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By S. Doombos

To convert the railway-bridge across the Oude Maas between Dordrecht and Zwijndrecht into a vertical lifting bridge, a drastic adaptation of the existing piers is necessary. Extra piles have to be placed quite close to the present piers to bear the extra weight of lift-towers and bridge-sections. This article describes the special technology applied to drive steel tubular piles l800 mm. in diameter and 36 m. in length vibration-free into position. At the same time a method of pile-point-reinforcement has been applied to minimize the settlements.

Jan 1, 1989

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Jan 1, 1994

By Hodjat] [Shiri

A 4-legged jacket structure was installed by an Offshore Installation Contractor (OIC) in the Persian Gulf. In addition to four open-end pipe piles, six conductors were installed by OIC. During the installation of the piles and conductors, some cemented layers were encountered, which had not been accounted for in the foundation design performed by an independent well known offshore geotechnical site investigation contractor (OGSIC). Six months later, the Drilling Company (DC) hired by Client to execute the wells, reported that all of the six conductors were presenting anomalies, such as vertical misalignments up to 10o and/or collapse of the conductors tip and mid height. The DC faced with serious problem in drilling of the wells and in spite of several times milling the conductors and spending 40 days unpredicted extra time, some of the routes could not be opened and Client lost millions of dollars due to direct and indirect associated costs and expenses. This paper presents a complete overview of all engineering, construction and specially geotechnical investigations and shows that how an inaccuracy in interpretations of the results of an offshore geotechnical site investigation as the main reason in this case study can cause serious damages to whole project with unbelievable time and cost impacts some times up to millions of dollars.

Jan 1, 2006

By J. M. Mitchell

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia is underlain by karstic limestone. Firm clays, mudstones and siltstoncs of the Kenny Hill Formation overlie the limestone for about two thirds of the city. The remaining third has deep deposits of very soft alluvium, or tin mining slimes, overlying the limestone. It is only recently that large buildings have been constructed in the area. Arup Jururunding have been concerned with several projects located on the limestone, although space here only permits the description of four sites in detail. The experience has allowed the development of a design approach for the foundations. The aim is to make the architectural scheme compatible with the geology. This is not always possible, and examples are given of both situations. The case histories give examples of compensated foundations, and piled foundations include steel H-piles, precast concrete piles, micropiles, bored piles with rock sockets, and barrettes up to 90m deep.

Jan 1, 2010

By Karsten Beckhaus

"Abstract Tremie concrete for special geotechnical works needs special properties, especially during the casting process. Today’s execution standards for bored piles and diaphragm walls, EN 1536 and EN 1538, as well as the draft version of concrete standard EN 206, all comprise regulations for deep foundation concrete which have not been changed for decades. Considering the recent development in concrete technology at the same time and its actual state-of-the-art, it is essential to develop new normative specifications and specification requirements.GeneralTo allow the required integrity and quality after placing and hardening, concrete for structural elements like bored piles or diaphragm walls, used as foundations of high-rise buildings or as retaining structures for large and deep building pits, must have adequate workability and stability.In addition to requirements on mechanical properties and on durability, both of which have increased within the last decades, concrete must be suitable for being cast in deep or extremely deep excavations, see figure 1. Today’s specialist foundation engineering machinery makes it possible to drill or cut down to in excess of100 m depth. Concrete technology has developed and allows the use of high performance concrete for deep foundations. But is this capability represented by actual regulations?It has become very common for the industry to supply or use concrete with low water cement ratios, nevertheless highly flowable and set-retarded for several hours if needed. Very low water cement ratios allow design strength of 60 MPa or higher (Larisch, 2011), and a very low porosity which is required for a long service life in aggressive conditions, e.g. by chlorides.To achieve best performance, it is obvious that the concrete must completely fill the excavation and fully embed the reinforcement. As vibration of deep foundation concrete is (usually) not allowed and was anyway inefficient, deep foundation concrete must be designed to self-compact under hydrostatic pressure. Generally, it must be considered that after placement the concrete’s quality cannot be influenced anymore. Therefore, both the pouring procedure and the concrete quality must be adequate."

