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By Alan D. Fisher

Amtrak made a decision to replace an aging bascule bridge with a vertical lift bridge for their crossing of the Thames River in New London, Connecticut. The new lift bridge occupies the same alignment and shares the same foundations as the bascule span. During construction the deep foundation caisson supporting the bascule span settled and tilted. Investigation into possible reasons revealed interesting historical facts, both of the construction of the innovative open well caisson foundations and of the state-of-the-art in tremie concrete placing methods in use at the turn of the century. This paper describes both of these topics.

Jan 1, 2008

By Jorj O. Osterberg

The Osterberg (O-Cell) Method makes it possible to separate the side shear resistance (skin friction) from end bearing. The O-Cell is placed on or near the bottom of a drilled shaft and after the concrete is poured and cured, an equal upward and downward pressure is applied. From the test, the load-upward deflection curve in side shear and the load-downward deflection curve in end bearing are drawn. Typical curves are shown where the ultimate load in side-shear is reached and where the ultimate load in end bearing is reached. Several examples of tests in which the test load reached ultimate loads far in excess of what was expected are shown. The side shear in rock sockets is shown to be much larger than generally estimated. Examples are given of where side shear is smaller than expected and the reasons discussed. Disturbance of the sides of drilled holes due to poor construction techniques and ways to avoid these conditions are considered. Examples of bottom hole disturbance are given and ways to prevent the disturbance are discussed. A graph showing the actual measured capacity of drilled shafts compared to the estimated capacity as a function of the hardness and strength of the soil or rock is presented.

Jan 1, 1999

By John C. Niedzielski

The existing US-70 Bridge over the Gila River at Bylas, Arizona is planned to be replaced due to its current poor condition. The replacement bridge is planned to be a 15-span, 1,904-foot (580 meter) long bridge, the third-longest bridge in the state highway system. Within the Gila River floodplain, granular alluvial soil is underlain by cohesive lacustrine soil; bedrock was expected due to nearby terrain but not encountered within the geotechnical exploration depth of 166.5 feet (51 meters) or less. Based on the anticipated loading conditions, design scour depths and the soil conditions, the full structural loads are carried by large diameter drilled shafts; therefore accurately determining the axial capacity of the proposed drilled shafts has important practical and safety implications. The conventional methods for axial capacity determination may be overly conservative to use for design in the site?s layered granular and hard clay soils. An Osterberg cell load test was performed to obtain detailed information on the load transfer from the drilled shaft in side friction and base resistance to allow optimization of the bridge foundation design. The full-scale field test played a significant role in the design of the project?s deep foundations, notably, by incorporating the specific subsoil properties and consequently, an exact prediction of the load-settlement behavior under loading. This paper provides the results of the geotechnical site investigations, drilled shaft load testing procedures, and shaft load distribution from the load test results. Comparisons were developed between predicted axial capacities of drilled shafts using several design methodologies and the axial capacity measured from static load testing. The load test results showed that underestimation of the axial capacity is evident using conventional methodologies. The exact prediction of the load-settlement behavior under loading combined with a site-specific design approach, resulted in a substantial reduction of foundation costs due to reduced drilled shaft dimensions.

By D. A. Bruce

Small diameter cast-in-place bored piles (pinpiles) have been installed throughout the world since 1952, but only more recently in the United States. The special features of their construction and performance makes them ideally suited for structural underpinning applications in difficult ambient and geological conditions. This paper describes the underpinning of part of a major industrial facility near Mobile, Alabama. In addition to being a most interesting and successful case history, per se, the paper also describes in detail a fundamental test pile program which has afforded a unique insight into the basics of load transfer mechanisms.

