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Splicing of Precast Prestressed Concrete Piles Part I - Review and Performance of Splices PDF
Splicing of Precast Prestressed Concrete Piles Part I - Review and Performance of Splices PDF
PRESTRESSED CONCRETE
PILES: PART I-REVIEW
AND PERFORMANCE
OF SPLICES
Robert N. Bruce, Jr., PhD
Professor of Civil Engineering
Tulane University
New Orleans, Louisiana
David C. Hebert
Research Assistant
Civil Engineering Department
Tulane University
New Orleans, Louisiana
70
Robert N. Bruce, Jr. David C. Hebert
72
Severinsson, S., AB Scanpile. 13. Dowel Splice (USA)
Sheppard, David A., Blakeslee Prestressed 14. Macalloy Splice (Great Britain)
Concrete. 15. Mouton Splice (USA)
Shideler, J. J., Portland Cement Associa- 16. Raymond Wedge Splice (USA)
tion. 17. Pile Coupler Splice (USA)
Siess, C. P., University of Illinois. Nilsson Splice (Sweden)
Sjostrom, Orjan, Stabilator AB. 18.
Stone, John, Belden Concrete Products 19. Wennstrom Splice (Sweden)
Corporation. 20. Pogonowski Splice (USA)
Talbot, W. J. Jr., Santa Fe-Pomeroy, Inc.
Thorburn, J. Q., Logistics Limited. Description of Individual Splices
Trueblood, C. B., Armco Steel Corporation.
Thanks are expressed to John Dane III, The purpose of this section is to pro-
Gerald W. Hanafy, Charles H. McGee, vide specific information concerning
Robert J. Motchkavitz, and Daniel B. Nash, each individual splice. This information
students in the Tulane University Depart- includes the origin, fabrication, con-
ment of Civil Engineering. The manuscript struction, and use of the splice. Each
was prepared by Mrs. Donna Pickens. of the above splices was analyzed and
evaluated and compared in terms of
several parameters. Basic considerations
PILE SPLICES included size range, field time for splic-
PRESENTLY IN USE ing, approximate cost, availability, and
construction usage.
Introductory Remarks The evaluation based on performance
Twenty pile splices are discussed in data included driving performance;
this section. Though each splice has compression, tension, and flexural re-
unique and distinct characteristics, the sistance; fatigue; and corrosion resis-
splices investigated could be catego- tance. The evaluation was based on ac-
rized generally as follows: tual experimental data obtained from
1. Welded Splices tests on specific splices. Where no test
2. Bolted Splices data was available (as was the case with
3. Mechanical Locking Splices a few splices), theoretical analyses were
4. Connector Ring Splices made.
5. Wedge Splices The tests included driving tests un-
6. Sleeve Splices der variable conditions, extractions of
7. Dowel Splices piles, and flexural and shear testing of
8, Post-Tensioned Splices the full-sized extracted piles. Drawings
Those specific splices that form the of each splice are provided to show the
basis of this investigation included: basic concept of the splice, but are not
1. Marier Splice (Canada) intended to describe particular engi-
2. Herkules Splice (Sweden) neering details.
3. ABB Splice (Sweden) The data used to establish the evalu-
4. NCS Splice (Japan) ation of individual splices was fur-
5. Tokyu Splice (Japan) nished, for a considerable part, by fab-
6. Raymond Cylinder Splice (USA) ricators, designers, and proponents of a
7. Bolognesi-Moretto Splice (Ar- given splice. Most of the splices were
gentina) proprietary, having one or more pat-
8. Japanese Bolted Splice (Japan) ents, United States or otherwise. The
9. Brunspile Connector Ring (USA) data furnished was generally favorable.
10. Anderson Splice (USA) Data reflecting unsatisfactory per-
11. Fuentes Splice (Puerto Rico) formance was difficult to obtain. A sta-
12. Hamilton Splice (USA) tus report of the investigation was pre-
74
Scanpile reports 30 million ft of Her- 4. The splice is manufactured in con-
kules piles have been used with the junction with the NCS prestressed con-
Herkules splice over the past 10 years .3 crete piles. These piles are prestressed
by the pretensioning method. The pre-
ABB Splice stressing strands are tensioned; then the
The ABB splice, shown in Fig. 3, is a piles are centrifugally spun.
mechanical splice. It is used primarily The NCS splice consists of two steel
for square piling but may also be used caps cast into the ends of the sections
with round, hexagonal, octagonal, or to be spliced. The caps are connected
hollow cross sections. The ABB splice to the pile tips in two ways. First, the
is used on conventionally reinforced pil- caps have dowel bars attached to an-
ing, but it can be adapted to prestressed chor the cap to the pile. The number
concrete piles. and length of the dowels is a function
The upper and lower pile sections are of the pile dimension and strength. Sec-
identical. The splice consists of lock- ondly, the prestressing strands are me-
blocks welded to the reinforcing rods chanically fastened to the steel cap by
and cast with the piles. Reports indicate use of a buttonhead. The buttonhead
that the reinforcing rods are not weak- can be seen in Fig. 4 at the tip of the
ened by the weld, and the joint is at pile section. This procedure is unique
least as strong as the reinforcement. in that the full prestress of the pile is
The block is coated with a corrosive carried into the end of the pile section.
