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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 Stanley A. Schwartz

In the Piedmont, heavily loaded structures are generally supported by either drilled piers or one of several pile types. The choice of drilled piers or piles is typically one of comparative costs. The cost of a drilled pier foundation is usually the more difficult to predict because of the greater impact that variable conditions and construction monitoring have on cost. Poor specifications, related to the drilling equipment, procedures and bearing level, can also result in large cost extras. In the southern Piedmont, straight shafts are typically extended down to hard rock to achieve primary support in end-bearing: when bells are required, they are often constructed manually. In some eastern and northern Piedmont locations the thickness of the decompossed rock zone is significant and considerable skin friction can be mobilized. Typically piers are constructed in holes temporarily cased with steel liners. The bottom is cleaned of loose material and water, and then evaluated by a geotechnical engineer to confirm the design bearing pressure (and friction, where appropriate) or recommend alternative construction measures.

Jan 1, 1988

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

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 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 Gang Guo, Zhong Liu, Yi Zhang, Jingchun Lu

"Abstract Application of soil displacement screw pile (known as SDS pile) has been experiencing accelerated growth in Chinese deep foundation industry because of its technical advantages, environmental benefits, and cost effective as well. As bored displacement piling, SDS piles are able to perform better than non-displacement piling such as CFA plies due to changing the stress state in the soil around SDS piles during the installation. Therefore the design methods between the conventional pile type and SDS pile type have some differences. Based on the methodology research, current Chinese piling rigs, displacement augers and piling projects are introduced, and the current design approaches for SDS piles in China are also described. Moreover, the design results are verified by using full scale load tests, and a part of the research results of SDS piling system acquired in China are presented.IntroductionThe Continuous Flight Auger Pile, also known as the CFA pile, has occupied about 22% in the pile market all over the world (Van Impe, 2004; Bottiau, 2006). The CFA piles are usually used for large diameter (600mm~1200mm) pile foundations and deep excavation projects. Whereas the small size CFA piles (400mm~500mm) are mainly applied for composite foundations in China. In the past 10 years, the new technology of soil displacement screw piling has been applied worldwide (Prezzi et al., 2005). And it is also extensively used for high-rise buildings, industrial plants and railway projects in China (shown in Figure 1)."

Jan 1, 2014

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 Maral Papazian Bedian

Construction contracts in the USA contain the clause "Value Engineering" ? an interesting and curious clause allowing contractor initiated design changes. Misleading is the interpretation of value engineering implying cost saving and sharing with the owner, and curious is the timing, just before beginning of actual construction. It is not surprising that such a clause would simply be ignored, because it involves change, often major design changes in very short time; and change is feared, moreover, it is vehemently resisted by all parties, owner, designer, contractor. The problem in the USA may lie in the divergence and separation of the two entities: Designer/Engineer and Builder/Contractor, assigned to the "one" engineering project. The priorities and incentives of these two groups are very different. The Engineer spends years, even decades, in design and prepares contract drawings often without a deep understanding of construction methods. Worse, with all the time available to him and in our era of tremendous advances in computational methods and speed, the designer turns in plans that are inexcusably exaggerated code-based design with excessive safety factors. As to the Contractor, he builds, often without appreciation of design principles or regard for design engineers. Redesign to apply a new technology or optimization of an inferior design just before construction becomes unthinkable. It is not surprising that adverse and hostile relationship between the designer and the contractor is a norm with extended disputes and claims, not to mention the cost these entail. Surprisingly, "Value Engineering" was successfully implemented in record speed on several very large projects in the metropolitan New York area. The process of change was unconventional, painful, and even comical. Four case studies are presented: two Design/Build: the 1.2 billion dollars Hudson-Bergen Light Rail Transit System in New Jersey and the 90 million dollars MTA Bus Depot in Manhattan, and two Conventional Design/Bid/Build: the 90 million dollars Queens Boulevard Bridge and the 150 million dollars Long Island Expressway.

Jan 1, 2002

By Bolestaw A. Ktosihski

Preloading of bored pile bases by grouting is an effective way of reducing foundation costs. The bearing performance of a pile may be considerably improved. Various techniques and devices are used. Preloading of a pile base by a special grouting installation is preferred. The grouting device consisting of a U-shaped grouting tube with sleeves and a plastic membrane, separating the tube from the pile concrete, has well proven in Polish practice. The preloading may raise the pile design loads by as much as 30%, and increase their stiffness by 50%, in suitable conditions. The preloading equalizes the deformability of piles in a foundation or a structure. Examples of the base preloading use and load tests of base grouted piles are presented.

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 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 Shaw-Shong Liew

This paper presents the processes of investigation, analysis, design, construction and monitoring of soil nail stabilisation work to facilitate a 14.5 m deep excavation at an uncontrolled fill ground. An extensive instrumentation programme had been implemented to monitor the performance of the stabilisation solution, to provide validation for the designed nail resistance and groundwater variation. From the monitoring results, it was proved that the soil nail stabilisation technique is effective for loose saturated fill provided that substantial care is taken during implementation. Construction difficulties, solutions to overcome the problems and lessons learned will be discussed in the paper.

