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By James A. Schneider

Selection of resistance factors within Load and Resistance Factor Design (LRFD) requires accurate assessment of uncertainty and bias in load and resistance. To date, many studies have focused predominantly on the assessment of uncertainty, while the potential for bias appears to be the dominant factor in design for consistent levels of reliability under a variety of situations. Bias comes from factors which have been ignored in design method development but significantly influence resistance when extrapolating from conditions typical of databases to those at a given site. Uncertainty and bias can be quantified as the coefficient of variation and mean (or median) of a data set, respectively, for statistical assessment of load and resistance factors. This paper first presents an overview of statistical assessment of resistance factors, and then discusses factors that influence uncertainty and bias when extrapolating to situations outside of conventional databases of driven pile axial capacity.

Jan 1, 2009

By William J. Rothschild

Ground water at construction sites can be controlled by properly placed wellpoint dewatering systems. Care must be taken in planning cofferdams to have adequate space for and access to pumps, headers and the points. A most important part of dewatering is protection of adjacent structures from movement. A checklist gives items to consider in bidding.

Jan 1, 1984

By Frank J. Arland

Augered-Cast-in-Place piles have been used successfully for many deep foundation applications. The four case studies discussed herein describe ACIP pile projects where problems developed during ACIP pile installation requiring changes to the method or sequence of installation. The case studies illustrate the importance of understanding existing subsurface conditions and project constraints when considering the use of this pile type. Ground loosening and over-excavation of soil during the augering process, a significant concern for fine to medium sands and non-plastic silts below the water table, can significantly impact adjacent structures. This risk needs to be evaluated during the pile selection process and generally can be mitigated, but not eliminated, by requiring the use of piling equipment with high torque and slow auger rotation speed to advance the auger with minimum amount of rotation. In some applications where high lateral stresses in the soil are present such as at the base of retaining structures, the use of ACIP piles may not be appropriate if structure movement is unacceptable. On the other hand, ACIP piles have been successfully used to support deep foundations in preconsolidated varved deposits where the new structure was designed to accommodate recompression settlement.

Jan 1, 2004

By John P. Davis

The use of conventional, circulatory air rotary and fluid rotary, cased and uncased drilling methods in the vicinity of sensitive infrastructure can have deleterious effects on the ground conditions surrounding and supporting structures and the structure itself. Furthermore, the use of these conventional methods offers the engineer or contractor little information about the condition of the subsurface during geotechnical applications. Conversely, sonic drilling measurements and samples can be used to evaluate actual conditions during the progress of exploration and construction across a given site. This paper will discuss the history and properties of sonic drilling and explore case histories of geotechnical applications for the advancement of boreholes within vulnerable structures and on sensitive sites for several recent infrastructure projects ? a tunnel and railroad project, a dam grout curtain project, a bridge micropile exploration project and a tunnel instrumentation project. Project summaries will discuss the advantages realized when the application of sonic drilling techniques demonstrated superior accuracy, quality control, efficiency, productivity, penetrability, waste minimization and adaptability when drilling adjacent to or within existing infrastructure. Finally, the discussion will address the current testing and application of sonic drilling to the installation of micropiles, earth retention anchors, grout injection and instrumentation installation where the quality control benefits provided by the inherent soil cores, measurement while drilling systems, accuracy and non-destructive production drilling features will be advantageous.