protective material to insure long life of The bottom section is driven down,
the pile. and the top section is properly aligned
A special driving shoe is required to on it. The sections are then welded to-
protect the protruding joint block dur- gether with a groove weld. Nippon
ing driving. The top section is aligned Concrete Systems has developed three
properly and lowered into the bottom methods of welding the joint: (1) hand
pile section. The splice is completed by operated, (2) semi-automatic, or (3) full-
driving special locking pins into the automatic joint welding. Corrosion is
joint blocks, which remain in place. accounted for by increasing the size of
When in position, the locking pins ex- the groove weld.
ert stresses in the joint blocks which The Nippon Concrete Industries re-
draw together the ends of the pile sec- ports excellent performance of the
tions. The face of the splice is pre- splice. 5 The company has constructed a
stressed to some extent. The time re- plant in Everett, Washington, for the
quired to complete the splice is mini- manufacture of the NCS piles and
mal, and the procedure is simple. splices. Acceptance and usage of the
The ABB splice is manufactured and NCS splice is anticipated in the Pacific
patented by the Stabilator firm of Swe- Northwest.
den.4 According to reports, the ABB
and Herkules splices cover the need of Tokyu Splice
pile joints on the Scandinavian and The Tokyu splice is a welded splice
Western European markets. Stabilator used in conjunction with piles pre-
reports the strength and rigidity of their stressed with steel bars instead of
joint is equal to that of a continuous strands. Seventy percent of the bars are
pile. low carbon steel hardened by high fre-
quency electricity; the remaining 30
NCS Splice percent are high carbon steel bars hard-
The Nippon Concrete Systems (NCS) ened by drawing. This splice is shown
splice is a welded splice shown in Fig. in Fig. 5.
76
The bottom section is driven down to the two sections together in preparation
a splicing position. The top section is set for additional driving. Reports indicate
on the bottom plate and aligned. The that the tightening of the bolts pre-
two plates are then welded together stresses the face of the splice to some
with a fillet weld. An epoxy cover pro- extent.9
tection is spread over the weld and The bolted splice is made in Japan
splice area. This is done to protect the and can be used for various sizes of
splice from corrosion. Driving is then piling. Nippon Concrete Industries, Co.,
resumed. Ltd., produces the bolted splice in con-
Bolognesi-Moretto Consulting Engi- junction with its precast reinforced con-
neers of Buenos Aires, Argentina, de- crete piles. Consideration should be giv-
signed and patented the splice. Reports en to corrosive effects, since the steel in
indicate the the splice can be completed the splice is exposed.
within 30 to 40 minutes.8 Drawings il-
lustrate the splice used for 15-in. square Brunspile Connector Ring
reinforced concrete piles. Test data as The Brunspile connector ring is a
to the performance of this splice were wedge splice used to join prestressed
not available at the time of this report. concrete piles. 10 Prior preparation of
the Brunspile consists of casting a round
Japanese Bolted Splice steel ferrule at the end of the pile. Small
The Japanese bolted splice is shown tolerances must be met in the fabrica-
in Fig. 8. It is presently used in the tion of the connector ring. A good fit of
splicing of reinforced concrete piling. the ring to the steel ferrules is necessary
It is included in this study because of for the proper performance of the
its adaptability to prestressed concrete splice.
piling. The principle of the bolted splice The Brunspile connector ring acts as
is simple, but the details are relatively a wedging sleeve, as shown in Fig. 9. In
elaborate. the field, the bottom pile section is driv-
Preparations for the bolted splice in- en down, leaving the steel ferrule ex-
volve the casting of two steel pieces into posed. The wedge connector is then
the ends of the piling. Both pieces are tapped onto the steel ferrule. A 1-in.
fastened to the ten reinforcing bars of impact plate is placed between the pile
the piling. The bottom splice piece also sections within the connector ring. The
has ten dowel bars attached which top pile section is guided into the seat-
serve as additional anchorage for the ed connector ring. At this point, driving
splice. The upper splice section has is begun. Initial blows of the pile driver
eight dowel bars which provide addi- wedge the sections together, complet-
tional anchorage to the pile section. ing the splice.
