Search Documents

By K. Viking

This article deals with some of the civil engineering related problems to be encountered when offshore wind energy projects transform from prototype offshore wind energy converter farms, developed and installed during the 1990?s, to commercial farms that?s currently planned to be built. The offshore wind energy converter (OWEC) installations encounter a wide range of problems, only partial of these are geotechnical. In Europe both onshore and offshore wind farms have, from a historical point of view, usually been founded by using the monopole technique, installed with traditional impact hammers, or by using gravitational foundations. However, the rapid development of bigger turbines and larger wind farms, together with increasing considerations of fatigue aspects, has lead to financial benefits of developing and exploring other foundation techniques. This paper reviews some Scandinavian experiences regarding critical components of the design phase in relation to connecting the superstructure to the ground, and some of the main considerations of how the loads applied to the structure are transferred to the surrounding soil.

Jan 1, 2013

By Timothy L. Roberts

For many years practicing geotechnical and structural engineers in Texas and Louisiana were reluctant to include augered cast-in-place (ACIP) piles as a viable deep foundation alternate. Three primary concerns were the lack of a final driving resistance to confirm adequate capacity, the inability to inspect ACIP piles prior to installation, and the fact that pile integrity is highly dependent on the skill of the ACIP pile contractor's field personnel. The Deep Foundations Institute (DFI) Committee on Augered Cast-In-Place Piles has responded to these quality control concerns by establishing standards of practice for ACIP pile installation and ACIP pile inspection. Regional areas of the country have different subsurface soil and rock conditions and many times this will influence local installation and inspection requirements. The best way structural and geotechnical engineers can address quality control concerns is to be familiar with the DFI standards of practice, to know the special requirements for a particular project site, and to incorporate them into a well-written ACIP pile specification. The purposes of this paper are to: 1) review the main fundamentals of a successful quality control program, 2) describe how these fundamentals can be applied to the installation of ACIP piles, and 3) add personal experiences from ACIP pile projects in Texas and Louisiana. Nondestructive test methods are frequently used as a quality control tool to evaluate questionable piles. An additional brief discussion of two nondestructive test methods is presented to complete the paper.

Jan 1, 1998

By Jelke Dijkstra

This paper presents the results of model pile load tests in a photoelastic material. The soil in this test is represented by an assembly of photoelastically sensitive glass particles, which allows for optical measurements of stresses. In the same test setup, displacements around the pile are measured using digital image correlation (DIC). During the pile installation stresses and strains are recorded. Tests were performed in loose and medium dense particle assemblies. The development of stresses and strains around the pile tip and pile shaft are quantified and presented in this paper. For the loose conditions the results show a small influence on the stress state. For the medium dense conditions a clear stress change is observed.

Jan 1, 2006

By Jacob Chacko

The Izmit Bay bridge, a 3-km-long suspension bridge crossing of Izmit Bay, Turkey is planned to be constructed in one of the most seismically active places in the world. The site, which has the potential to experience significant earthquakes associated with the relative motion accommodated on the North Anatolian Fault, is underlain by deep deposits of soft soils, and areas of unstable and liquefiable soils. Characterizing the seismotectonic setting, foundation soil conditions, potential fault locations, as well as other geohazards was a critical component for the project concessionaire to finance the project and obtain meaningful bids for bridge design and construction. Given the Build Operate Transfer (BOT) funding mechanism, executing this work in the least possible time was critical to the concessionaire?s financing scheme. Fugro was retained to provide geotechnical, geological, and seismological evaluations for the project region, and to generate data for contractors to develop reliable designs and bids. The uncertainties in these data made it difficult for the BOT concessionaire to finance the project and tender Bridge design and construction. The investment in an early and comprehensive site characterization program to evaluate and quantify those uncertainties allowed the concessionaire to save schedule, provide a robust bid basis to bridge contractors, and persuade banks to finance what was perceived to be a relatively high risk project.