Jan 1, 2006

By Rick Deschamps, Brian Barkauskas, Aled Hughes, Abigail Stein

In central Washington, six miles south of the small town of Vantage, the flow of the Columbia River is harnessed by the Wanapum Dam which is part of the Priest Rapids Hydroelectric Project owned and operated by Grant County Public Utility District (GCPUD). Extending more than 8,300-feet from bank to bank, the dam includes left and right earth embankments, left and right concrete gravity sections and a 10-unit powerhouse. Adjacent to the right embankment is a concrete gravity spillway featuring radial gates measuring 50-feet-wide and nearly 70-feet-high. In the early 1960’s when Wanapum Dam was built, these seven-story spillway gates were the highest in the world. In late February 2014, 50-years into its service life, during a routine maintenance inspection, observant workers noticed a slight misalignment in the roadway deck curbs and handrails located on top of the spillway. Further survey and inspection efforts uncovered a 65-foot-long by two- inch-wide crack that spanned the full length of Monolith 4. On discovering the extent of the damage, GCPUD initiated immediate drawdown of the reservoir to relieve pressure on the spillway monoliths. Wanapum Reservoir and the areas directly downstream of the dam were immediately closed, boat ramps and inlets were left completely dry, campsites were closed and boating activity was banned on the lake until further investigations and remedial procedures were in place and completed. An extensive root cause analysis ultimately led to the conclusion that errors in the initial design calculations and late changes to the final spillway design led to a condition that generated tensile stresses in the concrete at the upstream face, which over a period of 50-years resulted in the formation of a crack along a horizontal lift joint located about 85-feet below normal pool elevation. Further analysis showed that, although visible distress was found at Monolith 4, there was nothing preventing this issue from happening at other locations along the dam spillway. Although no visible cracking was found in the other monoliths, repair procedures for Monolith 4 would have to be replicated at the remaining monoliths.

Jan 1, 2018

By Peter J. Nicholson

The methods of reinforcement to be discussed in this paper are all insitu methods, ones that can be used on the soil structure as it exists in the ground, and do not rely on excavation and replacement of the soil. Current practice in the United States, as well as new ideas and methods, will be discussed as they relate to slope stability, retaining walls, and to other uses such as control of mine or cavity related subsidence and to liquefaction control under existing structures. The method is based on the concept of "nailing" or reinforcing the soil in place, and thereby causing a mass of soil to act as a coherent unit. When performed properly, a true gravity structure can be constructed, one that will remain intact under both horizontal and vertical loadings and that will also resist vibrational and seismic loadings.

Jan 1, 1991

By Han Xuanjiang

Through whole analysis of static testing piles information of a teaching building, this paper put for ward that when the ratioes of unload rebound amount to residual deformation and to total settlement reach the maximum, the testing load is selected as allowable capacity of single pile by camparing with the settlement in the practical engineering, it is proved that this method fits to practice, for other several projects, its also available. Therefore non-destructive testing pile method was improved, so all the tested piles can be reused as engineering piles.

Jan 1, 1991

By Sridhar Krishnan

This paper presents the results of a comprehensive pre-production pile testing programme for the US$ 800 million 1400MW Coal-Fired Jimah Power Plant Project in Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia. The testing programme included high-strain dynamic testing and fully instrumented static axial and lateral load testing of driven prestressed concrete piles and bored cast-in-place piles. A highlight of the testing programme was the pioneering use of the Global Strain Extensometer (GloStrExt) Method, a deformation monitoring system that uses advanced pneumatically- or hydraulically-anchored extensometers and a novel analytical technique to monitor loads and displacements down the shaft and at the toe of driven prestressed concrete piles. The experience with the testing programme for the Jimah Project also demonstrates the possibility of achieving notable breakthroughs, not only in the monitoring, evaluation and reporting of pile foundation behaviour dynamics but also in our understanding of the mechanisms that underpin such behaviour. These significant gains are undeniably a direct result of the committed and co-operative relationship among the project owner, design/builder, specialist piling subcontractors, pile suppliers and pile instrumentation and testing specialists.

Jan 1, 2006

By Christian Divis

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Jan 1, 2002

By Lawrence P. Goldfarb

The City of Alexandria, Virginia, Public Safety Center (PSC) is a 64,000 square foot facility that houses the Police Department, Office of Sheriff and the Office of Magistrate. In addition, the center includes a detention facility for local and federal inmates, operated by the Sheriff. The PSC is composed of a 3-story building to the west and a 6-story building to the east constructed on a landfill in a wetland area in the flood plains of hunting Creek. The existing ground floor of the 3-story building is a floating slab-on-grade, with the interior and exterior columns, exterior walls and upper floors all supported on belled, drilled shafts. Portions of the floating first floor slab have undergone excessive settlement due to the apparent consolidation of the underlying organic soils. The magnitude of the settlements of the floating first floor slab is sufficient to require replacement of the slab and relocation of a portion of the facility. The rehabilitation was complex and required staged construction, consisting of constructing Auger Pressure Grouted (APG) Piles in low overhead conditions. This paper summarizes the geotechnical conditions that lead to the excessive settlement of the floor slab, the construction of the (APG) Pile foundations in low overhead conditions and the evaluation of potential future settlements.

