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By Gunhild Hennum, Tewodros Tefera, Gisle Håland, Annette Jahr

"Abstract The Gudrun field is located west of Stavanger in the North Sea at water depth of 109 m. A jacket substructure was selected to support the topside and was installed in 2011. The jacket shall be able to support 16 of 0.762 m (30 in) diameter conductors and is equipped with a drilling deck to allow for pre-drilling by a jack-up rig through the jacket. In general the soil conditions below mudline comprise of a thin top layer of very loose to dense sand overlaying several layers of sandy clay, ranging in stiffness from firm to hard. Below some 30 m depth the soil consists of layers of medium dense to dense silty sand overlaying very hard sandy clay containing thick beds of sand to 100 m depth or more below mudline. The jacket is secured to the seabed by twelve 2.438 m (96 in) diameter steel pipe piles, three at each pile cluster located at the four legs of the jacket at sea floor. Different design methods were used to determine the pile penetration depth. Pile drivability was evaluated using best estimate and upper bound soil parameters. The pile driving and blow count record show that the target penetration was reached as predicted. This paper discusses the different methods used to determine the pile capacity, target penetration depth and the drivability analyses made for the Gudrun jacket piles. The soil resistance during pile driving is back-calculated from the pile installation data and compared with the prediction made.IntroductionThe Gudrun platform is located west of Stavanger in the North Sea at water depth of 109 m. A jacket substructure was selected for the Gudrun platform. The general Gudrun platform jacket configuration is to a large extent dictated by the topside layout, the requirements for support points enclosing the well slots and access for the jack-up rig. The Gudrun platform jacket is a traditional 4 legged structure with a vertical side towards the jack-up rig. At the seabed the jacket is quadratic with a base dimension of 40 by 40 metres. Figure 1 shows the Gudrun jacket during load-out from the fabrication yard to the transport barge. At the site the jacket was lifted off the barge, upended and placed on the seabed by the installation vessel. The jacket is secured to the seabed by twelve 96"" (2.438 m) diameter steel pipe piles, three at each pile cluster located at the four legs of the jacket at sea floor. The target penetration of the piles is 47 m."

Jan 1, 2014

By Juan J. Campo

The Freeport-McMoRan Main Pass Mine development in the Gulf of Mexico is a complex designed to extract up to 67 million long tons of sulphur over a 40 year period. The initial development includes 15 platforms and 13 bridges located in water depths ranging from 208 to 214 feet, approximately 15 miles east of the Mississippi River Delta. Three additional platforms were designed and installed for the oil and gas development in the complex. Over 110, 000 short tons of steel were required to fabricate the structures. As the sulphur is extracted significant subsidence is predicted over a major portion of complex in the shape of a very large bowl. Vertical elevations are predicted to change as much as 65 feet. Horizontal movements and mudline slope changes cause adjacent platform decks to move as much as 30 feet relative to each other. Differential soil movement is predicted between piling of individual platforms causing the piling to spread, resulting in significant lateral loading on the piling. Relative vertical soil movements are predicted along the lengths of the piles which causes "up drag" or "down drag" forces on individual piles. This paper addresses the design of the piling for the structures in the complex. Design criteria will be discussed explaining how the more traditional offshore environmental and gravity loadings were combined with the unique loading caused by subsidence. Design and analysis procedures will be explained and analysis results presented. These results include the incorporation of 100 ksi steel in thicknesses up to 5 inches in some of the tubular piles. Comparisons will be made between conventional offshore structures and these structures designed to accommodate the subsidence.