Jan 1, 1992

By Kazunori Matsushita, Masaru Sakakibara, Kenji Harada, Naotoshi Shinkawa, Mitsuo Nozu

The Sand Compaction Pile (SCP) method has been widely used as a typical countermeasure against liquefaction in Japan, and its effectiveness has been confirmed in many case histories of damages caused by the past large-scale earthquakes. A series of studies were conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the compaction method and other factors, if any, in sustaining a seismic force that is greater than the assumed one and caused no damage. Based on the results of these studies, the Architectural Institute of Japan (AIJ) has indicated in its “Recommendations for Design of Ground Improvement for Building Foundations” published in 2006 that the liquefaction resistance ratio (tl/sz) of the composite ground, which consists of sand piles and surrounding compacted ground, is higher than the RL calculated by using the SPT N-values of the ground in-between the sand piles. In this paper, statistical analysis of safety factor against liquefaction, FL, was performed by using the SPT N-values of ground in Port Island and Rokko Island which were both fully reclaimed islands in Kobe city during the 1995 Hyogo-ken Nambu Earthquake (classified as intense shaking) and, together with the consideration of relative settlement, resulted in tl/sz of the composite ground being 1.5~2.5 times of tl/sz of the soil in-between piles after improvement. Furthermore, the liquefaction resistance curve of SCP-improved sites obtained from the relationship between SPT N-values and cyclic shear stress ratio during the 2011 off the Pacific Coast of Tohoku Earthquake, which was regarded as long-duration earthquake, was plotted to the left side of the curve originally proposed by Japan Road Association. Thus, the liquefaction resistance of the improved ground was found to be higher than that of the natural ground, even for the same SPT N-values, verifying the validity of the AIJ recommendation.

Jan 1, 2017

By J. C. W. M. de Wit

An excavation, within which a tunnel is sunk as a part of the Centraal Station underground station (platform section) of the Noord/Zuidlijn ('North/South Line'), is to be created beneath the Amsterdam Centraal ('Amsterdam Central') station. The section beneath Amsterdam Centraal Station is characterised by the application of a particular technology in the form of, inter alia, the so-called 'sandwich wall'. This is a composite wall consisting of two rows of Tubex piles with a body of jetgrout columns in-between. This wall acts both as an excavation support wall and also provides vertical bearing. The installation of the wall, including both Tubex piles and jetgrout columns, within these specific conditions (limited height, sensitive historical building), within the design requirements set in terms of construction tolerance and water and soil retention, may be regarded as being a pioneering achievement. The environmental constraints are that the trains should continue to run, the inconvenience to passengers should be kept to a minimum and the historic station should not suffer any damage. Because of the complexity of the working conditions, the project is being overseen by a steering group of experts in the specified construction processes. In order to manage the project risks, jet grouting trials were initially carried out, in order to highlight and control execution problems; the practicability of the design is then tested. Work commenced on the sandwich wall in 2003, when the wooden piles were extracted at the locations where the sandwich wall was to be constructed; in 2004, the steel Tubex piles for the southern wall sections were installed. From May 2005, the construction of the sandwich wall got under way; in addition to the described process supervision, an extensive measuring programme was established, so that the process could be adjusted as necessary and the quality of the finished product determined. This applied to both individual columns and for the end product, the sandwich wall. The measurement results were processed for each column, interpreted and the effect on the work still to be conducted was assessed for each future column. Preventative and corrective measures were, if necessary, taken in order to control or counteract the measured defect. In addition to the process-oriented and qualitative measurements, various independent measurement systems at the station building served as a further control in order to prevent damage to the building.

