Pile Foundation –

The Industrial Perspective

for University of Nottingham Malaysia
ICE Student Chapter

By
Ir. Dr. Gue Chang Shin
csgue@gnpgroup.com.my Date: 11th December 2021
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 Introduction

Take Away…..
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 Contents
➢Introduction
➢Procedures – Inception to Verifications
➢Design & Construction
Pop
➢Common Misconceptions Quizzes
➢Construction Issues
➢Case Studies
➢Summary

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 Introduction

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 Introduction
When To Use Pile Foundations?

➢ Inadequate Bearing Capacity of Shallow

Foundations
➢ To Reduce Excessive Settlement
➢ To Prevent Uplift Forces

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 Contents
➢Introduction
➢Procedures – Inception to Verifications
➢Design & Construction
➢Common Misconceptions
➢Construction Issues
➢Case Studies
➢Summary

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Procedures: Inception-Verifications

Site f’
Desk Study c’
Reconnaissance Subsurface SPT ’N’
Investigation
Interpretations
Optimisation of Soil
Parameters
Value
Engineering

Pile type, size,

length, capacity,
piling system

Verification Construction & Design

Supervision
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Procedures: Inception-Verifications
Initial Information:

• Type & Requirements of Superstructure

• Topography Map
• Proposed Platform Level (ie CUT or FILL)
• Geology of Area
• Previous Data or Case Histories
• Subsurface Investigation Planning
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Procedures: Inception-Verifications
Things To Look For at Site:
✓Accessibility & Constraints of Site
✓Adjacent Structures/Slopes, Rivers,
Boulders, etc
✓Adjacent Activities (eg. excavation)
✓Confirm Topography & Site Conditions
✓Any Other Observations that may
affect Design and Construction of
Foundation
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 Contents
➢Introduction
➢Procedures – Inception to Verifications
➢Design & Construction
➢Common Misconceptions
➢Construction Issues
➢Case Studies
➢Summary

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 Design & Construction
Basic pile foundation design – Single Pile Capacity

Q u = Qs + Q b Qu = ultimate bearing capacity

Qs = skin friction

Qb = end bearing
Overburden Soil Layer
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 Design & Construction

Allowable Pile Capacity is the minimum of :

1) Allowable Structural Capacity

2) Allowable Geotechnical Capacity

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 Design & Construction
Pile Structural Capacity Qall = Allowable pile
⚫ Concrete Pile capacity
Qall = 0.25 x fcu x Ac fcu = characteristic
strength of concrete
fy = yield strength of steel
⚫ Steel Pile
Ac = cross sectional area
Qall = 0.3 x fy x As of concrete
As = cross sectional area
of steel
⚫ Prestressed Concrete Pile
Qall = 0.25 (fcu – Prestress after loss) x Ac
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 Design & Construction
Pile Geotechnical Capacity
Semi-Empirical Method – Correlations with SPT’N’
Qsu Qbu
Qu,Geo = fs x As + fb x Ab
Qu,Geo = Ultimate geotechnical capacity of the pile
fs = Shaft resistance (as x SPT’N’), where as is the friction
factor
As = Surface area of pile shaft
fb = Base resistance of pile
Ab = Cross sectional area of pile base
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 Design & Construction
Single Pile Capacity Design
Based on Modified Meyerhof (1976)
Pile Geotechnical In In Cohesionless
Capacity Cohesive Soil Soil*
Ult. Shaft Friction  2.5N  2.0N
(Qsu)
Ult. Base capacity  250N or 9su  250 – 400N
(Qbu)
su = Undrained Shear Strength N = SPT’N’

*Note: Correlations for driven piles. Research by G&P indicates the correlations
may be too conservative for jack-in piles
Beware of base cleaning for bored piles!!
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 Design & Construction
• Base cleaning of bored piles
– Difficult and no practical
means of verification
during construction
• Minimal base contribution in
bored pile design, unless
proper base cleaning can be
assured and verified (or base
grouting, etc.)

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 Design & Construction

Variation of soil profile

at the site.

Borehole

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 Design & Construction
Variation of soil profile at the site.
What to do?