Jan 1, 1992

By Peter Faust, Jeremy Zorne, Timothy Siegel, Diane Fiorelli

Professional sport venue construction follows a very simple rule. Once the decision has been made to move the team to a new place, construction shall begin immediately, so that not more than one or two seasons pass by stuck in the old home. Such tight construction schedules require a different approach than traditional design-bid-build contracts. Design is mostly done on the fly, the construction schedule becomes a main risk factor and an early contractor involvement is desired. As specialty contractors become more and more sophisticated, owners, their construction managers or the general contractor have realized the value of ideas and modern technology they can bring to the table for a successful and fast project completion. Local knowledge and experience in a variety of solutions play a key role in the specialty contractor’s ability to provide added value to the project. This is also true for the specialty foundation contractor, who needs to understand the complexity of such modern structures from its integrate foundation, over the delicate concrete structure to a potentially fancy movable stadium roof. Not to mention all the modern high tech equipment which shall make such a place a great customer experience. His expertise shall enable him to propose the most suitable foundation element for the given ground condition and application. Rather to build what others have designed, his strength is to propose alternate concepts which will be faster and (hopefully) more cost effective. This paper highlights different value engineering (VE) input a specialty foundation contractor had on 3 major sports arena projects in California. Together with the entire team from owner to GC, including the Geotechnical (GEOR) and the Structural Engineer of Record (SEOR), the most efficient and best performing foundation solution can be found every time. But such an approach also requires the open mind of the owner to entertain last minute changes when the permit drawing set has already been submitted for approval.

Jan 1, 2018

By R. Heath Forbes

The route of a new, 4-mile long, electrical transmission line passed through residential neighborhoods and commercial areas of a small town in the South Carolina Coastal Plain. The new line consisted of 54 new poles and a one-mile underground section. Most of the new poles were constructed within 50 ft of existing structures, and in some cases, within 8 ft to 20 ft. A widely-space subsurface exploration consisting of 20 cone penetration test soundings indicated the subsurface conditions along the alignment generally consisted of saturated, loose to medium dense, fine slightly silty to silty sand. The pole foundations consisted of 20 to 30 ft long, prefabricated ?caissons? (essentially an open-end pipe pile with a prefabricated connection system at the top) with diameters of 28 to 56 inches. The steel caissons were installed with vibratory pile hammers. To help prevent damage and defend against possible allegations from nearby property owners, vibration and settlement monitoring was performed during all foundation installation activities. Limited structural condition assessments were also performed before and after foundation installation. For 53 of the 54 foundations, the ground vibrations recorded at distances coincident with the nearest structure locations ranged from 0.05 inches per second to 1.46 inches per second. With consideration of the dominant frequency, the majority of these values were below the commonly used USBM vibration limits. For a foundation installation that was only 8 ft from the nearest structure, a peak particle velocity of 3.06 inches per second was recorded, which exceeded the USBM limits. For all cases, the measured ground surface settlement was negligible (i.e., less than ¾ inch). Several spurious claims alleging vibration-induced damage were made, but the monitoring program provided an adequate defense. One claim involving artwork that fell to the floor during foundation installation at a distance of 8 ft from the house was deemed legitimate.

Jan 1, 2011

By I. H. Wong

The large diameter caisson foundations and their construction methods for three 50 to 60 storey high buildings in Singapore are described. The caissons are 5 m to 8 m in diameter and 40 m to 100 m deep, excavated either by hand or mechanised excavators or by drilling and blasting. Performance of the 50 storey DBS Building is described.

Jan 1, 2010

By Ryan C. Linthicum

A system of steel sheeting and multiple levels of high capacity double corrosion protected soil anchors were used to restrain a major slope failure that occurred at the base of the Watchung Mountains mid-way through construction of a 650,000 SF retail center along Route 22 in Watchung, New Jersey. The implementation of a design-build earth retaining structure was necessary to stabilize and repair the disturbed mountainside in a timely fashion to permit completion of the retail center on a fast track schedule. The tied back steel sheetpile wall was approximately 2,000 feet long and varied in height from 12 to 25 feet. The hillside extended approximately 350 feet above and 600 feet beyond the wall with the main failure scarp extending 50 feet above and 90 feet beyond. The wall was constructed in a top-down manner and required the installation of 475 anchors to resist loads of up to 70 kips/ft produced by the creeping hillside and groundwater flows from both a series of springs and steady state seepage through an inclined zone of fine sand. Incorporation of a unique tie point connection eliminated the need for a waler, facilitating and simplifying modifications to anchor locations based on anchor load test results and conditions encountered during construction. Post grouting also proved to be an essential element in the successful construction. This paper presents the design and the construction methods used to restrain the significant earth lateral loads produced by a slope failure using steel sheeting tied back with high capacity soil anchors with anchor loads distributed to the sheeting through a unique tie point connection on a fast track schedule. Installation techniques, testing programs, and construction quality control are also discussed.

