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CONTENTS:
1.0 Introduction
2.0 Analysis
5.0 Summary
REFERENCES
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Where a soil layer of adequate bearing capacity lies too deep for the
economic use of conventional footings.
Where the soil layer(s) immediately underlying a structure are soft
or poorly compacted.
Where the soil layer(s) immediately underlying a structure are
moderately or highly variable in nature.
On sites where the soil strata, and in some cases the ground
surface are steeply inclined.
On river or shoreline sites where tidal or wave action or scouring
may vary the amount of material near the surface.
For structures transmitting very high concentrated loads.
For structures transmitting significant horizontal or inclined loads.
For structures which structurally or functionally may be sensitive to
differential settlement.
For more detailed treatment of piling methods. pile types and design, refer to
the books by Tomlinson (1987), Poulos (1980), Fleming (1985) and Whitaker
(1970).
From the point of view of both design and construction, piles are classified into
two types:
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Piles may also be classified according to how they achieve their load carrying
capacity;
a) Preformed piles:
Advantages:- - may be inspected for quality and soundness
before driving
- not liable to squeezing or necking
- construction not affected by ground water
- can be left protruding above G.L. (useful in
marine structures)
- can withstand high bending and tensile
stresses
-can be driven in long lengths
Analysis of piles is quite complex and there are two main approaches:
1. Estimate the carrying capacity from driving formulae and load tests
(only suitable for sands/gravels or stiff clay)
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2.0.1 Driving Formulae
There are many different expressions – all try to relate the energy needed to
drive the pile to the penetration of the pile (for which there is no theoretical
justification).
Whn
Ru =
s + c/2
Where;
Ru = ultimate driving resistance
W = weight of hammer
h = fall of hammer
n = efficiency of blow, found from graph
s = set or penetration/blow
c = total temporary compression of pile
Driving formulae take no account of soil type or conditions and are therefore
generally disapproved of by foundation engineers.
The only sure way is to drive some test piles and then carry out load tests –
thereby finding the carrying capacity – time and cost are big disadvantages.
There are two forms of resistance provide by the pile to the applied vertical
loads:
shaft resistance
base resistance
At failure the ultimate values of both these resistances are mobilised to give:
Qu = Qs + Qb
where :
Qu = ultimate pile capacity
Qs = ultimate shaft resistance
Qb = ultimate base resistance
and
Qb = qb x Ab = base bearing capacity x area of base
Qs = surface area of shaft in contact with the soil
x shear strength of the soil
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Piles usually penetrate several different soil types, each providing different shaft
resistances and the total shaft resistance is the summation of the individual
values.
The weight of the pile is usually ignored in the above equations, since it is
approximately equal to the weight of soil removed or displaced.
Qu
Qs Qs
Qb
2.1.1 Bored piles
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Class example 1
A bored pile, 750mm diameter and 12.0m long, is to be installed on a
site where two layers of clay exist:
Upper firm clay; 8.0m thick;
undrained shear strength = 50.0 kN/m2.
Lower stiff clay; 12.0m thick;
undrained shear strength = 120.0kN/m2.
Determine the working load the pile could support assuming the
following:
i) = 0.7 for firm clay and 0.5 for stiff clay ; Nc = 9
ii) Factors of safety of 1.5 and 3.0 are applied to the shaft
load and base load respectively
iii) The top 1.0m of the firm clay is ignored due to
clay/concrete shrinkage. [921 kN]
Class example 2
For the ground conditions and assumptions described in Example 1,
determine the length of pile required to support a working load of
1200 kN. [14.96m, say 15m]
Class example 3
A large under-reamed bored pile is to be installed in stiff clay with
undrained shear strength of 125kN/m2. The main shaft of the pile is
1.5m diameter and the base of the under ream is 4.5m diameter with a
height of 3.0m and the total length of the pile from the ground level to
the base of the under ream is 27m.
Determine the working load of the pile in MN, assuming the following:
a) = 0.3 ; Nc = 9
b) A factor of safety of 3.0 should be applied to the base load
but full mobilisation of shaft adhesion can be assumed.
[9.498MN]
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2.1.3 Driven piles
Class example 4
A closed end pipe pile, 600mm diameter is driven to a depth of 15.0m
into a stiff clay. The undrained shear strength of the clay is 140.0kN/m2.
Assume = 0.43
Determine the working load (kN) the pile could support with an overall
factor of safety of 2.5.
[778.0 kN]
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Adhesion factors for short piles(L<10d) driven into stiff clay
Adhesion factors for long piles(L>20 to 40d) driven into stiff clay
(Tomlinson, 1987)
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2.2 Piles in non-cohesive soil (sand/gravel ; c = 0)
Qu
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The internal angle of friction ‛, before the installation of the pile, is not easy to
determine since disturbance will occur during piling. The ‛ value used is
obtained from correlations with the SPT „N‟ values as shown below:
Critical depth, zc
As the depth of pile penetration increases, the vertical effective stress increases
and therefore the end bearing should increase. Field stress have shown,
however, that end bearing does not increase continually with depth. A possible
explanation is that as ‛ increases the bearing capacity factor decreases.