Jan 1, 2014

By Derrick Dasenbrock

Two DFI committees independently organized two complimentary panel sessions for the recent American Society of Civil Engineers' (ASCE) Geo- Risk 2023 "Advances in Theory and Innovation in Practice" Conference in Arlington, Virginia, July 23-26. The Geo- Institute (GI) specialty conference welcomed more than 200 professionals and students interested in risk from around the world to the Washington, D.C., area for three full days of plenary keynote lectures, papers and no-paper sessions. The GI Risk Assessment and Management Technical Committee organized the event, which is the third in a series planned on a 6-year cycle. The previous two events were in 2011 in Atlanta and 2017 in Denver.

Sep 1, 2023

By Tony Mazzo

It has often been said by consulting engineers that foundation contractors are in the business of taking risks. One would agree that the mere fact a foundation project can be budgeted, planned, engineered and executed solely on the reliability of eight test borings made at a proposed site having an area of approximately 19,000 square feet, is a risky proposition, in and of itself. Now imagine that this site is actually one half of a city block located in an urban setting in an old, congested, historical neighborhood, surrounded by narrow city streets and historic landmark buildings. And suppose that the required depth of excavation for the construction of the new building on this site is approximately 35 feet and the natural groundwater table is at a depth below existing grade of only 25 feet. Given the difficult site conditions outlined above, one could certainly add the words "challenging" and "complicated" to the inherent word "risky" when describing the construction techniques involved to undertake a foundation project of this magnitude. This case study will discuss in detail how the excavation, sheeting, dewatering and underpinning work was accomplished as well as the problems overcome along the way.

Jan 1, 2003

By P. A. Neill, O&apos

The caisson foundation for Vent Building No. 6, at the southern landfall of Boston's Third Harbor Tunnel, was installed inside an unbraced concrete cofferdam 250 feet in diameter and about 70 feet deep. As a spectacular engineering feat, the cofferdam itself certainly ranks first. However, the foundation work within was no routine caisson job and made its own contribution to the state of the art. Comprised of 5 ft. diameter caissons socketed 10 to 16 feet in sound rock, it posed serious challenges in logistics, space limitations and time, requiring development of unique, purpose-made equipment. The unexpected discovery of significant depths of shattered rock overlying acceptable sound rock, along with other surprises of lesser import, compounded the problems. How these challenges were planned for, met and overcome is the subject of this paper.

Jan 1, 1994

By Guan Jichang

An abandened breakwater, located at the rear of No. 2 berth in Dongdu Port area of Xiamen City, was not cleaned thoroughly when the backfilling of sand started. The uncleaned stone layer was about 2 to 3 meters deep, with the average piece of stone weighing about 1 to 3 kN. A large grain storing house, 220X 60m2 in area, was designed and built at the above mentioned complicated site. The foundation of the grain house are made up of the cast-in-situ piles. It is well known that it is difficult for the submarine engineering drill to go down through such large-sized stones. Having com-pared the various plans, a final decision has been made which involves explosions with small amounts of charge plus cone bit in the enlarging of the size of the pores. Such a method has successfully prevented the pores from slumping and made it possible to fulfill the project without any difficulties. This paper also introduces the ways in effectively dealing with each individual stone.

Jan 1, 1991

By Xu Ronglie

This paper looks back on the developments and achievements of deep foundations, on the basis of the complex geological conditions and environments in China. It sums up advances in theoretical and applied researches, engineering constructions, practical experiences, case histories, and problems and developing prospects of piles and deep foundations in recent years in China.

Jan 1, 1991

By Jesse A. Pfeiffer

CPAR, the Construction Productivity Advancement Research Program, is a new initiative of the Corps of Engineers to enhance U.S. construction industry productivity through the development and application of joint-funded research. CPAR seeks to balance the requirements of both the private sector and the Corps of Engineers construction program, to identify research needs that are common to both parties in a partnership for conducting research, and to achieve practical real-world products which will enhance productivity in the construction industry. Increasing costs of doing business has had a major negative impact on much of the nation's industrial base, and research and development (R&D) is among the areas hardest hit. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that since 1984 inflation adjusted R&D outlays in private U.S. firms have risen at an average annual rate of three percent, or about half the rate of gain of the preceding decade. And, despite a significant increase in foreign competition, the portion of gross national product (GNP) devoted to R&D is lower today than 20 years ago. For the case of the U.S. construction industry, the numbers are even more dramatic.

