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By Bernard H. Hertlein

Transportation system structures have come under very close scrutiny in the last couple of years, largely due to the damaging effects of disasters, both natural and man-made. In the Pacific northwest and California, earthquake risk is a major concern. In the central and eastern states barge impacts on bridge piers and docks are a big worry. In all cases of bridges over water and waterside structures, scour is a primary concern. Some of the results of this scrutiny have been changes in design and construction methods, and the introduction of more testing to supplement field inspection during construction, and throughout the service life of the structure. Future construction of bridges and docks will almost certainly see a continuing growth in these practices. Where foundations are concerned, particularly for bridges and waterside structures, many state and local authorities have started specifying drilled shafts rather than driven piles. Where the shafts must be constructed under water or slurry, visual inspection of most of the work is impossible, and one of several different Nondestructive Tests (NDT) is often specified. Contractors' experiences with these methods have varied considerably, and there is a great deal of controversy in the deep foundation industry over the reliability of NDT methods for assessing the integrity of foundation shafts or piles. The author has had more than 15 years of practice with the various NDT methods for deep foundations, on projects all over the US, particularly foundations for bridges and dock structures, and has developed an understanding of the "NDT controversy" as it has become known. In particular, experiences in the Pacific Northwest, California, and Alabama have illustrated the reasons for the controversy. This paper reviews these experiences, and suggests some steps that owners and contractors can take to reduce the risk of inconclusive or downright inaccurate test results.

Jan 1, 1998

By Christopher M. Kenney

Augered-cast-in-place (ACIP) piles have been utilized on commercial projects throughout many parts of the country for years, but are only beginning to be scrutinized for use on major infrastructure projects and other critical structures in some regions. Numerous engineers are aware that ACIP piles are an economical foundation alternative, and many technical papers have been presented that provide reliable methods of estimating ACIP pile load capacity. However, designers may not yet appreciate that the load-settlement behavior of ACIP piles is very similar to that of drilled shafts. This paper analyzes ACIP pile case histories from throughout the country and demonstrates that ACIP pile settlement under applied load is consistent, predictable, and very similar to the documented behavior of drilled shafts. This paper also presents a simple but accurate method of estimating ACIP pile settlement at the design load, and illustrates the need to estimate the equivalent diameter of the as-built ACIP pile when estimating pile behavior. Finally, this paper presents back-calculated values of the drained elastic modulus from the ACIP pile case histories that may be useful to those using more sophisticated methods of estimating ACIP pile settlement.

Jan 1, 2001

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 Aditya Ayithi, William G. Ryan, Dean Herbst

"For rock socketed drilled shafts, it is a common practice not to include the frictional resistance of overburden soils into the nominal capacity estimation. The primary reason often being cited is “overburden soils resistance is negligible compared to that of rock socket resistance.” However, in certain geological conditions, where the rock layer is located at greater depths, friction resistance from overburden layers can be significant. In addition, at such great depths, shaft drilling becomes very complicated and expensive. In these situations, considering the resistance of the overburden layers can be an economic alternative.This paper presents a case study of an Osterberg cell (O-cell) load test conducted on a 161.8 feet long and 78-inch diameter instrumented test shaft. Based on initial designs, a 72-inch diameter rock socket of lengths 23 and 26 feet was required to provide a LRFD factored friction resistance of 3,200 kips. The load test results revealed that the material in the 72-inch diameter socket does not represent a true rock. However, the test results also proved that the factored friction resistance of overburden layers is greater than the required design resistance. Based on the load test results, it was decided to allow the overburden soils frictional resistance to be considered in the shaft design, resulting in significant economic savings.INTRODUCTIONRock socketed drill shaft design guidelines of various State Department of Transportation (DOTs) agencies allow friction and/or end bearing resistance of only the rock socket portion into the design capacity estimation. It is typical to neglect the frictional resistance of overburden soils. However, in certain geological conditions where the rock layer is at greater depths, friction resistance of the overburden soils can be significant. In this case the friction resistance of overburden soils was verified via the specified instrumented O-cell test program and then used as part of the design capacity.PROJECT DESCRIPTIONAs part of I-29 improvement project, Iowa Department of Transportation (Iowa DOT) planned to replace the dual four lane bridges that cross the Floyd River in Sioux City, Iowa with dual six lane bridges (Fig. 1). Expected benefits from this improvement include improved safety, traffic operations and roadway infrastructure conditions.BRIDGE SUBSTRUCTUREThe project consists of two individual bridges; a new south bound bridge and a new north bound bridge. The south bound bridge is 646-ft long and the north bound bridge is 644-ft long. Both are six-span, pretensioned and pre-stressed concrete beam bridges of varying width. Bridge foundations were designed such that the abutments of both bridges will be supported on driven steel piles and the bridge piers will be on drilled shaft foundations."