Hard Layer

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 Design & Construction
Variation of soil profile at the site.
Zoning and Grouping of Piles
27 m

15 m
21 m
12 m

12 m with preboring 10 m

Typical pile length in xx m from COL

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 Design & Construction
Factors Influencing Pile Selection:
➢Types of Piles Available in Market
➢Installation Method
➢Authority Requirements
➢Ground Conditions
➢Site Conditions & Constraints (eg. Accessibility)
➢Type and Magnitude of Loading
➢Development Programme & COST

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 Design & Construction
RC Square Piles
⚫Size : 150 to 400mm
⚫Lengths : up to 12m
⚫Structural Capacity : 25 to 185Ton
⚫Material : Grade 40MPa Concrete
or higher
⚫Joints: Welded
⚫Installation Method :
–Hydraulic Hammer
–Jack-In
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 Design & Construction
Pre-Stressed Concrete Spun Piles
⚫Size : 250 to 600mm (1000mm near shore)
⚫Lengths : up to 12m (Typical)
⚫Structural Capacity :
62-72 Tons & 276-394 Tons
⚫Material : Grade 80 & 90MPa
⚫Joints: Welded
⚫Installation Method :
–Hydraulic Hammer
–Jack-In
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 Design & Construction
Spun Piles Vs RC Square Piles
Spun Piles have …
•Better Bending Resistance
•Higher Axial Capacity
•Better Manufacturing Quality
•Able to Sustain Higher Driving Stresses
•Higher Tensile Capacity
•Easier to Check Integrity of Pile
•Similar cost as RC Square Piles
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 Design & Construction
Pile Installation Methods

•Diesel / Hydraulic / Drop Hammer

Driving
•Jacked-In
•Prebore then Drive/Jacked In

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 Limits of Driven & Jack-in piles?
• Jack-in piles up to 50N

• Jack-in piles with preboring

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 Design & Construction
Diesel drop Hydraulic
hammer driving hammer driving

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 Design & Construction
Jack-in piles

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 Design & Construction
Jack-in piles

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 Design & Construction
Bored Piles (Large Diameter Cast
In-Situ Piles)
• Size : 450mm to 2m
(Up to 3.0m for special case)
• Lengths : Varies
• Structural Capacity : 140Ton to 2750Tons
• Concrete Grade : 40MPa- (Tremie)
• Joints : None
• Installation Method : Drill then Cast-In-Situ
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 Drilling
Bored Pile Construction

Overburden Soil Layer

Bedrock
 Advance Drilling
Bored Pile Construction

Overburden Soil Layer

Bedrock
 Drilling & Advance
Bored Pile Construction
Casing

Overburden Soil Layer

Bedrock
 Drill to Bedrock
Bored Pile Construction

Overburden Soil Layer

Bedrock
 Lower
Borepile
Bored PileConstruction
Construction
Reinforcement
Cage

Overburden Soil Layer

Bedrock
 Lower Tremie
Bored Pile Construction
Chute

Overburden Soil Layer

Bedrock
 Pour Tremie
Bored Pile Construction
Concrete

Overburden Soil Layer

Bedrock
 Completed
Borepile
Bored PileConstruction
Construction
Borepile

Overburden Soil Layer

Bedrock
 Design & Construction
Bored Pile Construction
Bored Pile Drilling Machine

BG22
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 Design & Construction
Drilling

Lowering
reinforcement
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 Design & Construction
Place tremie concrete
Completed bored pile

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 Design & Construction
When to use which type of foundation ?

Cost Time

Site Soil
Constraint Condition

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 Design & Construction
Cost? Cost Increasing
•Hammer Driving
•Jacked-In
•Prebore Then Drive/Jacked In
•Bored piles

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 Design & Construction
Pile Verification Test? Why Need?
▪ Verify Safety Margin of Pile Design (Limit State Condition)
▪ Verify Settlement performance (Serviceability State Condition)
▪ Load Transfer Behaviour (Optimisation / Value Engineering)

Available Verification Tests

➢ Static Load Test
➢ Instrumented Test Pile (for Value Engineering)
➢ High Strain Dynamic Pile Test
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 Design & Construction
Maintained load test
✓ Accurate &
reliable result

❖ Time consuming
❖ Expensive
❖ Require a big
space
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 Design & Construction