Jan 1, 2006

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 Alain E. Holeyman

After scoping out the objectives of this general report, the report reviews the three assigned main themes addressed by the papers submitted to the session: pile monitoring, testing, and data processing. It focuses on later developments and on issues requiring clarification, thereby identifying topics for potential discussion. Pile Monitoring does not bring much novelty, except for the integration of IT on construction sites. As far as testing, new developments focus on internal pile loading procedures while more confidence is being gained with dynamic and kinematic load tests. Significant advances are noted in the interpretation of data, where variability of results are coped with, loading rate effects are being better addressed, and more routine use of Finite element analyses are observed. Several many older problems remain while new issues emerge from more recent technologies and approaches.

Jan 1, 2006

By D. Millgard

Dennis Millgard introduced the Session by hoping that participants to the Conference would also share their piling problems. He then invited the first speaker to present his paper. Paper 5.1. Pat Kelleher commenced by saying that he belonged to a one hundred year old firm that had experience in the New York Harbour area. They were often asked to assess the integrity of many waterside structures such as piers, walls, and docks which were deteriorating whilst still in use. The earliest structures, built in the 1800's, were on timber piles. These have now changed to Steel H and tube piles and concrete piles. Usually they were called in when the structure was showing signs of distress, or had reached the end of its life but could not be closed. In particular, they had found that marine borers had returned to New York Harbour because of the improved quality of the water. There is now a far greater incidence of attack on the timber piles than when the water was polluted. Repair is usually carried out by encapsulating the pile within the tidal range of about -2ft to +8ft (-0.6 to +2.4m). Reinforced concrete forms, reinforced fibre jackets, or nylon bags are used. Reinforced fibre jackets are used with a protective coat on the pile, while nylon bags prove the cheapest method.

Jan 1, 1991

By James J. Cahill

Contractor's working in an urban environment face a multitude of working conditions. There is no typical "Downtown" job site. From afar we just see the skyline, or up close a specific building. This, of course, does not give us a clue as to the site conditions the foundation contractor faced in doing his work. The open, downtown building site is still available on some projects, but they are becoming rare as our cities are becoming more developed. A typical site today might include any one or several of the following problems: A. Deep pit with no ramp access B. Multi-type known or unknown obstructions C. Height limitations D. Load restrictions E. Existing adjacent building founded on shallow foundation F. Existing foundations G. Existing tunnels, utilities or subways

Jan 1, 1991

By Larry Rayburn

In the spring of 1999, construction commenced on the new Steelers Football Stadium in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Richard Goettle, Inc. (RGI) was the successful bidder to install the specified augercast piles for the foundation package. Description - Pittsburgh Steelers Stadium The new stadium will house the Pittsburgh Steelers Professional Football Team. It is widely believed that if a team is provided with a modern playing facility, that a winning season will ensue (Not always the case). The new stadium location is on the north side of Pittsburgh on the Ohio River, and just downstream of the confluence of the Monongahela and Allegheny Rivers. The site is west of existing Three Rivers Stadium. The Three Rivers Stadium was built during the late sixties and housed both the Pirates Baseball and Steelers Football Teams. The Public Auditorium Authority elected to replace this outdated stadium with two new stadiums, one for each professional team. The landmark stadium was imploded in February of 2001.

Jan 1, 2001

By Anthony D. Barley

Over 60,000 multiple anchors have been used internationally since their introduction in the early 1990s, including 1000 in the United States. The multiple anchor system comprises a "multiple" of "unit" anchors installed within a single borehole - each unit anchor being staggered within the borehole length to mobilize its own capacity independently of the other unit anchors. These systems offer higher capacity than conventional anchors with identical bond lengths due to superior load transfer efficiency. The use of higher capacity anchors may allow reduction in the number of anchors required on a project, which results in time and cost benefits to the anchor installer, contractor, and the owner. Fully removable temporary multiple anchors are available, and have been used with consistent success. Three case histories are discussed highlighting the use of these systems

Jan 1, 2002

By Bengt Fellenius

The conventional wave equation analysis without control of the representativeness of the parameters to the actual conditions does not provide accurate results. However, the representatives can be vastly improved by means of using the results of monitoring the dynamic response in a pile during driving. Dynamic monitoring displays the interaction of independent strain and acceleration measurements having directly propor­tional response to impacts, but inversely proportional response to re­flections from the soil. Examples are given and the CAPWAP method used to calculate from the measurements the dynamic pile and soil para­meters and mobilized soil resistance is outlined. The dynamic monitoring technique and analysis has been accepted internationally and been incor­porated into Building Codes. The prediction is offered that in five year's time, no major piling project will be undertaken without dynamic monitoring and analysis.

Jan 1, 1984

AUSTRALIA CHAPMAN Gary JOHN WAGSTAFF CONTSRUCTIONS PTY. LTD. 1 Ashgrove Crescent 4060 ASHGROVE BRISBANE HILLAR Jaaes Director J.A. HILLAR & ASSOCIATES 99 Woolwich Road WOOLWICH, NSW 2110 WAGSTAFF John Managing Director JOHN WAGSTAFF CONSTRUCTIONS PTY. LTD. 1 Ashgrove Crescent 4060 ASHGROVE, BRISBANE AUSTRIA FUCHSBERGER M. TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAT INSTITUT FUR BODENMECHANIK Rechbauerstrasse 12 8010 GRAZ

Jan 1, 1994