Jan 1, 2016

By Esam Abraham

A 13.6 mile portion of the 500 kV Tehachapi Renewable Transmission Project crosses the mountains of the Angeles National Forest. Access and environmental constraints precluded road development for most transmission tower foundations, tower erection and conductor stringing operations. Because of the access constraints, helicopter-supported micropile foundation construction was used for this steep and environmentally sensitive portion of the project. The general methodologies incorporated on the project represent innovative implementations of micropile design criteria, preconstruction micropile installation and verification testing, on-site geotechnical characterization, micropile and pile cap installation, and proof load testing. Challenges in constructing the 224 foundations for 56 transmission towers provide lessons learned related to transmission lattice steel tower specific design constraints, construction challenges (environmental and geotechnical), and construction schedule.

Jan 1, 2010

By Neil T. Russo, Peter M. Kandaris, Jogi S. Gadok

"Assessment of subsurface data for foundation design in support of long high voltage electric transmission lines is best accomplished using a probabilistic strategy since only a small portion of structure locations are typically sampled. Probabilistic approaches provide a tool to evaluate site uncertainty in a systematic and rational manner. This paper provides a case history of a risk-based design approach for a recently completed 191-mile long 69/161/345kV steel monopole transmission line traversing Central Iowa. The project owner made available limited subsurface information at project initiation, requiring the design team to obtain additional data within a constrained budget for 1067 large diameter, laterally-loaded deep drilled shaft reinforced concrete piers. The team commissioned a geologic desktop study to reduce uncertainty in subsurface evaluations and aid in selecting additional sample sites. In total, investigation programs tested approximately 15 percent of structure sites. The paper details the probabilistic approach used to estimate foundation geotechnical design parameters, with information from the various studies categorizing strata both laterally and with depth. Low-bound parameters were estimated via a statistical approach at a predetermined reliability level. Significant savings resulted from this approach when compared to conservative deterministic processes. Project QA/QC logged subsurface soil conditions during foundation excavation, then compared as-found conditions to the conditions assumed for design. The team redesigned foundations if either a non-conservative variance in soil conditions was observed or if bedrock elevation differed significantly from design assumptions. As a result, only 22 out of 1067 foundations required modification during construction (2% variance from initial design) with negligible impact on the construction budget and schedule.INTRODUCTIONFoundation design for long high voltage transmission lines presents a unique challenge in that the assessment of subsurface conditions typically requires substantial data that may or may not be obtainable. Investigations are usually performed well in advance of construction, often with limited access to structure sites and typically in remote areas. Probability and risk-based investigation and design strategies offer an opportunity to systematically estimate subsurface profiles and geotechnical design properties with limited data. Risk can be further reduced with dedicated field inspection of foundation construction along with good field and design team communication during construction. This paper presents a case history of probabilistic methods used for the investigation and design of electric transmission line foundations."