Eight bolts, which are extensions of The Brunspile connector ring is dis-
the eight dowel bars, protrude from the tributed by the Associated Pile and Fit-
splice section. ting Corporation and Belden Concrete
The field work involves the driving of Products Co., Inc. Both the Brunspile
the bottom pile section in place. Tests and the Brunspile connector ring are
performed on this splice emphasize the covered by United States patents. The
care necessary in choosing a cushion connector ring has been used extensive-
material and in driving the pile sections. ly and satisfactorily by Associated Pile
The top pile is guided into place over and Fitting Corporation with steel pipe
the lower section. The eight bolts act piles. Its use has not been as extensive
as stabbing guides during splicing. The with prestressed concrete piles. The
eight bolts are then fastened, locking connector ring was not designed as a
78
the welding of gusset plates. These ex- holes may be cast with the pile or
tensions are used to receive the bolts drilled in the field if necessary. The top
which clamp the semi-circular sections section is cast with the dowel bars in
together. This arrangement is shown the end of the pile, as shown in the fig-
clearly in Fig. 12. ure. The number and length of dowel
In the field, the lower pile section is bars is dependent on the pile size and
driven in a normal procedure. The top structural capacity.
section is lowered into position and then The bottom section is driven with no
properly aligned. The sleeve sections special consideration. The top section,
are positioned around the joint. Bolts with the dowels protruding from the
are threaded through the holes and are end, is guided and set in position over
tightened with torque wrenches. Time the bottom section. The dowels act as
required to complete the splice is one stabbing guides. Once in position, a thin
hour to ninety minutes. sheet metal form is placed around the
The Hamilton Form Company of splice. The cementing material is then
Fort Worth, Texas, designed the splice poured, filling the holes of the bottom
for the piles of the McBride Bridge in section and the small space between the
British Columbia, Canada. The original piles. The form can be removed after
design called for a 1/4 -in, thick sleeve, 15 minutes and driving resumed.
but this was increased to 3/s in. at the The splice is not patented. It has
request of the British Columbia Depart- been used in New York14 and Florida.15
ment of Highways. The piles were driv-
en in —30 F temperatures. Macalloy Splice
Reports point out the fact that the The Macalloy splice is a post-ten-
pile withstood an axial pull of 550 kips sioned splice,ls applied to prestressed
and was tested in flexure until visible and reinforced concrete piling. Macal-
cracking of the pile occurred. 13 A pat- loy prestressing bars are coupled con-
ent was never applied for, so the splice tinuously across the joint, fully pre-
is public domain. stressing it.
Preparation is extensive. The lower
Cement-Dowel Splice section is cast with 1 1/z-in. grouting
The cement-dowel splice is shown in ducts to contain the Macalloy bars and
Fig. 13. A variation of this splice is the with holes at the pile ends to receive
epoxy-dowel splice. The concept of the the dowels from the top section. The
splice is simple. The choice of materials bars are anchored to the bottom section
used to anchor the dowels to the pilings by a sleeve at the ends of the bars, and
is of prime importance. Some materials they extend out from the top of the pile.
are effective in anchoring the dowels, The top section is cast with 1%-in.
but require an excessive setting time, grouting ducts and high-tensile strength
therein disrupting driving. Other ma- dowels. Macalloy bars are then thread-
terials set quickly but are ineffective in ed through these ducts. Details of the
anchoring the dowels or withstanding splice are shown in Fig. 14.
driving forces. A special driving helmet is needed to
The cement-dowel splice in this in- protect the protruding Macalloy bars in
vestigation was made using Florok Plas- the bottom section. After driving the
ticized Cement, manufactured by the bottom section, the top section is posi-
Chargar Corporation of Hamden, Con- tioned over the bottom; and threaded
necticut. Macalloy bars are then screwed into
The bottom section of the splice has mechanical couplers. A jointing com-
holes which receive the dowels. These pound is spread over the head of the
80
Pile Coupler Splice ized in the cost of production of the fit-
The Pile Coupler Splice shown in tings.
Fig. 17 was developed and tested in The portions of the fitting which ac-
1974, and consists of a steel split ring complish the interlocking are provided
connector which is used to join two with undercut edges which engage each
lengths of prestressed concrete piling. other by means of a sliding ability.
Prior preparation of the Pile Coupler The jointing plates are provided with
Splice includes the casting and anchor- recesses which, in interlocked position,
ing of steel plates into the ends of the are so located that they face each other
sections to be connected. Studs are used for the purpose of forming a channel
to anchor the splice plates. into which a locking bar is placed to
The tension band split ring connector lock the two sections together.
can be in one piece, or it can be fabri- The Nilsson Splice is capable of de-
cated in two pieces. The connecting veloping the strength of the prestressed
band is C-shaped and fits into grooves concrete pile, provided that it is prop-
in the steel plates. A good fit of the con- erly anchored to the pile section by
necting band to the steel plates is nec- means of the steel sleeve shown in the
essary for the proper performance of figure. The field time required to make
the splice. the splice is approximately 20 minutes.
