Assessment of time effects on capacities of large-scale piles driven in dense sands

Abstract

This paper considers the axial resistances of open-ended, highly instrumented, 763 mm diameter steel pipe piles driven in sands for the EURIPIDES (EURopean Initiative on PIles in DEnse Sands) project at a well-characterized research site at Eemshaven, in the northern Netherlands. It offers new analyses of previously unreported dynamic tests and considers their relationship with four heavily instrumented static compression tests. Rigorous signal matching employing two distinct pile–soil interaction models is reported, supported by careful sensitivity analyses, to interpret the recorded driving signals. The back-calculated shaft resistance profiles show good agreement between the models as well as calculations performed with a global wave equation analysis approach. The study highlights the need to account for the internal soil column resistance. The combined interpretation of the dynamic and static test data indicates a 50% gain in shaft resistance over the 10 days after driving and threefold shaft capacity growth over a total period of 533 days after driving. The outcomes have important implications for driven pile design and field quality monitoring; the case history contributes an important benchmark in the study of long-term set-up trends.