Jan 1, 2017

By Charbel Khoury, Kwabena Ofori-Awuah, Kofi B. Acheampong

"Following heavy rains in spring of 2014, Prince George’s County officials issued a mandatory evacuation for homes in the Piscataway Hills subdivision of Fort Washington, Maryland where a landslide along a 1700-foot hillside destabilized homes, collapsed the single access road, and resulted in water and sewer mains break. Forensic investigations, including geologic assessments, test borings and in-situ Cone Penetrometer and Dilatometer soundings, were performed to evaluate subsurface conditions and provide stabilization options for the roadway and slopes. Post-failure ground movements were monitored using inclinometers. Critical failure planes were identified within the underlying 30-foot thick Marlboro Clay formation, a known geologic hazard with historic occurrences of landslides and slope failures.This paper discusses the remedial design for stabilizing the landslide and 60-foot hillside slope failure, and protecting the roadway. Amongst several feasible options, driven piles were selected in consultation with the County and retained contractor based on cost, environmental impacts and site constraints. Constraints included private ownership of hillside slope, upslope buildings safety; deep-seated failure, relocation of underground water and sewer mains, and accelerated construction schedule.Pile design included global slope stability analyses and lateral pile analyses using several loading configurations to optimize pile geometry and spacing, and determine a value-engineered design satisfying both serviceability and strength limit states to achieve long-term stability with factor of safety of 1.3. Soils within the active landslide plane were assumed to provide no resistance, while soils below the failure plane provided lateral resistance. This stabilization scheme, which extended along the 1700-foot roadway section and toe of hillside slope area, consisted of 410 steel HP16x141 piles in two to three rows driven to depths between 60 and 70 feet below the Marlboro Clay stratum at 5 to 7-foot spacing."

Jan 1, 2017

By Martin C. Jones

This paper outlines the development of small diameter grouted piling, to deal with foundation problems in difficult soils conditions and in very restricted access areas. A number of applications are outlined to show the way in which these piles have been used over the last sixteen years in Canada. PICKERING GENERATING STATION - ONTARIO HYDRO UNDERPINNING OF SCREENHOUSE - TRASH DISPOSAL AREAS Between 12th July and 29th September 1971, 40 small diameter grouted piles were installed in the screenhouse at Pickering Generating Station. Access was extremely restricted as the screenhouse had been completed and the majority of mechanical equipment had been installed. The two ends of the screenhouse had been built on granular fill which overlies till and shale bedrock and settlements had been observed which it was decided had to be halted even though the rate of subsidence had decreased. Two diamond drills were employed to install 8 inch

Jan 1, 1987

By Osamu Taki

The innovative Soil-Cement Mixed Wall Technique emerged in Japan and obtained recognition in the engineering and construction communities in the 1980's. This technique was introduced to the United States in 1986. It was accepted as the most credible construction technique by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation for ground stabilization and cutoff wall work in the Jackson Lake Dam Project, Wyoming in 1987 and 1988. It was also accepted as a remediation technique by U.S. EPA for a Superfund Innovative Technology Evaluation (SITE) demonstration on in-situ solidification/ stabilization. The Soil-Cement Mixed Wall Technique consists of mixing in-place soils with cement grout or other reagent slurries using multiple axis augers and mixing paddles to construct overlapped soil-cement columns. The overlapped column panel is then extended to form an underground continuous soil-cement wall for use as a cutoff wall or a structural diaphragm wall for groundwater control and excavation support. By arranging the column panels in various configurations, the technique becomes a versatile tool for stabilization of soft or liquefiable soils.