Jan 1, 2003

By Cory G. Rice

A significant portion of the piling industry has long felt relying on soil setup to gain the required capacity is a complexity that would rather not be dealt with. Instead, the pile are driven to the required capacity on the initial drive and the potential gain of capacity due to soil setup is simply considered an added bonus or safety factor. There appears to be an attitude that if one did not put in the energy required to develop the full capacity on the initial drive, then one should not expect to gain anything from Mother Nature for free. However, substantial savings in time and materials can be realized by properly accounting for setup. This paper will show the impacts and ramifications this rationale can have on required labor and material costs and illustrate a case history with significant soil setup and the savings realized on a project currently being constructed.

Jan 1, 1992

By Maurice Bottiau

It is a quite challenging objective to aim at covering in one paper the most recent evolution in piling and deep foundations technologies. This report has to be understood within the limits of the session 2b. It will therefore concentrate on the technological evolution of deep foundation techniques, addressing design issues only when directly related to execution aspects. For the same reason, it will not address the related codes, as a separate session of this conference is specifically dedicated to this topic. Monitoring and deep excavations being covered in other sessions, they will only be addressed when clearly relevant. We will try to show, from a practical viewpoint what are the main changes and the most exciting or critical issues over the last years, as they appear from the topics addressed in the literature or in the papers published in this session of the conference. As the paper mostly intends to explain trends and critical topics, it cannot be exhaustive, neither can it give the full description of the case studies. The author invites the reader to read the full papers, for a more complete description. We have divided our report in three main topics: Piling, soil improvement and treatment and retaining walls. Anchors and tie-backs will not be treated, neither tunneling.

Jan 1, 2006

By William J. Neely

Augercast piles are formed by drilling a continuous-flight auger into the ground and, on reaching the required depth, sand-cement grout or concrete is pumped down the hollow stem as the auger is withdrawn. The sides of the hole are supported at all times by the soil-filled auger, eliminating the need for temporary casing or bentonite slurry. The augercast piling method is fast and economical; there is no vibration, very little noise and, if executed properly, no ground displacements during installation. The method is well suited to sands which are easy to drill and are readily transported up the auger. Relatively little attention has been given to augercast piles in the literature which might be part of the reason for the considerable variations in local practice, building code requirements and design methods. The purpose of this paper is to discuss some of the features of augercast pile installation that are known to influence both the structural and geotechnical capacity of the pile, to evaluate several empirical design methods and to look at some important aspects of quality control of augercast pile installation.

Jan 1, 1990

By Sam Yao, Ali Naeem, Sara Barrett

Brooklyn Basin Project is a multi-billion-dollar development of the former Port of Oakland 9th Avenue Terminal located along the Oakland Estuary of California. A centerpiece of the development is the 10-acre shoreline park which will be built on a 1,200 ft long by 225 ft wide historic wharf. The wharf was built in the 1930’s on concrete and timber piles with a flat concrete slab. Prior to constructing the wharf, a rock dike was placed to protect the shoreline. The presence of the rock dike increased the hazards from lateral spreading of the underlying bay mud and non-ductile shear failure of piles driven through the dike. To open the park to the public, the wharf required a seismic retrofit in compliance with the California Building Code. The paper presents the results and conclusions of the following topics: • Structural condition assessment and repair strategies for the existing wharf deck, piles and jackets • Application of the California Building Code (CBC Ch31F) for the performance-based seismic evaluation of existing piers and wharves • Nonlinear pushover analysis of the wharf including the combination of inertial and kinematic effects • Impact of rock dike on lateral spreading and kinematic effects and the significance of existing piles in stabilizing the lateral spreading of the rock dike • Retrofit strategies for the wharf to meet the required seismic performance requirements per the California Building Code and reduce the demands on existing piles which were driven through the rock dike INTRODUCTION The 65-acre Brooklyn Basin Development project is located in Oakland, California. The project consists of 3,100 housing units, 200,000 sq. ft of retail and commercial space, along with various parks and public access improvements along the Oakland Estuary. A centerpiece of the development is the 10-acre Shoreline Park which will be built on a 1,200 ft long by 225 ft wide historic wharf. The wharf was built in the 1930’s on concrete and timber piles with a flat concrete slab. As shown in Figure 1, the wharf deck and piles support the 9th Avenue Terminal Building.