Jan 1, 2006

By Donald Bruce, Mark Harris, Wesley Schmutzler, James Sanders

"This paper evaluates the history, construction and most importantly the performance of two remedial seepage cutoff walls installed in two major dams in the United States. Beaver Dam, on the White River in northwest Arkansas, was completed in 1966 and seepage through the karstic limestone under the embankment was apparent almost immediately upon filling of the reservoir. Several attempts to stop the seepage by grouting were unsuccessful. In 1994 a cutoff wall consisting of secant piles drilled with 32"" diameter down-the-hole hammers to a maximum depth of 185'?was completed and the seepage was reduced to a negligible amount. It has been over 20 years since the completion of the cutoff wall, and all indications are that the cutoff wall is performing as expected. Walter F. George Lock and Dam on the Chattahoochee River near Fort Gaines, Georgia, was completed in 1963 and suffered the same problem as Beaver Dam due to the limestone on which the dam was founded. Cutoff walls were installed in both embankments (1980s) and solved the problem in these areas, but under-seepage at the concrete lock, dam and spillway structures increased to the point that remediation was essential. The cutoff wall had to be installed through 110'?of water and another 100'?into rock upstream of an active dam that continued to generate electricity during the construction of the cutoff wall. A secant pile wall, in combination with a diaphragm wall, was completed in front of these structures in 2004. It has been over 10 years since the completion this cutoff wall and, again, the cutoff wall is performing as expected. The paper describes the construction of these cutoffs, but focuses on the long-term performance in terms of controlling seepage and piezometric levels.BEAVER DAMBeaver Dam is located on the White River, 609 miles above its mouth, in Carroll County, Northwest Arkansas. The construction of the dam and Beaver Reservoir was authorized on September 1954 by the Congressional Flood Control Act for purposes of water supply, flood control and hydroelectric power generation. The dam site was selected in 1957: construction began in November 1960 and was completed in June 1966. (FIG. 1)"

Jan 1, 2017

By Tariq B. Hamid

Deep excavation is commonly associated with construction of different deep below-grade structural elements (e.g., basement walls and slabs, tunnels, retaining walls, tanks, utilities, etc.) Deep Excavation Retaining Systems (DERS) are required when open cuts with safe slopes are not possible. Careful analysis, design, and planning of the DERS are required to provide safe below-grade construction and secure nearby structures from damaging effects that may result from the deep excavation. Selection and design of temporary or permanent DERS (e.g., soldier pile and lagging, sheet piling walls, secant pile walls, tie backs, etc.) can have significant impact on time, cost, and performance. In order to design DERS using conventional methods, it is necessary to obtain shear strength parameters, angle of internal friction (ø), and cohesion (c), of retained soils. Residual shear strength parameters (ø'res, c'res) obtained from drained direct shear tests and triaxial tests on saturated samples have been commonly used in practice for the analysis and design of DERS. However, there are cases where ground water table remains at or below the base of excavation during the design lifetime of DERS. In such cases, the soil above the ground water table is in an unsaturated state. Therefore, it is important to account for the unsaturated conditions of soils in order to optimize the design of DERS. This paper is focused on implementing the basic concepts of unsaturated soils mechanics including matric suction and soils-water characteristic curve (SWCC) to estimate design shear strength parameters of unsaturated soils (i.e., ø°, c', and ø') for the design of a cantilever sheet pile walls, a typical case of study of the DERS. The results of this study indicate that the determination of unsaturated soil strength shear strength parameters is simple. In addition, using unsaturated soil mechanics theories has an outstanding impact on the design of retaining systems.

Jan 1, 2006

By A. R. Gaba

Phase I of the Canary Wharf development in London's docklands involves the construction of six fifteen storey buildings located predominantly over water of the West India Docks. The buildings are supported on some 1000 No., 25m long, open ended steel tubular piles driven through 10m of dock water to found in dense sand at a depth of about 15m below dock bed level. The piles are of composite section with reinforced concrete within the upper 17m of the steel tube. Three trial piles were installed in the dock to investigate the driveability and performance of the driven steel tubular piles. The piles were subjected to dynamic and static load testing. Loads were applied in both vertical and horizontal directions. Vibrating wire strain gauges were installed on the inside of the steel piles, on the reinforcement and in the concrete to determine the relative proportions of the applied load carried by the steel tube and concrete infill and to establish how these proportions varied along the length of the piles. Inclinometers were also installed to monitor the lateral deflection of the piles. This paper describes the driving, construction and testing of the three trial piles. The results of the vertical and horizontal loading tests are discussed and comparisons are made between dynamic and static tests carried out on the piles.