Jan 1, 1989

By Henk E. Brassinga

In Rotterdam a number of underground parking facilities have been built and are under development in the inner city, and in the suburbs. These parking facilities are located at already densely built areas. The design of these constructions has to take into account the impact of the building activities and that of the final construction on the surroundings. In this paper some examples of the different building methods of newly realized underground parking facilities are described, and problems that occurred during the construction are pointed out. In the soil conditions as present in Rotterdam the cost effectiveness of underground facilities can be improved by deepening the parking facility, and at the same time reducing the surface area so that the total parking volume remains constant. In this way the total volume of the diaphragm walls and the costs of the project is reduced.

Jan 1, 2006

By Andrzej Tejchman

Calculation of pile foundations should possibly truly reflect its real work, mainly with respect to the value and distribution of settlements, pile internal forces and bending moments within a slab. Many empirical and theoretical methods serving for an assessment of the settlements of pile group overestimate its actual values obtained from field measurements (see Tejchman et al., 2001). In the paper a simple engineering method for calculation of pile foundations is presented. The method takes into account the interaction between the slab and a soil together with the phenomenon of non-uniform deformation of the soil-pile subsoil, particularly under large foundations. In the method the scheme of the slab resting on one-parameter elastic subsoil is assumed. The comparison of the calculation results for existing pile foundation with the field measurements shows good agreement between those values.

Jan 1, 2002

By Jim Steding

L.G. Barcus and Sons, Inc. recently completed a three-phase project for the expansion of Presbyterian Hospital in Albuquerque, New Mexico for McCarthy Construction Co., the Construction Manager for the project. It was a challenge that allowed Barcus to demonstrate many of it's strengths. Safety of people and property, restricted access, low headroom conditions, extensive planning to maintain hospital operations and a tight schedule were all key elements affecting the successful installation of the Augered Cast-In-Place Piles. Phase I began with installing and performing a 450-ton pile load test on an 18-inch diameter Augerpile 65 ft long. The load test was installed and performed directly in front of the Emergency Room entrance. Space was limited and the E.R. had to remain open with uninterrupted ambulance access. The results of the load test were outstanding. In fact the test pile performed so well that some of the job piles were shortened from 75 ft long to 65 ft long. [ ]

Jan 1, 2003

By Robert W. Bergwall

The $58,000,000.00 Columbia Heights Metro Station project (Section E3-a) forms a part of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority's (WMATA) Greenbelt Route - Green Line subway system. The Greenbelt route is one often segments that make up WMATA's subway system. Construction of the "cut and cover" reinforced concrete station includes 600 linear feet of an underground center platform, two ancillary service areas totaling 466 linear feet, two surface entrances, and vent shafts (See Figure No. 1). Station subgrade is approximately 60 feet below existing grade. The project can be divided into five main areas: 1. North Service Rooms and Passageway; 2. West Entrance and West Passageway; 3. East Entrance; 4. Center Platform; 5. South Service Rooms. Station dimensions are approximately 1068 feet long by 64 feet wide. Construction commenced at the site in January of 1995 and is expected to be completed by December of 1999. Franki Northwest Company, Crofton, Maryland, was awarded a subcontract by general contractor Blake Construction Company, Washington, D.C, to install the support of excavation and temporary decking systems. Franki's scope of work included the installation of 490 drilled soldier piles plus two elevator shafts totaling 29,700 linear feet of drilling; 1,150 tons of steel decking covered by 37,000. square feet of precast concrete deck planks; 120,000. square feet of timber lagging; 2,500. tons of struts and wales; and temporary support of underground utilities. In conjunction with Franki's work, Bencor Corporation of America, Dallas, Texas, constructed parallel, 600 foot long slurry walls which serve as permanent walls for the center platform portion of the station.

