching shear failure occurred at the failure load for both piles and the shaft resistance consisted of approximately 80% of the pile capacity. Based on the results of field tests in Hong Kong and Guangdong and several centrifuge tests, a relation between the ratio of the pile capacity Pult to the final jacking force PJ and the pile slenderness ratio is established. The Pult/PJ ratio is larger than 1.0 for long piles but may be smaller than 1.0 for short piles. A regression equation is established to determine the final jacking force, which is suggested as a termination criterion for jacked piles. The final jacking force can be smaller than 2.5 times the design load for very long piles, but should be larger than 2.5 times the design load for piles shorter than 37 times the pile diameter.