Jan 1, 2011

By Hou Shitao

With the development of Wuhan's city planning in China, new buildings of moderate and high store have been increasing day by day. Precast concrete piles or cast-in-site piles were used in the major foundations of the buildings. In process of their design and construction geotechnical engineers are concerned very much about practical bearing capacity and construction quality of pile foundations. In order to grasp accurately the cases static loading or vibration test is used generally to judge them. At present, the major questions in existence are that although a load is applied directly on pile and measured datums are reliable for static loading test, it must take a lot of work and longer time and engineering cost is higher. A vibration test has the advantages of which checking up of pile quality can be performed rapidly, the test is simple and convenient, and scope measured wide. But bigger error exists generally in measured datums. Therefore, it is nesessary to make vibration test on piles more perfect for pile foundation engineering. It is stated in paper that adapted technique of vibration test on piles is quite right in developmental direction sense for pile foundation. There are a great variety of vibration test methods on piles. A few of methods which often are adapted in practice can not meet the need of different practical engineering. It is also an important question whether the instruments of vibration test and relevant computer softewares make a response accurately for practical case. Different sequence of operation and technical requirements comes into being some influence directly on the test results. Meanwhile, different combination of soil stratigraphy, soil texture, groundwater and pile could cause different error of test datum. It is necessary to analyse and judge objectively the results of vibration test. Therefore, on the basis of developing and perfecting further the technique of vibration test, the applied technique of vibration test should be standardized so that better test results can be obtained.

Jan 1, 1991

By James A. Mason

The State of California has instrumented numerous buildings, bridges, and dams throughout the state with earthquake recording devices. These accelerometers are strategically placed to measure the response of the structure to a specific seismic event. This comprehensive program enlightens the field of seismic engineering after each earthquake. The Office of Strong Motion Studies, California Strong Motion Instrumentation Program, a sub-branch of the Division of Mines and Geology, provides a professional service unequalled in the world. Within hours of a local earthquake, a preliminary report with the epicenter / hypocenter, structural damage, and time history records are available to all interested parties. The included partial report in the appendix, see section 5.1, is one of the reports that C.S.M.I.P. produced after the Loma Prieta Earthquake of October 17,1989. The diagram on the cover is even of interest. This is a small portion of San Francisco. The values on the diagram are the recorded maximum horizontal ground accelerations at that location in the city. For example, the acceleration at Yerba Buena Island was 0.06g. (The "g" refers to the acceleration of gravity. Thus, a 0.06g acceleration refers to the force, F=m*a, that the structure would experience. For this case, the force would be six percent, 6 % , of the mass of the structure.) Yet, directly on the other side of the Bay Bridge, at Treasure Island, the acceleration was 0.16g. Yerba Buena Island is a natural island composed of hard granular material. Whereas, Treasure Island is a man-made island of imported filled. Here one can see the absorption / transmission difference between hard material, which interact with short seismic wavelengths, and soft cohesive material, which interact with long seismic wavelengths.

Jan 1, 1993

By Michael Arnold, Bob Faulhaber, Joe Nichols

"Center Hill Dam is a critical part of the infrastructure controlling floods at the Caney Fork River and reducing flood levels at the Cumberland, lower Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. The Center Hill Dam Foundation Remediation Project was necessary to address Karst features in the foundation rocks and observed signs of distress of the dam. From 2011 to 2014 BAUER Foundation Corp. (BFC) performed deep foundation works for this project. The executed features of work include the installation of two walls. The first wall extends throughout the clay embankment into the underlying rock to provide encasement during the construction of the second wall. Its width of 7.4 feet makes it the widest diaphragm wall ever installed. The second wall is the actual seepage barrier and provides a continuous 2- feet wide wall. It extends through the first wall into the underlying rock and is up to 300 feet deep. The paper introduces the project, the requirements specified by United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) for encasement and barrier wall and the approaches taken by BFC. It discusses the ground conditions and describes the excavation equipment as well as the excavation methods used. A special focus is put on the steering capabilities of the hydrocutter equipment and the verticality performance.PROJECTBeginning in 2011, BFC was tasked by the USACE with the installation of a seepage barrier/cutoff wall at the Center Hill Dam Foundation Remediation project under a partially performance based specification. The remediation was necessary due to karst features in the foundation rocks and observed signs of distress, which led USACE to rate the dam with the most critical dam safety action classification (DSAC I). The executed features of work include the installation of two walls. The first wall, an encasement wall, extends vertically through the clay embankment and is embedded minimally into the underlying bedrock to provide embankment stability during the construction of the second wall, the barrier wall. The encasement wall is constructed of overlapping panels 7.4 feet (2.25 m) wide, which is the widest diaphragm wall ever installed, and up to 210 feet (64 m) deep. The second wall is the seepage barrier and provides a continuous 2 feet (0.6 m) wide wall consisting of overlapping panels. It extends through the encasement wall into the underlying bedrock and is up to 307 feet (93 m) deep. BAUER BC40 and BC50 hydrocutters mounted on MC96 and MC128 foundation cranes were used to perform the majority of the works (Figure 1). Excavations were performed under bentonite slurry (encasement wall) and water (barrier wall) and concrete was poured with the tremie method. Adding to the challenges, the project had to be executed in an environmentally sensitive area. Based on the high risk, a special focus was put on monitoring, quality control and geometric accuracy. The WallTracker information management system was used to share all relevant data between BFC and USACE (Roff et al. 2014)."