Jan 1, 1989

By Dan A. Brown

The New Mississippi River Bridge (MRB) employed conventional design-bid-build procurement, but the bidding process included the opportunity for pre-qualified bidders to develop and propose confidential Alternative Technical Concepts (ATC?s) for evaluation and approval in advance of bidding. The ATC process provides a mechanism for value-engineering prior to bid, with incentives and opportunities for both the owner and the bidding contractor. The contract described in this paper is for the river bridge composed of a cable-stayed crossing with two pylons and the anchor piers on each side of the river. The Massman-Traylor-Alberici (MTA) team developed a re-designed foundation system for the main pylon and anchor foundations which utilizes their equipment and experience along with field load test measurements to optimize the foundations. The paper describes the experience with the use of the pre-bid ATC process on the project from the perspective of the bidder, and outlines some of the benefits and limitations of this concept with respect to foundation design and construction. Some keys for success are identified and impediments to the effective implementation of the process are described.

Jan 1, 2011

By J. Hartikainen

Kemi cardboard mill is founded on the alluvial bed of Kemi river at the north-eastern cost of Botnic Culf in Northern Finland. The alluvium consists of sandy and silty layers underlain by thick medium dense silty moraine layer. The first cardboard machine, having a belt width of 7,4 m, was constructed in 1972 on 7,5 to 9,5 m long wedge-shaped precast driven piles. Because of the excessive differential settlements and sometimes unexpected dynamic malfunctioning of the machine it was decided to strengthen the foundation before installing the partly new machine and increasing the running speed from 500 to 750 m/min. Piling was done under extremly strick limitations concerning space, vibrations, settlements, dust etc. Extra vertical support was made by using 23...25 long x-form steel piles driven by compressed air pile hammer down to rock. The piles were held together with old piles by a conctrete frame with diagonals, which made the total system - machine - foundation frame, piles and ground - ridgid enough to avoid resonance during dynamic loading.

Jan 1, 2010

By Tracy Brettmann, Will Bohlen

An innovative retaining wall design consisting of tangent drilled shafts with supplementary seal piles was used to limit continuing bank erosion along the Brazos River in Southeast Texas. The riverbank erosion had progressed to where it was threatening the stability of both the bridge abutment and corresponding approach embankment of the heavily travelled Highway 99 bridge at this location. A tangent pile design was selected because it was both much faster to install and more cost effective than a secant pile system. The design included both 5.5-ft and 10-ft diameter shafts with depths up to 130-ft and comprised both anchored and cantilevered sections. Supplementary seal shafts were also installed between the structural tangent drilled shafts to help plug any gaps between the tangent shafts. The plumbness and diameter of the shafts were tested using a sonic caliper to make sure the shafts were installed within the specified tolerance. The initial design had to be revised when a record flood from Hurricane Harvey impacted the site during construction. Introduction The Fort Bend Grand Parkway Toll Road Authority (Owner) needed to protect the north bridge abutment with a retaining wall system due to rapidly eroding conditions of the Brazos River banks within the 300- feet-right-of-way of the State Highway 99 Jodie Stavinoha Bridge. The extent of the local scour and erosion along the north bank of the Brazos River has caused concern for the structural integrity of the bridge. The magnitude of the erosion along the north bank at the location of the bridge has been measured at about 120 feet over three recent hydrologic flood events locally referred to as Memorial Day 2015, Memorial Day 2016, and Tax Day 2016. During construction, a new record flood level occurred due to Hurricane Harvey in August of 2017 that resulted in a portion of the retaining wall needing to be redesigned due to even more erosion occurring. The Brazos River is an actively eroding and meandering alluvial river plain that naturally meanders and migrates over time. The processes of bank erosion and meander migration were ongoing before the bridge was constructed and will continue in the future. These recurring major flood events, however, rapidly increased the rate of erosion in just a few years. Background. Due to the need to protect the bridge as soon as possible, the Owner selected a project team consisting of the designer, general contractor and specialty deep foundation contractor prior to final design to work together in developing a cost-effective design that could be implemented rapidly. The project team initially considered both a secant pile and tangent pile retaining wall system using drilled shafts. After reviewing various alternative designs, a tangent pile wall with seal piles was selected based on both cost effectiveness and speed of installation. The tangent pile with seal pile option was approximately 20 percent lower in cost and 50 percent faster to install.