Jan 1, 1990

By Michael Hughes, Selva Selvamohan, Ray Costa

"Cutoff walls are commonly used to mitigate underseepage problems for levee remediation projects. At abrupt changes in seepage cutoff wall depths there is a potential for water to flow around the back of the deeper cutoff wall leading to elevated seepage pressures on the landside that could result in exit gradients exceeding design criteria. This condition is referred to as end-around-effects and is a complex problem that requires detailed and time consuming 3-D numerical modeling to represent accurately. This paper presents a simple approach for assessing end-around-effects using the results of 2- D seepage analysis to determine if lateral extension of the deeper portion of the cutoff wall is required. This simplified approach provides a pragmatic solution to a complex 3-D problem. The presented procedure was used as part of the Feather River West Levee Project in Yuba City, California, to assess end-around-effects at 26 locations. The results showed that wall extensions of up to 100 feet were needed at only 2 locations.INTRODUCTIONAs the lead geotechnical consultant for the Feather River West Levee Project, AECOM were responsible for designing levee remediation works for approximately 35 miles of levee protecting the area around Yuba City, California, and communities to the north and south. Due to land use constraints, seepage cutoff walls were the main remediation alternative selected to address underseepage issues for the project.As part of the design review process, the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) requested AECOM to look at 26 locations along the levee alignment where the depth of cutoff wall changed abruptly from shallow to deep, or vice versa. At these locations there was the potential for seepage pressures to pass behind the deeper section of cutoff wall and stress the blanket layer landward of the cutoff wall. A condition referred to as end-around-effects.End-around-effects involve complex 3-D ground conditions that have traditionally been addressed by laterally extending the deeper section of cutoff wall an arbitrary distance based solely on engineering judgment. In discussions with DWR, AECOM developed a simple procedure to provide a more objective assessment of end-around-effects without the need for detailed and time consuming analysis. This procedure allows the engineer to make an informed decision of whether end-around-effects are a problem at the location of a cutoff wall transition rather than laterally extending the deeper section of cutoff wall an arbitrary distance based on engineering judgment alone."

Jan 1, 2015

By Osamu Taki

The development of new auger bits for soil cement column drilling equipment has made it possible to create a homogeneous mixture of soil and cement-reagent slurry. As a result, soil-cement columns are used for foundations of houses and buildings, with reliable results, as demonstrated by many field projects and laboratory tests. This paper presents and discusses construction techniques for soil-cement columns, characteristics of the soil-cement solid, quality control, bearing test results, and soil-cement foundation design procedures.

Jan 1, 1992

By Matt Fenwick, Douglas R. Schwarm

Stringent underwater noise limits at the Fairview Ave. N. bridge replacement on Seattle's Lake Union required an innovative approach to supporting the 470-ft long drill trestle. Screw-in foundations would reliably mitigate noise, but the required 500-kip bearing resistance were an order of magnitude higher than typical helical piles. This paper describes the process of designing, installing, monitoring, and testing 22-inch dia. helical piles 80 feet long with 36- and 42-inch dia. helices. A static load test confirmed that the conventional k-factor design method can be extended to capacities of up to 800 kips. A 375 ft-kip drive mechanism had to be fabricated because no North American equipment could supply the necessary installation torque. Real time installation monitoring and later "re-torque" tests confirm that helical piles gain capacity with time, analogous to driven piles under restrike. Underwater and on-land measurements confirmed very low noise, suggesting the possibility of widespread adoption where similar limits are imposed. Overall, this case history illuminates the need for innovative deep foundation types in response to ever-increasing regulatory constraints.

Sep 8, 2021

By Roger A. Bullivant

As the UK's foremost domestic foundation underpinning contractor over the last 25 years it has become abundantly clear that the size of the repair market, some £500m per annum is a significant waste of resource and cost. To experience this scale of foundation failure in mainly new construction less than 20 years old is unacceptable. This is being further endorsed by our contracting experience in the USA over the last 10 years. Our foundation repair systems are mainly based upon the use of driven mini piles and it was considered appropriate that this type of pile should be upgraded and used on new build construction where the ground was marginal or bad.