Jan 1, 2017

By Thomas A. Printz

The wide use of carbon steel in construction and engineering projects makes this engineering material accountable for approximately 85% of the total annual steel production worldwide. Despite the lack of corrosion resistance of carbon steel, it is incorporated into the permanent work for marine applications, power plants, transportation projects, chemical processing, mining, petroleum production and refining, pipelines, mining and construction equipment. Corrosion is an electro-chemical process that occurs in the presence of water and air. When an electric current is introduced to water or soil, the rate of carbon steel corrosion increases rapidly. Gaseous atmospheric constituents that are capable of electrolytic activity can also increase the rate of corrosion. Corrosion tends to be more rapid in environments in which the steel is exposed to water, and then air, rather than being constantly submerged. The exposure to seawater increases steel pitting because the electrical conductivity is improved in salt water.

Jan 1, 2013

By Gordon Chen

The Block 37 Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) Tunnel Construction Project was originally designed by STV to connect Blue Line subway in North Dearborn Street and Red Line subway in State Street in the downtown Chicago Area. The project was proposed using tunnel mining techniques combined with steel pipe jacking and fiber glass rebar soil reinforcement. Weidlinger Associates, Inc. (WAI) and Kiewit Construction Company proposed an alternate design using open cut construction technology. WAI designed a complex temporary excavation support system using Soldier Pile Tremie Concrete (SPTC) walls and Soldier Pile Lagging walls supported by cross lot/corner bracing elements. Below the top of the existing tunnel, a top-down construction technique was utilized. A steel temporary traffic decking system at top of the excavation site served as the daily street traffic function as well as the first level of bracing for the support of excavation. The project encountered great challenges of soft clay conditions in downtown Chicago, numerous existing utilities in the excavation site and the requirements of protection for a number of historical buildings nearby as well as the protection of the city streets. The construction was successfully completed at both State Street/Washington Street and Dearborn Street/Randolph Street. The monitoring system showed that ground movement and adjacent building settlement was kept to a minimum during construction.

Jan 1, 2009

By George K. Burke

Single axis soil mixing is a mechanical method of blending soil in situ with a reagent binder to achieve improved character. Generally this achieves a design compressive strength or shear strength and/or permeability, but can be used to immobilize and/or fixate contaminants as well as a treatment system for chemical reduction to a more "friendly" substrate. The reagent binder can be a variety of materials, including cement, fly ash, slag, lime, and an assortment of additives. Usually this reagent is delivered in a slurry form (combined with water), but the Dry Mix Method uses pneumatic conveyance.

Jan 1, 2001

By Melvin I. Esrig

Lime Cement column stabilization of soft clay and sand in Salt Lake City, Utah and in San Francisco California is described and discussed. Stabilization permitted the construction, in a single stage, of a 14 m MSE wall on "medium" clay in Salt Lake City. It was used to mitigate the potential for liquefaction in San Francisco and to stabilize the Young Bay Mud beneath the BART extension to San Francisco Airport. These applications are described and the field measurements of performance are reported.

Jan 1, 2000

By Ryan Higbie, King Chin, Matthew Anderson, Mike Huggins, Rian Johnson, Dave Sinsheimer