In the field, the bottom pile section The splice is shown for circular piles,
is driven, leaving the steel plate ex- but can be adapted for piles of other
posed. The top pile section is guided cross section configurations.
onto the bottom section by a dowel, and
the connecting band is fitted to the bot- Wennstrom Splice
tom and top pile sections. The connec- The Wennstrom Splice is a wedge
tor band is then closed with a double splice which was invented by Elof Al-
beveled weld. got Wennstrom of Orebro, Sweden, and
The Pile Coupler Splice was devel- is schematically illustrated in Fig. 19.
oped and tested by Marine Concrete Opposing steel plates are anchored
Structures, Inc.; and a United States into the pile section to be spliced. These
patent has been applied for. Tests indi- steel plates are provided with register-
cate that the splice, if properly an- ing grooves which extend inwardly
chored, is effective in developing the from the edges of the steel plate mem-
strength of the prestressed concrete bers and are of dovetailed cross section.
pile. The grooves are designed to accomo-
date the locking wedges shown, which
are of double dovetail configuration in
Nilsson Splice cross section. At their inner ends, the
The Nilsson Splice was developed wedges have projections which cooper-
and patented by Jan Nilsson and Sten ate with curved recesses at the inner
Nilsson, and is illustrated schematically ends of the grooves. As a result, the
in Fig. 18. It consists of two steel plates wedges when driven into the grooves
which are mutually similar and comple- will be reliably anchored to the plate-
mentary to each other in such a manner shaped members.
that each one of the plates can be fitted It is reported that the driven wedges
and engaged to the corresponding plate are so anchored that there is no possi-
on the end of the other pile section. bility of the wedges coming loose and
Since the two fittings forming the joint sliding out.
are mutually alike, the jointing work is The analysis of this splice indicates
simplified, and economies can be real- that it is effective in developing the
82
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GASTON MARIER
P.O. BOX 549
PRINCEVILLE
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GROSVENOR GARDENS
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N FIG. 17 PILE COUPLER SPLICE FIG. 18 NILSSON SPLICE
to
Strength
Approximate Approximate
Name of Splice Type Origin Size Range, Field Time, Percent Percent Percent
in. (cm) min. Compressive Tensile Flexural
Cracking
96
6. Tokyu Concrete Industry Co., Ltd., Company, Inc., Letter to Robert N.
"Experimental Study on Structural Bruce, Jr., August 16, 1972.
Characteristics of Joint for Tokyu 14. Goldberg, Donald, Goodkind &
Systems PC Pile," Tokyo, Japan, O'Dea, Inc., Letter to Robert N.
1968. Bruce, Jr., July 25, 1972.
15 Alberdi, T., State of Florida De-
7. Bruce, Robert N., Jr., "Cast Steel
Driving Splice for 36-in. O.D. Cy- partment of Transportation, Letter
linder Pile," Metairie, Louisiana, to Gerald Hanafy, December 1,
August, 1958. 1971.
1.6 Britt, G. B., "Rapid Extension of
8. Moretto, 0., Bolognesi-Moretto Reinforced and Prestressed Con-
Consulting Engineers, Letter to crete Piles," Concrete (London),
Robert N. Bruce, Jr., June 8, 1973. Vol. 5, No. 1, January 1971.
9. Research Committee for the Struc- 17 Andrews, D. A., The Concrete So-
ture of Joints of Concrete Piles, ciety, Letter to Robert N. Bruce,
"The Test Research on the Struc- Jr., November 13, 1972.
ture of Joints of Precast Concrete 18. Mouton, William J. Jr., "Sectional
Piles," Reference No. 1/72, Tokyo, Pile and Coupling Means," U.S.
Japan, April, 1968. Patent No. 3,651,653, March 28,
10. Belden Concrete Products Corpora- 1972.
tion, "Brunspile," U.S. Patent No. 19. Fuller, F. M., Raymond Interna-
2,983-104, Metairie, Louisiana. tional, Inc., Letter to Gerald Hana-
11. Banks, Paul I., Hawaiian Dredging fy, November 29, 1971.
and Construction Company, Letter 20 Alley, E. W., "Long Prestressed
to Robert N. Bruce, Jr., July 13, Piles," Civil Engineering—ASCE,
1972. Vol. 40, No. 4, April 1970.
12. Fuentes, "Fuentes Concrete Pile," 21. ACI Committee 543, "Recommen-
U.S. Patent No. 2,698,519 and dations for Design, Manufacture,
others, Bayamon, Puerto Rico, and Installation of Concrete Piles,"
1970. ACI Journal, Proceedings Vol. 70,
13. McCalla, W. T., Hamilton Form No. 8, August 1973.