Jan 1, 1995

By Sastry Putcha, Santosh Mummaneni, Swamy Avasarala, Vamshi Vemula

"This paper presents the results from a case study on the comparison of two strain acquisition instrumentation technologies, Geokon rebar strainmeters and Embedded Data Collectors (EDC) for the DC Water Main Pump Station project, in Washington D.C. These two instrumentation systems were installed by AVER in a single 18-inch (0.45 m) diameter augercast pile (with one-1.25 inch (3.175 cm) dywidag bar) at critical locations to determine the load transfer mechanism and establish a comparison between strain/load measured with these two systems along the pile. A quick static load test was performed on the test pile as per ASTM D1143 standard.Prior to the installation of the pile, a 24-inch (0.6 m) diameter outer casing was installed to the proposed cutoff elevation of -22.5 feet (-6.85 m) to discount the frictional resitance within the upper overburden zone. The pile was then drilled through the outer casing to the tip elevation of -65.02 feet (-19.8 m) with inner casing within the overburden zone. Strainmeters along with EDC were installed on dywidag bar at various locations and then wet set into the concrete following auger retrieval. The loads measured with EDC and Geokon sensors were within 15% percent of each other.PROJECT BACKGROUNDProject Background & Requirements:Like any other foundation piles, augercast piles are extensively used in the public and private sector structures in the United States for many years. It is a common practice to perform static compression (ASTM D1143), tension (ASTM D3689), and lateral load tests (ASTM D3966) depending on the project requirements. In recent years, embedded strain sensors, manufactured by Smart Structures, USA has gained prominence for its use to collect both static and dynamic measurements for driven piles. In addition, AVER has successfully used EDC for collecting long term static measurements for an abutment drilled shafts for I-95 Hotlanes project in Virginia, USA.Geokon sisterbar strain gages are widely used in the foundation industry to monitor the load transfer mechanism within pile foundations throughout the world. As the Geokon strainmeters are vibrating wire and are welded to a sister bar, there is often a debate within the engineering community with regards to what modulus to use when converting measured strains to loads. EDC sensors, unlike Geokon strain gages are embedded directly into the concrete and therefore do not have the same concern."

Jan 1, 1900

By Vijayakumar Viramuthu, Martin Heinrich

Tower of Lot L, L1 & M, Kuala Lumpur City Centre when completed would stand 700 m tall. This Mega tall Skyscraper would merely be less than 500 m away from the world tallest Twin Tower, the Petronas Twin Tower. From June 2018 to February 2020 BAUER (MALAYSIA) SDN. BHD. constructed 225 nos bored piles with diameters of 2.0 m and 2.5 m for this tower. To comply with the depth requirement of the initial design and the need to have the pile toe 2.0 m above competent bedrock, the drilling equipment was required to be able to achieve a maximum drilling depth of 150 m. Actual piles constructed on site were deeper than 120 m. These dimensions caused superlative challenges which included but were not limited to controlling the open borehole stability over time with polymer, installing 70 t heavy steel cages and pouring up to 550 m³ concrete continuously in conjunction with installation of 88 t heavy kingposts into workable fresh concrete. The piling works were executed with one BAUER BG 48 and one BG 72, the biggest drilling rig globally available.

May 1, 2022

By Wolfgang G. Brunner

The closing of the gap in the European waterway- net is one of the big and challenging traffic projects following the German reunification. The water canals in the North German plain connect the Rhine river, the border between Germany and France, with the Oder, the German border river to Poland. As early as in the 30's of the 19th century the planning and construction of a ship- lift and a canal bridge started, in order to close this last big gap in the system between the Mittelland Canal and the Elbe- Havel Canal near Magdeburg. This main waterway connects the West of Germany, known for its coal mines and steel mills, with the capital Berlin, and from there it goes on into Poland. The building activities started in 1934 but came to a complete stop in 1942 because of the war. The communist government in East Germany was not interested in continuing this huge project, including the ship lock Rothensee, the canal bridge crossing the river Elbe, the former border river between West and East Germany, and the lock Hohenwarthe due to lack of political backing along with low construction capacity.