"The Permanent Canal Closures and Pumps (PCCP) project is the capstone piece of New Orleans’ extensive hurricane risk-reduction system constructed following Hurricane Katrina. The project consists of three discrete pump stations and flood gates on the shore of Lake Pontchartrain which provide a storm surge barrier and pump rainwater from the City of New Orleans’ primary drainage canals. The depth of the pump station structures ranged between 39 and 45 feet below sea-level. USACE developed the PCCP project for design-build delivery; granting the project team latitude to develop innovative, cost effective solutions for the project. The use of OPEN CELLTM cofferdams to construct the pump station structures was one such innovation. OPEN CELL structures utilize the strength of the retained soil to anchor cellular sheet pile face arcs; allowing a free-field of construction within the cofferdam. This cofferdam design did not require ground improvement or dewatering around the perimeter of the cofferdam. The free-field cofferdams streamlined construction and large equipment installation within the structures with no encumbrance from internal bracing. Meticulous force-based design, soil-structure numerical modeling, and physical testing were all techniques used to present and gain USACE acceptance of the design on this vital element of the work.PROJECT DESCRIPTIONThe Permanent Canal Closures and Pumps (PCCP) project is the capstone piece of the City of New Orleans’ extensive hurricane risk-reductions system constructed following Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The project encompasses three separate pump stations and floodgate structures located at the mouths of three outfall canals (17th Street, Orleans, and London) on the south shore of Lake Pontchartrain. These three canals, running from the south to north, act as the primary conduits for discharging water from the New Orleans area. Prior to Hurricane Katrina, these canals were operated with pump stations two to three miles upstream of the mouths at Lake Pontchartrain. This left long stretches of levee on each side of the canals exposed to storm surges entering from the lake. Three levee failures occurred along these canals during Katrina; two at London Canal and one at 17th Street Canal. The failures resulted in major flooding of the surrounding neighborhoods, significant damages, and loss of life.Following initial canal levee repairs after Hurricane Katrina, USACE, in partnership with the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA), took action to move the line of flood protection to the mouths of these three canals at the edge of the lake. By cutting off the storm surges from Lake Pontchartrain at the entrance to the canal, over ten miles of canal levee would no longer be exposed to storm surge water elevations, significantly decreasing the risk of failure."

Jan 1, 2017

By Colin C. West

On August 7, 1986, Barge 45, while being towed near the mouth of the Niagara River, was swept downstream and pinned against one of the central piers of the Peace Bridge. The barge rested against the pier with 125 feet overlying the Canadian border and 50 feet overlying the American border. The tug boat which was towing the barge was lost further downstream. Fortunately, the crew escaped and were rescued with no loss of life. There was serious concern about the potential erosion effects of the river currents on the foundation of the bridge pier as caused by the flow concentrations around the barge structure. Due to the time of year, with the approaching Fall and associated worsening weather conditions, it was imperative that the barge be removed as soon as possible. Donjon Marine of New Jersey, the United States Navy's Atlantic Zone Contractor, was called on to retrieve the barge. By this time the original owner had abandoned the wreck.

Jan 1, 1987

By M. D. Khattar

The paper describes the salient construction features of the Pile foundation work for the Railway viaducts in Algeria. Six viaducts were constructed for execution of the Railway line between Aintemouchent and Benisaf in Algeria. The work was executed by the Indian Railway Construction Company Limited of India (IRCON) for the Algerian National Railways (S.N.T.F.). These six viaducts had multiple spans of 36M resting on hollow piers of heights upto 69M. Most of the piers were founded on piles of 1 and 1.2M dia bored piles going upto 22M deep through cal­careous rocks and were designed for Railway loading in seismically active area. The work involved 356 piles & constituted a very important aspect of the whole work. The concrete in the piles was made with sulphate resistant cement and the integrity of the concrete was tested with Sonic method so as to ensure the quality. The piles were driven with the help of a hydraulic oscillator and the concrete was laid with a tremie pipe. Problems as encountered during execution have been explained.