Jan 1, 2009

By B. Broms

The "Bawang Pile" (in english "onion" pile) described in the article consists of a cased concrete shaft and an expanded base. The steel casing is first driven by an internal drop hammer and then the base is formed in-situ by the raming the concrete at the bottom of the slitted casing. This new type of pile can be used for underpining (small head room) of buildings and as foundation for transmission towers or lamp posts. Full-scale load tests in compression and in tension on the Bawang pile and on steel pipe piles demonstrate the dramatic increase of the ultimate capacity due to the expanded base. Guidelines for the design of such piles are proposed.

Jan 1, 2010

By Giovanni A. Bonita

The United States Capitol Visitor Center (USCVC) is one of the largest underground structures ever constructed in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area. The 600,000 ft2 (55,750 m2) structure is entirely underground and immediately adjacent to the shallow foundations of the existing U.S. Capitol building. Interior building columns for the USCVC were supported on 186 drilled shafts that varied in diameter from 4 to 9 ft (1.2 to 2.9 m) and in length from 15 to 45 ft (4.6 to 13.7 m). The vast majority of the building utilities were located beneath the basement floor slab. It was decided at the onset of the project to proceed with construction prior to completion of the design drawings, and coordination between the underslab utilities and the drilled shafts had not yet been finalized at the onset of drilled shaft installation. Given depth and location restrictions of the outlets, relocation of the bulk of the utilities was not possible. Almost half of the drilled shafts were affected, leaving redesign as the most feasible remedial solution. The redesign involved adjustments to the shaft length, diameter, and bell. It took place on a case-by-case basis, sometimes only minutes before installation began. Coordination between the field and design team was excellent, and delay associated with the redesign efforts was minimal. In addition, the detailed, high-quality field records kept by both the contractor and field engineers allowed for accurate and fair estimations of the added drilled footage and concrete volumes placed. The additional service fee, which was minimal, was settled quick and fair.

Jan 1, 2006

By David E. Albus, Ahmadreza Mortezaie, Bidjan Ghahreman

The structural evaluation of seismic performance of an existing hospital in Long Beach, California, required spring constants of foundation elements. The structure included support by deep foundation elements comprised of belled (underreamed) caissons. The available relationships in the governing building code (ASCE41-13) to compute axial stiffness is not applicable due to the belled configuration of the caissons. The large diameter of the bells required consideration of the foundation medium to the axial stiffness; a detail not clearly described in ASCE 41-13. Furthermore, prescriptive equations in ASCE 41- 13 used to estimate lateral stiffness only consider pile groups with the assumption that the only source of lateral stiffness is the axial reaction of individual piles. These assumptions were invalid for the project at hand where all caissons are configured as single foundation elements, not a pile group. In the present work, the approach taken to estimate seismic stiffness of single-belled caissons is described which accounts for the elastic behavior of the foundation medium below the bell base and lateral behavior of single-pile shafts. Results of the work provide a more satisfactory derivation of the spring constants consistent with current modeling methods. INTRODUCTION Seismic evaluation of an existing hospital in Long Beach, California, required geotechnical investigation followed by site-specific ground motion analysis. This evaluation was required by the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD) in order to meet the requirements of the Structural Performance Category 4D (SPC-4D) published as a part of the 2016 California Building Code, CBC (Section 3412A). SPC-4D utilizes ASCE41-13, as modified by OSHPD, and involves two seismic performance objectives: BSE-1E (20% probability of exceedance in 50 years) and BSE-2E (5% probability of exceedance in 50 years). Spring constants and capacities of foundation elements were needed for evaluation of the structural performance of the building subjected to these two performance objectives. Our review of the as-built foundation plans indicated that both shallow footings and caissons were used for support of the structure. The plans demonstrated that all caissons are belled (under-reamed) and are individual, i.e. not part of pile groups. In this paper, the subject site condition and foundation elements are described first. This is followed by details of assessing spring constants and vertical capacities for belled caissons. The new requirements of the 2016 CBC concerning the evaluation of critical facilities will likely entail evaluation of other structures with belled caissons due to the more extensive use of these foundations in the past. This paper proposes a method to address the conditions of individual belled caissons not explicitly considered in the current code provisions.