Jan 1, 1997

By Ray. K. Filip

The concept of installing a steel sheet pile retaining wall into the ground by "pressing" has resulted in the development of various equipment solutions over the last thirty years e.g. Taylor Woodrow ?Pile Master', Giken 'Silent Piler" & Tosa 'Still Worker?. Dawson Construction Plant Ltd (DCP), have recently advanced the pile pressing concept with the introduction of their 'Push-Pull' system. This advancement offers significant improvements in the quality of installation compared with traditional pressing solutions but also greater versatility, higher productivity and, most importantly, generates new opportunities through a wider range of applications for "silent piling'. This paper will focus primarily on the use of the Push-Pull concept in the construction of a unique "integral" bridge in Milton Keynes, England. Finally, the paper touches on the development of quiet, vibration-less pile extraction equipment, which allows steel to be considered the foundation material of choice for truly sustainable construction. It is no longer acceptable to leave unwanted piles in the ground.

Jan 1, 2006

By Kevin W. Cargill

In September 2004, Hurricanes Frances and Ivan caused the Pigeon River in western North Carolina to flood. This flooding eroded the embankment below Interstate 40 (I-40) and sent one of the eastbound lanes, along with the roadway shoulder, into the river below the embankment. North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) needed to reopen all the lanes of I-40 as soon as possible and considered this damage to be an emergency situation. NCDOT contracted Schnabel Foundation Company to design and build a repair that would keep this important interstate open and reestablish the eastbound lane. The obstacles included limited work room, the requirement of keeping the remaining lanes of I-40 in service, and producing a final product that would be relatively maintenance free and last at least 100 years. The proposed repair had to consider that the existing interstate was founded on a rock fill that was constructed from rock blasted off the adjacent mountain side. The selected design included two, tied-back micropile walls to address these obstacles and other issues. Each of the walls were constructed of 10.75 inch diameter micropiles and corrosion-protected tieback anchors installed through the existing rock fill into competent bedrock, concrete wales, and a reinforced shotcrete facing. This successful project was completed during the coldest months of the year and within the timeframe established by the State of North Carolina. This paper will discuss the design and construction of the repair and the many challenges that had to be overcome.

Jan 1, 2006

By Upendra L. Karna

The pile capacity gain with time evaluated and implemented for the construction of the Route 21 Viaduct in Newark, NJ, U.S.A is discussed in this paper. The project consisted of the replacement of more than 3.2 km of viaduct and ramps. The project site consists of thick residual materials deposited by the Wisconsin Glacier over sedimentary rocks. The upper portion is glacial-lacustrine deposit underlain by marginal morainic till and stratified drift. Subsurface investigations identified significant variations in layer thickness and grain size consistency. The site was characterized into 4 Soil types, based on subsurface soil behavior. Closed end 600 mm and 450 mm diameter driven pipe piles were used for the foundation. Loading tests conducted during an advanced construction contract, established that a significant soil set-up could be expected. For the first construction contract, a pilot loading test program consisting of 112 dynamic loading tests and 77 re-strikes (at 2 to 4 weeks) using the PDA (Pile Driving Analyzer) with CAPWAP (Case Pile Wave Analyses Program) was conducted to establish the soil set-up behavior. Nine (9) quick static loading tests were conducted to substantiate the long-term pile capacity. Based on the loading test results, average set-up factors were established and utilized for developing production pile driving criteria. Bearing resistance with depth was analyzed and reviewed. The set-up factors varied significantly, ranging from 1.05 to 1.89, and averaged about 1.30. Conclusions are derived. Set-up factors behavior for each soil type plotted by linear regression are presented and discussed. An appropriate set-up with time relationship for a glacial soil is suggested.

Jan 1, 2006

Jan 1, 1989

By Harry G. Poulos

Ground movements can arise from a large number of sources and can have a significant effect on nearby piles and deep foundations. The loading of the piles by ground movements is a different mechanism to that arising from direct applied loading to the pile head, and consequently it is not generally possible to adequately analyze the effects of ground movements simply by applying some type of equivalent loading to the pile head. The main effects of ground movements are the development of additional movements, axial forces and bending moments in the piles, and thus the key design aspects are related to movements and to the structural integrity of the pile. However, the ultimate geotechnical load carrying capacity is generally not affected by the ground movements themselves. This paper will describe an approach to the analysis of ground movement effects on piles, considering axial and lateral movements separately. Some of the main features of pile response will be discussed for three specific problems involving ground movements: 1. Piles near and within embankments; 2. Piles near an excavation for a pile cap; 3. Piles subjected to seismic ground motions.

Jan 1, 2007