Jan 1, 2018

By Lisa M. Splitter

Drilled displacement piles were constructed as the foundation for a proposed 10-story building in San Francisco, California. At the study location, the stratigraphy consists of 14 to 21 feet of fill and 13 to 23 feet of weak, compressible clay (?Bay Mud?), underlain by dense sand, stiff clay, and bedrock. A sensitive critical public utility is located within approximately 20 feet of the constructed piles along one side of the building. The utility pipeline is entirely within the Bay Mud where it is adjacent to the project site. The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) developed limits on the allowable total and differential movement of the utility pipeline. As requested by the SFPUC, inclinometers and piezometers were installed to monitor the soil movement and pore pressure increases in the Bay Mud caused by the installation of drilled displacement piles. Action levels were set such that if displacement and/or pore pressures reached an action level, the installation methodology would be reevaluated and additional measures to reduce these effects would be implemented. This paper will present the sequence of pile installation near the pipeline and monitoring points, and the data collected from inclinometers and piezometers at variable depths and distances from the piles. The data will highlight the build-up and dissipation of pore pressures over time and the displacement of Bay Mud caused by the pile installation. The conclusions of the study are useful in determining sequencing, spacing, predrilling, and other measures that can be implemented to decrease the displacement potential and pore pressure build-up in soft clays.

Jan 1, 2009

By D. Kolymbas

A simple formula is introduced which allows the evaluation of dynamic pile tests. The following case is considered: The pile top is dynamically loaded by an impact. The velocity v of the pile top is recorded over the time. Let v1 and v2 be the first and the second maximum of this curve. Then, the pile bearing capacity (resulting from ideally plastic resistance at the pile wall and at the tip) can be set approximately equal to Z(v1- ½ v2), where Z is the impedance of the pile cross section. Due to the assumption of ideal plastic resistances, radiation damping needs not be taken into account. Material damping may be important in rate sensitive soils (such as clay, even if it is highly overconsolidated). A simple correction procedure for material damping is proposed.

Jan 1, 1989

By Ray Schmahl

The Glenwood Canyon is a 13 mile long river gorge formed by the Colorado River approximately 2 miles East of Glenwood Springs, Colorado and approximately 150 miles West of Denver Colorado, (See Drawing #1). The canyon walls rise some 800 feet from the river elevation on either side of the river. The South-side river bank is occupied by the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad. The Northside is currently occupied by completed sections of Interstate 70 and US Highway 6. The railroad was built in the late 1800's and a hydroelectric power generating station was built in about the center of the canyon in the early 1900's. The Highway 6 platform was completed in the 1930's. The design and alignment for Interstate 70 thru Glenwood Canyon began in the early 1970's. The Highway thru Glenwood Canyon was designated a scenic Highway by the United States Congress, thereby allowing certain deviations from standard Interstate requirements. Environmentalists objections to the construction of Interstate Highways thru Glenwood Canyon resulted in especially careful design to avoid adverse environmental impacts. As a result, in many areas the new Highways will have restored the canyon to its more native configuration than what was the case in the building of the US 6 Highway platform.

Jan 1, 1990

By S. X. Liang

In China, the bearing capacity predictions of the pile with Stress-Wave Theory have been developed rapidly in recent years. This paper recommended a DZH-3 Pile Driving Analyzer and its relevant computer programs. Taking Qinghai Hotel Project for example, it gave their applications in the dynamic tests of large diameter cast-in-place piles.

Jan 1, 2010

By Hal W. Hunt

Heavier loading and more efficient equipment is helping to keep driven piles competitive in America. Better Knowledge and testing of soils and support materials make it practical to use higher stresses; this is being strongly promoted by those directly concerned with timber, steel and concrete piles. Readily available point protection is increasingly used to assure penetration of piles without damage to full load bearing capability. Fabric drains are being installed with pile equipment to speed consolidation of soils. Sheet pile configuration has changed; production has been reduced largely because of imports. Dynamic checking of representative piles for load carrying capability is replacing conventional load testing of just a pile or two ? at much lower cost.