Jan 1, 1989

By Nuno Cruz, Saúl Rodríguez

"When executing offshore bored piles there are several specific factors and problems to consider in order to guarantee excavation stability. One of the methods employed to carry out this type of work consists in setting up a floating work platform, typically a barge, and implementing a soil stabilization system that combines a partial steel guiding casing with third generation polymeric drilling fluids. The main aspects to take into consideration when performing offshore pile boring works are soil stabilization, project design, work methodology and operational aspects. An example of a work methodology problem arises before any pile boring work takes place as the steel guiding casing contains water, sometimes salt water. What to do with this water in order to replace it by an adequate polymer fluid will determine the stabilization capacity as soon as the shaft advances below the protection of the casing. Another example of operational problem may derive from barge movements while executing boring activities. This study is the result of extensive field data collection and concrete logging analysis from marine projects using polymers in different continents. The bored pile stability target was set ranging between 2% to 15% of concrete overbreak. Values above 15% or below 2% mean that there is a stability problem. Then the off-target pile’s data is collected, analyzed and classified under categories. Thus, a direct correlation is established between the problem category and the final results. Modifying steps in the pre-established construction methods or operational variables guarantees target results without the need to replace the approved construction methods. As a general conclusion, the worldwide experience in large diameter marine works, allows to provide truthful information and solutions for these problems. In knowing how to follow a logical sequence of work and applying adequate work methodology will be the key for success.GENERALBackgroundTo carry out the drilling process of offshore bored piles there are two main options to take into consideration: drilling the pile by using full guiding casing until final depth; or using a combined system of partial steel guiding casing and support drilling fluids.The knowledge and situations described in this paper come from the experience acquired in different projects where the second method was employed. This construction method consists in installing a steel guiding casing by vibration and thus covering the water table and further stabilizing the soil below it with polymeric fluids until reaching the pile’s final depth. The Fig. 1 schematic shows an example of this method where H corresponds to the length of the steel guiding casing whereas the remainder of the shaft’s length is stabilized by polymer fluid. The entire bored length is full of slurry up to top of casing.In most cases this kind of civil works results from the need to build a bridge or executing port structures in places where the creation of temporary artificial peninsulas with fill material is impracticable or not allowed. Hence the need to use floating work platforms, commonly referred to as barges."

Jan 1, 2017

By W. J. van Niekerk

Ballast Nedam is in Surinam constructing two bridges that will improve communications in the coastal region. The bridges will cross the Coppenam and Surinam rivers and will be founded on open-ended steel piles over 60 meters in length. The majority of piles are inclined and support prefabricated concrete girders forming the roadway. In most locations the stratum is consolidated cohesive layers extending to a depth in excess of 60 meters. For this reason, before pile driving operations commenced, it was decided that a number of test loads would be carried out determine the capacity of the piles. Loading tests were carried out on specially installed piles as well as on piles that would be used as working piles to support the structure. Working piles were dynamically tested using Pile Driving Analysis (PDA) equipment. This decision was based on the inclination of the piles, the cohesive nature of the soil and the increase of strength after the piles are driven. A good insight has been obtained into the real strength of the soil by comparing dynamic and static loading tests on vertical test piles. This made it possible to determine the required length of pile.

Jan 1, 2000

By John P. Davis

The use of conventional, circulatory air rotary and fluid rotary, cased and uncased drilling methods in the vicinity of sensitive infrastructure can have deleterious effects on the ground conditions surrounding and supporting structures and the structure itself. Furthermore, the use of these conventional methods offers the engineer or contractor little information about the condition of the subsurface during geotechnical applications. Conversely, sonic drilling measurements and samples can be used to evaluate actual conditions during the progress of exploration and construction across a given site. This paper will discuss the history and properties of sonic drilling and explore case histories of geotechnical applications for the advancement of boreholes within vulnerable structures and on sensitive sites for several recent infrastructure projects ? a tunnel and railroad project, a dam grout curtain project, a bridge micropile exploration project and a tunnel instrumentation project. Project summaries will discuss the advantages realized when the application of sonic drilling techniques demonstrated superior accuracy, quality control, efficiency, productivity, penetrability, waste minimization and adaptability when drilling adjacent to or within existing infrastructure. Finally, the discussion will address the current testing and application of sonic drilling to the installation of micropiles, earth retention anchors, grout injection and instrumentation installation where the quality control benefits provided by the inherent soil cores, measurement while drilling systems, accuracy and non-destructive production drilling features will be advantageous.

Jan 1, 2006

By James L. Vinson

Wilbur Smith Associates (WSA) has provided planning, engineering and construction oversight assistance to the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) for three construction projects intended to widen and improve segments of I-40 and associated interchanges in Knoxville, Tennessee. The projects are within the karst terrain of the Valley and Ridge Province. Subsurface conditions are characterized by an irregular rock surface coupled with differential weathering. Because of the projects? impact to local and interstate motorists, consideration was given to innovative planning, materials and construction practices that could accelerate construction. Two innovative deep foundation measures included rock-socketed pipe piles, which act as both foundations and substructure elements for a bridge?s interior bents, and the first widespread use of rock-socketed drilled shafts as bridge foundations on a TDOT project. The pipe piles were used at a site with significant cavities within the limestone bedrock. This resulted in design verification and constructability difficulties that required delays, but measures were ultimately employed to produce a sound foundation system. Over 110 drilled shafts have been constructed at sites with generally low solution activity. Relative to H-pile footings, which were included as an alternate foundation, they have apparently allowed accelerated construction at a competitive cost.