Jan 1, 2018

By Darrell L. Beddard

Pile driving started October 29, 1993 and was completed on January 27, 1994. Field work included driving piling from ground surface at one site and at or near proposed footing elevations for the remainder. Piles were driven to specified tip elevations or the elevations directed by the Project Manager. In an attempt to address what installation technique(s) performed the best, several methods were used, including varied predrilled depths, open ended piles, closed ended piles, and the use of both impact and vibratory hammers. Piles were driven closed ended where possible to study the feasibility of this option to reduce construction costs associated with pile cleanout. Piles were driven to different depths to measure capacity variations. The 24-inch (610 mm) diameter piling were driven in one piece while the 42-inch (1.07 m) diameter piling was driven in two segments. A total of 79 piles were driven for the four sites, 74 of the 24-inch (610 mm) diameter and 5 of the 42-inch (1.07 m) diameter. Various hammers were used to determine which hammers provided viable solutions to the potential problems anticipated in the design phase. Hammer selection was based on the driveability studies. Equipment included a 175 ton (1.56 MN) crane, support crane for pile stabilization, crane mounted auger drill, offshore leads, Delmag D30-32, D46-32, and D62-22 diesel hammers, an HPSI 2005 single acting hydraulic hammer, a Foster IHC S-90 double acting hydraulic hammer and a Kencho VM2-25000AII vibratory hammer with the weights set to produce 17,500 pound-inch (1.98 kN-m) of eccentric moment.

Jan 1, 1996

By Mike Muchard

STATNAMIC load testing augmented with embedded instrumentation has been successfully used to obtain structural and geotechnical design information on large diameter spun cast concrete cylinder piles on many large marine construction projects. The paper focuses on one particularly interesting large marine project involving a new bridge to St. George Island, Florida where instrumentation and STATNAMIC load testing was used in conjunction with static load testing on high capacity piles. The information presented includes embedded instrumentation measurements taken during pile fabrication (post-tensioning), during pile driving, during static load testing, and STATNAMIC load testing. As much of this data is the first of its kind on concrete cylinder piles, it is exciting to present the foundation industry with this additional insight as to the behavior of this pile type and the accuracy of the methods used to test them.

Jan 1, 2005

By Khamis Y. Haramy

Quality assurance and quality control of drilled shafts has become a concern due to difficulties in accurately locating construction anomalies and determining load bearing capacity of defected drilled shafts. Various non-destructive evaluation techniques have been developed to estimate the integrity of the concrete in drilled shafts. While these techniques have been widely accepted, variables and unknowns can affect the measurement results. Results are typically difficult to interpret, leading to unnecessary construction delays and possible litigation over shaft integrity. In addition, influences of surrounding ground materials, stress states under different load conditions, and crack and residual stress development during concrete curing further complicate determination of shaft performance. This paper focuses on the evaluation of load bearing capacity of defected drilled shafts under various conditions by numerical analysis and modeling.

Jan 1, 2007

By Patrick Bermingham

The advancement of hydraulic impact hammers has followed the general advancement of hydraulics. The construction industry has been revolutionized by the application of hydraulics in excavators, cranes and, of course, in the hydraulic vibratory driver/extractor, which has become a standard tool. The innate ability to move a large mass with a very small displaced volume has given hydraulic power the advantage over previous power mediums. Recent development of more specialized and complex seal configurations and compounds has greatly improved the reliability and permitted the use of higher pressures in hydraulic systems.

Jan 1, 1987

By Chris Harnan

This paper describes the geology of three European cities and outlines how the geology has lead to the development of specific foundation construction techniques. Comparative tables of techniques commonly employed are given in Section 5. It can be seen that despite the presence of the 'single market', techniques still have wide diversity despite some similarities in geotechnical conditions.

Jan 1, 2000

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 Mark A. Willian

The purpose of this short paper is to present soil profiles and basic soils information for the portion of the I-880 Replacement Project alignment where highway structures are to be built. The information presented here is derived primarily from foundation investigations conducted by the Caltrans Foundation Unit (currently the Structures Foundation Branch, Office of Structural Foundations) and by others under Caltrans direction. The foundation investigation for the I-880 Replacement Project began in May of 1991. The field work was completed in May of 1992 and consisted of 93 rotary sample borings, 11 consolidation sample borings, 6 TEXAM® pressure meter borings, six in-place vane shear borings and 57 electronic cone penetrometer soundings.