Jan 1, 2000

By Andres M. Baquerizo, Jeremiah J. Filjones, Nicholas Feldt

The Estates at Acqualina located in Sunny Isles Beach, FL, is comprised of two, ocean-front, 50-story, luxury towers with podiums and villas. With city regulations now requesting that above-grade floors be limited to commercial or residential units, parking facilities for the tower structures were situated within two levels of underground basement parking. However, ensuring dry excavation through south Florida’s highly pervious limestone, immediately adjacent to the beach where the groundwater table is very shallow, can be extremely challenging and costly for developers. In recent years, significant advances have been made to overcome this challenge with the innovative use of deep soil mixing to create a “dry hole”, assisting in the construction of foundations and underground usable space for parking, storage, etc. The “dry hole” system includes a soil mix bottom seal, with soil mix secant pile walls in combination with auger cast deep foundation elements to support the future structure. This approach enables groundwater control to greater depths than can be achieved by conventional sheetpiling and dewatering. For the Estates at Acqualina, a successful turnkey, design-build joint venture between two foundation and geotechnical contractors resulted in a dry excavation to 34 ft (10.4 m) below grade and to a record- breaking auger cast pile depth of 182.3ft (55.6 m), all within an aggressive 26-week schedule to deliver the “dry hole” excavation for the first tower. This presentation will discuss the logistics, quality control, design, and safety for the different techniques involved. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND The Estates of Acqualina is a pair of 50-story luxury towers located on Sunny Isles Beach in Florida with a two-level underground basement for parking. The project’s location just steps away from the Atlantic Ocean, geology, and high-water table created a challenging project. The owner, Trump Group, contracted the joint venture of HJ Foundation and Hayward Baker (HJ/HB) to design-assist-build a system to control the groundwater, allowing the 2-story underground parking structure to be constructed. In order to accomplish this task, the JV utilized an installation technique known as deep soil mixing. This technique mixes the in situ material with a cement slurry to create a very impermeable material called “soilcrete”.

Jan 1, 2019

By Riad Diab

In 2018 the Caisse de Dépôt et Placement du Québec (CDPQ) awarded a $6.3 billion (U.S. dollars) design-build contract to the Joint Venture (JV) team NouvLR for the design and construction of one of the largest automated transportation systems in the world, called the Réseau express métropolitain (REM). The REM project is a 67 km (41.6 mi) light rail system with 26 stations linking downtown, the airport and the greater Montreal area in Canada. Out of the 67 km (41.6 mi) network, over 25 km (15.5 mi) is being constructed on a 650- span elevated structure founded on single drilled shafts socketed into rock. Optimizing the design of the drilled shafts was one of the main objectives of the geotechnical team, as it would likely result in shorter shafts that help significantly reduce the project costs. As part of the optimization process, three static axial load tests and two fully instrumented lateral load tests were performed, during the preliminary design phase, on sacrificial shafts to simulate the ultimate load level and validate construction procedures.

May 1, 2022

By L. D. Johnson

12 groups of 12 precast prestressed (PCPS) piles were driven in the lagoon of Kwajalein Island to support a dry dock. Pre-construction investigation of the calcareous coral sands and static pile loeid tests were performed to determine if the 7.9 by 7.9 cm (20 by 20 inches) by 26 m (85 ft) long PCPS piles embedded to a depth of 16 m (53 ft) would adequately support the dry dock. Driving records for production piles indicated that the blowcounts of the piles at the fincil embedment depth became substantially less than expected as piles wssre driven further toward the lagoon end of the dry dock and decreased to as low as 2 blows/ft. A supplemental investigation that included a static load test on a production pile, the driving of an indicator pile, and restrikes indicated that the pile foundation has adequate bearing capacity. The observed bearing capacity appears to be effected by several mechanisms including breakdown of cementation between sand particles, densification of the sands during driving, and dissipation of excess pore pressures and recementation after driving.

Jan 1, 1993

By Jesús E. Gómez

Verification and production testing of soil nails requires debonding the upper section of the soil nail to isolate the portion of the soil nail intended for testing within a specific ground type. In pre-drilled soil nails, debonding can be accomplished relatively easily because the bar can be fitted with a debonding sheath before its installation. However, debonding of hollow core bar soil nails requires special procedures to achieve the intended result. This paper is a summary of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Hollow Bar Soil Nail (HBSN) Test Program, which is described in detail in FHWA-CFL/TD-10-001. The program was developed to establish a suitable debonding procedure to test hollow core bars in soil nailing applications, and to initiate a database on typical bond values of HBSNs. The investigation showed that it is possible to debond hollow core bars for testing. It was also found that hollow core bars installed in granular soils may present ultimate bond values that are significantly higher than those typically used for design of conventional pre-drilled soil nails.

Jan 1, 2011