VW Load Cell

Hydraulic Jack

Extensometer

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 Design & Construction
DYNAMIC PILE TEST
A method to obtain capacity and integrity
of piles through wave mechanics.
➢Hammer causes a downward
stress-wave in the pile
➢Soil resistance cause upward
stress-wave reflections
➢Stress-waves can be analysed by
measuring pile top force and
velocity
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Components Transducer

A pair of strain transducers obtain signals to

compute force, measurements from a pair of
accelerometers integrated to yield velocity
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 Design & Construction
DYNAMIC PILE TEST

✓Many piles can be tested in a day and much

lower cost compared to static load test.
✓Pre-selection of piles not required.
✓Minimal preparation required.
✓Major defects can be easily detected.
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 Design & Construction
DYNAMIC PILE TEST
Note:

Dynamic testing should not

replace the static load test
totally. Correlation needed to
be established.
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 Contents
➢Introduction
➢Procedures – Inception to Verifications
➢Design & Construction
➢Common Misconceptions
➢Construction Issues
➢Case Studies
➢Summary

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 Common Misconceptions

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 Common Misconceptions
Misconception in piling #1
Myth:
Pile Achieves Capacity When It is Set.

✓ Truth:
Pile May Only “Set” on Intermediate
Hard Layer BUT May Still Not Achieve
Required Capacity within Allowable
Settlement.
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 Common Misconceptions
Misconception in piling #2
Myth:
Dynamic Formulae such as Hiley’s Formula
Tells us the Capacity of the Pile

✓ Truth:
Pile Capacity can only be verified by using:
▪ Maintained (Static) Load Tests
▪ Dynamic Tests
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 Common Misconceptions
Misconception in piling #3
Myth:
Pile settlement at 2 times working load must
be less than certain magnitude (e.g. 38mm)

✓ Truth: The Answer is NO

Pile designed to Factor of Safety of 2.0.
Therefore, at 2 times working load:
•Pile expected to fail unless capacity under-
predicted significantly
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 Common Misconceptions
Pile Settlement Criteria
• Pile settlement criteria depends on
– Pile Size
– Pile Material (e.g. steel, concrete, etc.)
– Pile Length
• Unrealistic to adopt same settlement criteria
(e.g. 12.5mm at working load) for all piles
(regardless of length, size, etc.)

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 Common Misconceptions

Elastic compression of piles

• Depends on:
Elastic Compression = f (PL / AE)
➢P – Imposed load / pile working load
➢L – Pile Length
➢A – Cross-sectional Area of Pile
➢E – Elastic Modulus of Pile Material

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 Common Misconceptions

Actual recorded settlement of high-rise building :

20mm to 125mm
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 Common Misconceptions
1/150
Distortion is
more
important
than
settlement!

Angular Distortion d/L

d
L
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 Common Misconceptions
Misconception in piling #4
Myth:
Jack-in piles cannot be used for high-rise
buildings or in limestone formation

✓ Truth:
Jack-in piles can be used for high-rise buildings
and limestone formation
▪ With proper design and input from
experienced geotechnical engineer
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 Contents
➢Introduction
➢Procedures – Inception to Verifications
➢Design & Construction
➢Common Misconceptions
➢Construction Issues
➢Case Studies
➢Summary

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 Construction Issues

Murphy’s Law: Anything that can go wrong,

will go wrong

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Problems of
Defective pile shoe
defective pile head
& overdriving!
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Pile stacking
• Reject piles with cracks

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Failure in Soft Ground

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Presence of Cavity!

Solution
Detect Cavities through Cavity Probing then
perform Compaction Grouting

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 Construction Issues
Karstic features of Kuala Lumpur Limestone
(after Chan, S.F. & Hong, L.P. 1985)

Typical Limestone Bedrock

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CAVERN/CAVITY EXPOSED AFTER EXCAVATION

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Pile Sitting on
Limestone with
Cavity

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 Application of
Building Load

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 Application of
Building Load

Roof of Cavity starts to

Crack …

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 Building Collapse

Pile Plunges !