Jan 1, 1996

By Gordon King

The site of the First Quality Tissue plant is located on a previous paper production facility in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania. The new development, which included the construction of a tissue machine building, baled building, converting building, various storage buildings and an electrical switchgear building, required the use of deep foundation systems to transfer loads below compressible fill and alluvial soils. Loading details provided by Jacobs Engineering, the project structural engineer, detailed braced steel frame buildings with typical column loads ranging from 75 to 150 kips and slab live loads of 250 to 300 psf. As an exception to this, however, the tissue machine and stock preparation building, which had a roof height ranging up to 85 feet, had column loads ranging up to 800 kips in addition to high dynamic loads. The First Tissue plant is located in a river valley in the hills of Western Pennsylvania. To evaluate the proposed site conditions and to formulate recommendations for the structure foundations, a geotechnical study was performed by the owner. Approximately 30 borings were advanced to bedrock, with wire-line coring performed in the tissue machine building. The borings disclosed a soil profile comprising of the following:

Jan 1, 2004

By Mario Terceros H., Bengt H. Fellenius

"ABSTRACTFour strain-gage instrumented bored piles were constructed in a sedimentary, dense to very dense, fine to medium sand in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. Two of the test piles were the normally used bored pile constructed with bentonite slurry and two piles were Bauer Full Displacement Pile (FDP). One of each pair was equipped with the Expander Body, an inflatable steel cylinder that on pressure-grouting provides an enlarged pile toe. Head-down static loading test were performed on three of the piles and a bidirectional test was performed on the fourth pile, a standard pile with Expander Body and a bidirectional cell placed immediately above the EB. The latter pile was tested in 3 phases. First by activating the cell, second, by a head-down test, and, third, by a repeat bidirectional cell test. The static loading tests proved the shaft resistance of the FDP pile to be about twice that of the standard bored pile and that the Expander Body more than doubled the toe stiffness. The strain-gage records showed that the standard bored piles had multiple bulges and neckings, which affected the evaluation of the axial stiffness and load distribution of the piles. The testing programme was used for a prediction event with 60 persons, ahead of the tests, submitting predictions of the load-movement curves for the test piles and also a capacity appraised from the curves.1. INTRODUCTIONOn April 23 - 26, 2013, the First International Conference and Seminar on Deep Foundations was held in Santa Cruz, Bolivia under the auspices of INCOTEC SRL, the UAGRM University, and the Bolivian Association of Civil Engineers and Chamber of Construction. To coincide with the conference, a research study on construction and static and dynamic testing of four instrumented bored piles was undertaken. To ""add spice"" to the conference, a prediction event was organized on the test programme. This paper presents the soil conditions at the site, the type and construction of the test piles, the outcome of the prediction event, and the results of the static tests.2. SOIL CONDITIONSGeotechnical studies comprising SPT and CPT tests with routine laboratory analysis were performed on recovered soil samples. Three SPT boreholes were put down at three of the locations of Pile TP1, TP2, and TP3, at 5.0 m distance from each other. The SPT procedure consisted of manual hoisting of the weight by three crew members pulling on ropes over a pulley supported by a tripod and letting the weight fall by gravity. The groundwater table lies at 3.5 m depth.Figure 1 shows diagrams of the SPT N-indices and the distribution of water content in the three boreholes. The SPT-indices show the soil density to be compact. The average water content is about 15 %, plus-minus a few percent."

Jan 1, 2014

By Mark R. Svinkin

Construction-induced vibrations may be detrimental to adjacent structures and sensitive electronics operating nearby. Construction vibration sources have a wide range of energy and velocity, as a function of time, transmitted on the ground. Analysis of existing methods for predicting ground and structure vibrations shows that empirical equations provide calculations only of amplitudes of vertical soil vibrations with insufficient accuracy. This paper presents the application of the impulse response function concept to solve the geotechnical problem of predicting ground and structure vibrations before installation of vibration sources. Impulse response functions reflect real behavior of soil and structures without the investigation of soil and structure properties. A procedure is presented to compute predicted ground and structure vibrations. Good agreement is found between predicted and measured records.

Jan 1, 1999