Jan 1, 2006

By Eric S. White, Thomas J. Sabourin, Khuram R. Mohib

"This paper presents the challenges associated with the design and construction of a steel sheet pile cofferdam supported with one level of grouted anchors in clean to silty sand with gravel. The initial assessment of the subsurface conditions indicated loose to medium dense soil with intermittent dense to very dense layers with no occurrence of cobbles and boulders. Sheet piles were proposed to be installed to a depth of 24 m below the ground surface to limit dewatering requirements for the cofferdam. During sheet pile installation, refusal of piles occurred at multiple locations forming passages for increased flow into the cofferdam. Modifications were made in the design of the dewatering system as a result of the increased flow. Finite element modeling was used to select the necessary modifications to the dewatering system within the cofferdam. Wells were installed based on the findings of the numerical model. Model simulations showed good comparison with monitoring of the field installed dewatering system.INTRODUCTIONIt is necessary to consider the impact of the ground water, subsurface stratigraphy, strength, and drainage behavior of the soil for the design and construction of cofferdams. This paper presents a case history of the construction of a cofferdam in Northern Ontario, Canada. The project consists of the construction of a powerhouse, intake, and tailrace which will generate around 28 MW of renewable clean energy by diverting water from New Post Creek through a power house and discharge into the Abitibi River. The focus of this paper is the dewatering and excavation support required to permit construction of the powerhouse. The layout of the cofferdam is shown in Fig. 1. The cofferdam for the powerhouse is rectangular in shape with sheet piles on all four sides intended to be driven to the design toe El. 101 m. The east and west walls have a length of 46.3 m. North and south sides are 47.6 m long; and in addition, two cantilever sheet pile walls bound the tailrace on the west side and two cantilever walls were installed on the east for construction of the penstock inlet. The ground surface in the powerhouse cofferdam area, before commencement of sheet pile driving, was brought to El. 125; the ground then slopes up to the East, toward New Post Creek, and the site is bounded on the West by the Abitibi River. 186 pairs of sheet piles were used to create the cofferdam and cantilever walls. The deepest excavation is to elevation 114.4 m. Within the west half of the cofferdam footprint, the base of excavation slopes upward at 3H: 1V to facilitate the tailrace discharge into Abitibi River.SOIL STRATIGRAPHYThe cofferdam design was based on the geotechnical investigation conducted by AECOM (2014) which included two relevant boreholes near the powerhouse footprint. The ground elevation at the time of investigation varied between 131 to 129 m. The material observed to the full depth of investigation was comprised generally of coarse to fine sand and gravelly sand or a sand matrix with gravelly inclusions. Some intermittent layers of clay and silt intrusions were also observed. Generally the soils grade finer away from the river. SPT N60 values were recorded in two borings during the field investigation with values reported from 3 to 92. The in-situ conditions ranged from compact to dense with some loose and some very dense zones. Figure 2 shows the variation in SPT N60 values with elevation."

Jan 1, 2017

By M. England

Keywords: Bi-directional tests, Osterberg cell, O-cell®, static load tests, Timeset® Static load testing, where loads are applied vertically to the top of the pile and often referred to as 'top down testing', has been used for many years and has become a 'standard' test for the world of foundation engineering. The method, although well developed, cannot be used under certain circumstances, magnitude of load being a particular issue. There is a finite limit to the load capacity that can be applied with either kentledge, the use of reaction piles or anchors, and as the loads increase, the costs escalate dramatically. A novel test method seeks to overcome all the associated problems of large scale and restrictive area "top down testing", utilising static load testing techniques. The method requires the foundation element to be divided into two or more sections and these can be loaded axially as required using a portion of the foundation element as a reaction. This paper presents some recent applications and developments in the use and application of the bi-directional testing technique using the Osterberg Cell or O-cell® and outlines some of the many advantages of the system. Recent bi-directional test loads applied to bored piles have mobilised capacities of 279 MN and with flight auger piles up to 25 MN.

Jan 1, 2006