Collapse of Cavity Roof

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PILING IN FILL GROUND
Important Points to Note:
•High Consolidation Settlements If Original Ground is
Soft
•Uneven Settlement Due to Uneven Fill Thickness
•Collapse Settlement of Fill Layer If Not Compacted
Properly

Results in …
•Negative Skin Friction (NSF) & Crushing of Pile Due to
High Compressive Stresses
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Effect of NSF …

Reduction of Pile Carrying Capacity

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 Construction Issues
Effect of NSF …

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 Construction Issues
NSF Preventive Measures
• Avoid Filling
• Carry Out Surcharging
• Sleeve the Pile Shaft
• Slip Coating
• Reserve Capacity for NSF
• Allow for Larger Settlements

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 Settlement

Exposed Pile

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 Conventional Foundation for
Low Rise Buildings

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 Conventional Foundation for
Low Rise Buildings (Soil Settlement)

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 Comparison
Building on Piles Building on Piled Strips

Fill

25-30m
Soft
Clay
Strip
System

Stiff
Stratum
Hard Layer
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 Comparison (after settlement)
Building on Piles Building on Piled Strips

Fill

25-30m
Soft
Clay Strip
System

Stiff
Stratum
Hard Layer
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 Construction Issues
Beware of pile length issue -
TEMPERED measuring tape

✓Bring your own

measuring tape

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Beware of rock coring issues
Recommended definition of rock
coring to fulfill all three (3) criteria:

i. Change of tools to rock coring tools, and

ii. The rock materials shall be verified by
carrying out point load test on at least 3
rock samples to achieve minimum index
strength of x MPa(specify by the engineer)
iii. Recovered rock materials of more than 70%,
subject to site calibration
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Piling Supervision
•Ensure That Piles Are Stacked Properly
•Ensure that Piles are Vertical During Driving
•Keep Proper Piling Records
•Ensure Correct Pile Types and Sizes are Used
•Ensure Pile Joints are Properly Welded with NO GAPS
•Ensure Use of Correct Hammer Weights and Drop
Heights
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Proper Supervision ! Checklists

Standard Operating Procedures

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 Construction Issues
Failure of supervision

Failing to Provide Proper Supervision

WILL Result in
Higher Instances of Pile Damage
& Wastage
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 Uniform Building By
Law (UBBL)1984

Design Engineer is
Responsible for
Construction
Supervision!
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 Contents
➢Introduction
➢Procedures – Inception to Verifications
➢Design & Construction
➢Common Misconceptions
➢Construction Issues
➢Case Studies
➢Summary

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 Case Studies

Key points Value

Essence
Engineering

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 Case Studies
Bistari Condominiums, KL

Concrete Raft

Fill / Alluvium

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 Case Studies
Bistari Condominiums, KL
➢Alternative design has reduced the
foundation cost by more than 50%,
➢A saving of more than RM5 million.
➢An Award of Merit (1998) was given by
ACEM.

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 Case Studies

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Sunrise Solaris Mont’ Kiara
➢ Proposed change of building wall
position & basement layout.
➢ A saving of more than RM3 million.

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 Case Studies
Ground Level

Basement 1
Basement 2
Basement 3
Original
Basement 4

Basement 5

Ground Level

Basement 1

Alternative by G&P
Basement 2
Basement 3
Basement 4

BASEMENT OMITTED

Savings :
1. RS Wall omitted
2. Piling below RS Wall omitted
3. Reduce one level basement → Still same Carparks
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 Contents
➢Introduction
➢Procedures – Design to Verifications
➢Design & Construction
➢Common Misconceptions
➢Construction Issues
➢Case Studies
➢Summary

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 Summary

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 Summary
✓Pile foundation from
inception to verifications
✓Proper Subsurface Investigation
to establish the subsurface profile
✓Selection of Suitable Pile
✓Pile Design Concepts

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 Summary
✓Understand the common
misconceptions
✓Mitigate typical
construction issues
✓Importance of Piling
Supervision
✓Case Histories – Value
Engineering

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 Summary
Proper Geotechnical
Input & Design Avoid Common
Pitfalls

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 Summary
Always THINK
What Can Go Wrong!

Can it be Constructed
SAFELY & Performed
as Designed?

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 ON A FINAL NOTE
With regard to geotechnical engineering:
“There are no weak soils or rocks, there
are only weak engineers”.

Professor Heinz Brandl

Vice-President ISSMGE (1997 -2001)

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 Acknowledgments

▪ Colleagues at G&P

▪ Dato’ Ir. Dr. Gue See Sew

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 Summary

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 THANK YOU

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