Jan 1, 2018

By R. L. Xu

In this paper, the author would like to point out with figures that the building industry is one of the key industrial sectors of the national economy in China. And in the coming 15 years, the output of building construction will not in the least decrease, but increase. The requirements for building standards, quality, functions as well as physical environment will also be higher along with the incessant development of the national economy and the gradual raising of people's living standard. China is a country with a vast territory and a great, variety of physical characteristics. The topographic and engineering geotechnical conditions are complex and varies considerably from place to place. Although, in recent years, encouraging progress has been made in building construction, there still exist many problems unsolved or even not explored at all, which we have to tackle in the future design and construction of foundations. Also reviewed in this paper are the achievements attained in the past thirty odd years and the challenge we will face in the foundation engineering field in China.

Jan 1, 2010

By Kodi Ranga Swamy, N. Sankar, M. Akhila

"Until recently, liquefaction-related studies concentrated on clean sands believing that only sands are susceptible to liquefaction. However, a few earthquakes like 1976 Tangshan earthquake, the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, the 1999 Kocaeli earthquake, the 2010 Chile earthquake, and the 2011 Christchurch earthquake, etc. showed that sand with fines could also liquefy. The research findings on liquefaction of silty soils are limited, and several structures constructed on such soil deposits are damaged during the past earthquakes. Some previous results of research on earthquake events show an increase of liquefaction resistance in silt soils with increase the fines content, but some report the opposite trend. This study presents the results based on undrained triaxial cyclic tests which were carried out on the fine sand with fines (0%, 10%, 20% and 40% fines). The samples were prepared at the required unit weight (Dr = 50%) and saturated by using back pressure and cell pressure increments. Each consolidated sample is subjected to cyclic loading with sinusoidal wave load form at a frequency of 1 Hz. The liquefaction resistance is evaluated in terms of cyclic stress ratio required to cause 100% pore pressure or 20% failure strain occur at 15 numbers of load cycles. Results are presented in forms of pore pressure build up and axial strain propagation plots. As the fines content increased, an increase in liquefaction potential was observed.INTRODUCTIONLiquefaction and related phenomenon have been responsible for tremendous amounts of damage all around the world. In general, the liquefaction may occur in fully saturated sands, silts and low plastic clays. When the saturated soil mass is subjected to seismic or dynamic loads, there is a sudden buildup of pore water within a short duration, and it could not dissipate which leads to reducing the effective shear strength of soil mass. In this state, the soil mass behaves like a liquid and causes large deformations, settlements, flow failures, etc. This phenomenon is called soil liquefaction. As a result, the ability of soil deposit to support the foundations of buildings, bridges, dams, etc. is reduced. Liquefiable soil also exerts a higher pressure on retaining walls.This lateral movement of soil could cause settlement of the retained soil. A sudden build-up of pore water pressure during quake also triggers landslides. Liquefaction damages of structures are commonly observed in low-lying areas near the rivers, lakes, and oceans."

Jan 1, 2017

By Robb L. Swenson

Construction of foundations for the Skyway Segment of the San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge required innovative techniques due to the mass of the structures being inserted and the unique subsurface of the Bay. Twenty of the pier structures required large sheet pile cofferdams. Eight other foundations were installed in open water without cofferdams at the deeper part of the Bay. This narrative will present the initial planning, as well as the stages of installation, for each type of foundation. The first section will discuss foundation constructability modifications made during the initial planning phases of the project. Considerable effort was expended by Caltrans, the owner, T.Y. Lin the designer, and KFM (Kiewit/FCI/Manson) the contractor in modifying the design to assure that required tolerance would be maintained during the installation of the foundations. The final section will describe the steps required for installation including: initial access dredging, installation of cofferdams, preparation required to install the footing boxes, footing box installation, foundation support pile installation, and pile to box connections.

Jan 1, 2013

By H. Meseck

The new building of the Central Bank of Iraq in Baghdad was footed in difficult underground conditions on more than 600 reinforced concrete driven piles, with cross-sectional diameters of 45 x 45 cm and pile lengths of 12.0 to 18.0 m. The necessary embedded depth and the bearing capacity thus reached were established on all 600 drives piles by means of dynamic pile tests. For the calibration of the dynamic pile tests, 6 static pile load tests were carried out. The execution of the construction and the results of the extensive tests on the building site are shown.