Jan 1, 1987

By Charles Pol Vuillier

Piling work for modification to the Charles Grimes Bridge in Melbourne, Australia required piles to be installed through 15 to 20 m thickness of very soft to soft silty clay overlying 10 m of stiff clays and sands in turn overlying siltstone. The presence of an old sewer founded at depth in the soft clays demanded that vibrations be kept to a minimum. Two pile type were used by Vibro-pile (Australia) to provide the client with the most economical piling price. The two pile types were CFA piles of 750mm diameter founded in the weathered rock and a full displacement concrete injected screw pile developed by Vibro-pile called the "Z" pile, founded on the rock. The development and features of the "Z" pile are briefly discussed, including the perceived applications and advantages of the pile type. On board instrumentation comprising a computer was used to monitor all aspects of the construction. The rig instrumentation provided an important quality control measure that gave confidence in the pile installed. Pile performance was proved on the cast in situ piles by dynamic load testing methods. Initially tests performed with a 120 kN drop hammer, which was not capable of mobilising the required loads. The performance was then satisfactorily proved by using a drop hammer of 20 tonne mass delivering blows drop heights of 1.5m. Low strain integrity tests on a number of piles were also used to confirm the structural integrity of the piles.

Jan 1, 2000

By Almer E. C. van der Stoel

"Abstract This paper deals with assessing the bearing capacity of existing wood pile foundations. With a wide range of restoration projects being performed in the Netherlands, on many locations deep excavations need to be constructed next to existing, many times listed buildings. The building are founded on piles that are often centuries old, so a close evaluation of the remaining bearing capacity, combined with and assessment of the influence of the excavation is in place.After giving an introduction on Dutch pile foundations, a methodology is described to assess the bearing capacity. Aspects as physical foundation investigation, determination of the current bearing capacity and a calculation of the bearing capacity in the new situation are discussed. The results of both analytical and Plaxis calculations are outlined, focussing on how to practically use this approach in renovation projects. Finally, cases studies of the successful application of this approach in major renovation projects in Amsterdam, such as the Conservatorium Hotel and the New Rijksmuseum are used to illustrate the successful application of this approach.A Short Dutch Pile Foundation History (based on Van der Stoel, 2001)The first houses built in Amsterdam, in the 12th century, were very light constructions of timber without foundations. Because of the soft peat layers found in Amsterdam, the houses there suffered from damage due to settlement. In the 13th century, castles and churches were increasingly built of bricks, which made it necessary to provide support for bigger loads. Under the wall of the construction a trench was dug, and this was filled on either side by alder fascines. Between the fascines small wood piles were driven (by hand) on which another series of fascines was put. On top of this construction, were placed oak slabs on which the bricks were then laid. From that moment on, a problem was caused by the decay of wood foundation elements in the humid soil. In 1503 a law was introduced forbidding building foundations on public streets without permission of the Building Inspection (to keep the fronts of the buildings in a straight line). In 1528 a law requiring permission from the local authorities for all building activities replaced this law. In this period developments started which led to the use of the type of foundation that can be considered the mother of the current “typical” Dutch pile foundation. The piles used in this period were shaft- bearing piles about 5 to 7 meters long. The mostly pine piles were driven between oak beams, which were placed on either sides of a trench, after which other oak beams were laid across at regular spaces: the so called “pile bent” pile foundation (Figure 1)."

Jan 1, 2014

By Jiwei Duan

The deformation and load transfer behavior of a single soil-cement column are studied with the finite element method. The results show that there is an effective length for a soil-cement column. Beyond this length, the settlement of the column is approximately equal to a constant. The effective pile length is introduced to the concentric cylinder approach (Randolph and Wroth 1978), and an analytical formula for estimating the settlement of a single flexible pile is presented. A second analytical formula for determining the effective pile length of a soil-cement column is obtained and an example shows that the calculated and measured results are in quite good agreement.

Jan 1, 2002