This has lead to the concept of critical depth zc , below which shaft and base
resistance are considered to be constant (i.e. the values for zc and below).
Qs = Ks tan v‛ dL
The method of installation affects the values of Ks and and they are usually
presented as one factor as shown below;
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Class example 5
A 10.5m long concrete pile, 400mm square, is to be driven into a thick
deposit of medium dense sand, with an SPT „N‟ value of 25 and a bulk
unit weight of 20.0 kN/m2. The water table lies at 2.5m below ground
level.
Estimate the working load this length of pile will support assuming an
overall factor of safety of 2.5 and the sand has a saturated unit weight
of 20.0kN/m3
[949.2kN]
Boring holes in sands loosens an annulus of soil around the hole and reduces
horizontal stresses. Consequently bored piles in dense sands can be expected to
have low bearing capacity. Casting concrete in situ will produce rough surfaces
but this effect is diminished by the loosening of the sand.
Poulus(1980) suggests analysing as if for a driven pile but using reduced values
of v‛.
Meyerhof (1976) suggests designing as if for a driven pile, but using one third of
the base resistance and one half of the shaft resistance.
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3.0 NEGATIVE SKIN FRICTION
This term refers to the action (friction or adhesion) of soil layer/s acting with the
applied loading i.e. against the pile resistance. It is usually caused by either;
Clay soil undergoing consolidation settlement or
Fill material compacting over time
Does not
compress
Class example 6
A 300m square concrete driven pile driven 12.0m into a layered soils as
follows;
Fill (recent) 2.5m thick ( = 26.0 kN/m3; ‛ = 37o)
Medium SAND 3.0m thick ( = 17.0 kN/m3; N = 18)
Soft CLAY 2.0m thick ( sat = 22.0 kN/m3)
Compact SAND 9.0m thick ( sat = 22.0 kN/m3; N = 33)
The strength of the soft clay increases linearly from 18.0 kN/m2 at 5.5m
below ground level to 36.0 kN/m2 at a depth of 7.5m. A water table is
present at a constant depth of 5.5m below ground level.
Determine the safe working load of this pile by adopting factors of safety
of 1.5 and 2.5 for the shaft and end bearing resistance respectively.
[1256.3 kN]
In order to determine the working or safe load that a pile can carry, it is
necessary to apply factors of safety in order to limit the settlement to a
permissible value.
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Different authors apply various factors of safety to different pile conditions.
However the following values are generally accepted.
ultimate load
working load =
2.5
It is necessary to apply partial factors of safety to the ultimate base and shaft
resistance values
For London Clay, Burland (1966) suggests that providing an overall factor of
safety of 2 is obtained, partial factors on the shaft and base of 1 and 3
respectively should be applied, so that the working load, Qa is the smaller of :
Qs + Qb Qs Qb
Qa = OR Qa = +
2 1 3
The first expression governs the design of straight shafted piles and the second
governs the design of large under reamed piles.
For soils other than London Clay, e.g. Glacial Till (boulder clay), where there is
uncertainty about the effects of installation, ground conditions etc, higher factors
of safety should be used so that the working load Qa is smaller of :
Qs + Qb Qs Qb
Qa = OR Qa = +
2.5 1.5 3.5
Class example 7
Determine the length of a pile, 1200mm diameter, to support a working
load of 4500kN in a thick deposit of clay with an undrained shear
strength increasing linearly with depth from 55.0kN/m2 at ground level
and at 5.0kN/m2 per metre depth. Assume;
a. the top 1.0m of the pile does not support load due to
clay/concrete shrinkage
b. an adhesion factor, = 0.5; Nc = 9.0
c. factors of safety of 1.5 and 3.0 on the shaft load and
base load respectively.
[29.5m, say 30m]
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5.0 SUMMARY
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AS = surface area of pile in contact with the soil
BORED PILES
Boring holes in sands loosens an annulus of soil around the borehole, hence low bearing
capacity.
Analyse as if for a driven pile but using reduced values of σv', or use 1/3 of the base
resistance and 1/2 of the shaft resistance.
For London Clay, an overall F of S of 2.0 is obtained, with partial factors on the shaft
and base of 1 and 3 respectively, so that the working load, Qa is the smaller of:
Qs + Qb Qs Qb
Qa = OR Qa = +
2 1 3
The first expression governs the design of straight shafted piles and the second governs
the design of large under reamed piles.
For soils other than London Clay, where there is uncertainty about the effects of
installation, ground conditions etc, higher factors of safety should be used Qa is the
smaller of:
Qs + Qb Qs Qb
Qa = OR Qa = +
2.5 1.5 3.5
Note:
For negative skin friction, the above factors of safety are NOT applied to the
element of load acting against the pile resistance.
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REFERENCES
Poulos H G and Davis, E H (1980) Pile foundation analysis and design John Wiley
& Sons, New York.
Tomlinson, M J (1987) Pile design and construction practice 3rd Ed, Viewpoint
Publications, Palladian Publications Ltd.
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