Jan 1, 1989

By S. Narasimha Rao

Significant amounts of lateral load may act on pile foundations supporting structures such as transmission line towers, tall structures, bridge abutments, offshore platforms, quay wails, harbour structures and anchorages for water front structures. There were several theoretical and experimental studies conducted on laterally loaded piles in clays to determine ultimate lateral capacity and deflections under working loads. Under a lateral load, a pile deflects in the direction of load application and the soil in front of the pile offers resistance to this movement. The ultimate lateral resistance of a pile can be estimated considering the statics of the pile for a known distribution of soil resistance with depth. In this paper, considering the contributions from both lateral shear drag and frontal passive earth pressure, a method has been proposed to estimate the ultimate lateral capacity of rigid piles in clays. The lateral shear drag has been estimated in terms of adhesion and shape factor. A few load tests were conducted on model piles subjected to lateral loading and these experimental values are used in verifying the proposed method. The reported results obtained from both model tests and field tests were used in support of the predictions made. In all the cases, there is a good agreement between the predicted and measured capacities.

Jan 1, 1996

By Bernard Hertlein

¦ Drilled shafts resist scour seismic loads better than groups of driven piles ¦ Drilled shaft construction creates less noise and vibration than driving piles ¦ Drilled shafts permit direct observation of bearing stratum, and confirmation of location ¦ Drilled shafts are cost effective

Jan 1, 2001

By Steni Stefani, Sanjay Dave

"This paper describes an innovative method, used for the first time in India, for the construction of a 1.0metre-thick positive plastic concrete cut-off wall (CoW) at the upstream toe of the dam at the Kishanganga Hydro-Electric Project in Jammu & Kashmir- India. The extremely difficult bouldery geology with an overburden laden with very hard Panjal Volcanics (quartz, feldspar, muscovite and chlorite minerals) boulders of up to 0.8m to 1.8 metres in size with UCS of up to 265 MPa and the requirement of socketing the CoW into the underlying hard bedrock (UCS 265 MPa) for 1.50m made the choice for the excavation methodology critically difficult. After having evaluated several other existing methods – including hydromill trenchers – the Civil Contractor Hindustan Construction Company, in agreement with its Foundations Engineering Consultant (Ricerca e Sviluppo – Cantieri e Gestioni) opted for a two-stage construction method: firstly, preliminary full-depth drilling and “surgical” blasting with full-length inclinometer checking of borehole verticality to ensure the exact location of rock fracturing and fragmentation coincided with the required position and that it was vertical, notwithstanding efficient trenching into the bedrock of a nominal 1m by 1.5m section; and, secondly, excavation by using heavy duty mechanical rope grabs made locally and developed by the Consultant in collaboration with the Contractor. The details of the methodology and the salient construction data is presented and commented for the 33-metre deep CoW installed at a working platform elevation of 2364.50 m above sea level in a very remote area.BACKGROUNDThe Kishanganga Hydro Electric Project (KGHEP) is a ROR (run-of-the-river) project is located on the Kishanganga River some 140kms North-West of Srinagar, capital of Jammu & Kashmir State of India, for generating 330MW of power in a 90% dependable annual year. The key components of the project are: Concrete Face Rockfill Dam (CFRD), Chute Spillway, Plastic Concrete Cut-off Wall (CoW), Head Race Tunnel (HRT), Surge Shaft (SS), Inclined Pressure Shaft (PS), underground Power House and Transformer Hall, Tail Race Tunnel (TRT).The Power House Site is accessible throughout the year from Srinagar while the remote Dam Site, with its tortuous road climbing the Rajdan Pass at 3556m (11,667 ft) above sea level and several 20-tonne capacity Bailey bridges removed prior to snowfall, remains inaccessible for around 4 months between mid-November to mid-May due to winter and heavy snowfall - the only access is by helicopter, weather permitting. Temperature at the Dam Site drops down to minus 27degrees Celsius during winter, therefore, careful planning from the beginning was most essential for the successful delivery of the Project.This paper deals with the Cut-Off Wall construction which was performed, for the first time in India, adopting a “Drilling and Surgical Blasting” method. However, this technology is not new and diaphragm wall excavation with the aid of drilling and blasting has already been done in some of the projects globally; namely:"

Jan 1, 2017