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Ground Vibrations Associated With Installing Enlarged-Base Driven Cast-In-

Situ Piles

Article · March 2002

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 GROUND VIBRATIONS ASSOCIATED WITH INSTALLING ENLARGED-
BASE DRIVEN CAST-IN-SITU PILES
Mark B. Jaksa, Michael C. Griffith
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Adelaide University
Roger W. Grounds
Coffey Geosciences, Adelaide

ABSTRACT
Ground vibrations associated with pile construction have long been regarded as a significant drawback of driven piles.
This paper presents measured ground vibrations associated with the construction of enlarged-base driven cast-in-situ
piles. Data were obtained using servo accelerometers measuring acceleration in three orthogonal directions, and at
varying lateral distances from the driven pile. The accelerations are converted to peak particle velocities; the widely
accepted measure of ground-vibration damage. The peak particle velocities are compared to recommended maximum
values, data presented by others, as well as human perception of ground vibration. The maximum measured peak
particle velocity of 8.8 mm/s was associated with the development of the enlarged base, at a lateral distance of 3.5 m
from the pile. The data suggest that enlarged-base driven cast-in-situ piles can be used successfully in the urban
environment. The measurements are, however, site-specific and should be used with caution in different soil profiles.

1 INTRODUCTION
Enlarged-base driven cast-in-situ piles have several advantages over traditional bored piles and driven precast piles.
These include superior end-bearing capacity and settlement performance, less noise and vibration than other driven
piles due to bottom driving and, as driven piles do not allow elastic rebound, the load is carried more efficiently
(Tchepak 1986). However, noise and particularly ground vibration, are often regarded as significant drawbacks
associated with this type of pile construction. The aim of this paper is to present, discuss and compare measured ground
vibrations associated with the construction of enlarged-base driven cast-in-situ piles. Prior to presenting these data, it is
first necessary to discuss the sequence adopted in the construction of these piles, and the measure used to quantify
ground vibrations.

1.1 CONSTRUCTION SEQUENCE OF ENLARGED-BASE DRIVEN CAST-IN-SITU PILES

The construction sequence of enlarged-base driven cast-in-situ piles is shown in Figure l, and involves the following
stages (Tchepak 1986):

1. A layer of sand and gravel is placed at the base of a thick-walled temporary piling tube and compacted using a drop
hammer in order to form a plug;
2. The piling tube is driven into the ground by bottom driving on the compacted plug;
3. When the required founding level is reached (as determined from site investigation information and observations of
the driving resistance of the piling tube), the piling tube is restrained and the plug pushed out. The enlarged base is
subsequently formed by hammering out successive small charges of dry-mix concrete.
4. The drop hammer is then withdrawn from the piling tube and a cylindrical reinforcing cage is inserted. The
concrete shaft is then formed by filling the tube with a high slump concrete and then slowly withdrawing the tube.

1.2 QUANTIFYING GROUND VIBRATIONS

The commonly accepted criterion for quantifying damage as a result of ground vibration and human evaluation of
transient vibration is the peak particle velocity (Wiss 1981, Tchepak 1986, Standards Australia 1993). Ground vibration
is generally measured in three orthogonal directions, usually by means of accelerometers in the vertical, transverse and
longitudinal directions. The peak particle velocity is generally taken as the vector sum of these three directional
components (Standards Australia 1993, Amick and Gendreau 2000).

Several national and international bodies have published recommended maximum peak particle velocities for different
structural types. Amick and Gendreau (2000) presented a summary of these, as given in Table 1. In addition, Wiss
(1981) reported that, while damage to structures is important, it is rare that these ‘safe’ criteria are reached before
complaints or claims are filed. He stated that the human body is an excellent detector of vibration, but a poor measuring

Australian Geomechanics March 2002 67

VIBRATIONS ASSOCIATED WITH DRIVEN PILES JAKSA et al

device. Wiss (1981) reported that, for transient or impact vibration, the threshold of human perception is 0.3 mm/s,
becomes ‘disturbing’ at 7 mm/s and ‘very disturbing’ above approximately 25 mm/s. In addition, Wiss (1981)
presented a chart of measured ground vibrations associated with several different types of construction equipment,
including pile drivers. Wiss’ chart is reproduced in Figure 2.

2 FIELD STUDY
The ground vibration data associated with the installation of the enlarged-base driven cast-in-situ piles were obtained
from the site of the construction of the Institute of Medical and Veterinary Science Car Park Building, Frome Road,
Adelaide. The site is located within a region underlain by Torrens Alluvium, which consist of sediments deposited in a
1 km wide buried valley by the ancestral River Torrens (Selby and Lindsay 1982). Investigative drilling performed by
Coffey Geosciences (2000) identified two major units within the upper 14.5 metres:

• Unit 1: Upper Alluvial Soils, comprising very weak sandy clay, silty clay and sand. Approximate thickness of the
unit is 10.5 metres which varies across the site.
• Unit 2: Lower Alluvial Soils, comprising sandy gravel with some interbedded layers of gravelly sands. Standard
penetration tests indicated a dense to very-dense in situ condition. The base of the unit was not intersected over the
depth range investigated (14.5 m).

In this region the Tertiary sediments of the Blanche Point Formation and the South Maslin Sand generally underlie the
Torrens Alluvium (Selby and Lindsay 1982). The groundwater table was encountered at an approximate depth of 4.5 m
below the ground surface.

Figure 1: Construction sequence of enlarged-base driven cast-in-situ piles (Frankipile Australia).

Category Particle Velocity (mm/s)

Industrial Buildings 100
Buildings of Substantial Construction 100
Residential 50
Residential, New Construction 50
Residential, Poor Condition 25
Residential, Very Poor Condition 12.5
Buildings Visibly Damaged 4
Historic Buildings 3
Historic and Ancient Buildings 2

Table 1: Typical vibration criteria addressing building damage (Amick and Gendreau 2000).

68 Australian Geomechanics March 2002

VIBRATIONS ASSOCIATED WITH DRIVEN PILES JAKSA et al

Figure 2: Relative intensities of construction vibration as a function of lateral distance (Wiss 1981).

The enlarged-base driven cast-in-situ piles were driven until the piling tube reached the dense gravel layer (Unit 2).
The enlarged base was then formed within this layer. The pile driving equipment consisted of a 3.5 tonne hammer with
a 10 m drop and 10. 8 m long, 500 mm diameter piling tube.

Ground vibrations were measured in the vertical, transverse and longitudinal directions by means of three servo-
accelerometers mounted on a rigid base plate and seated on the ground surface. The data were acquired at a sampling
frequency of 1 kHz and an 11 Hz double –pole, low-pass filter was used to eliminate higher frequency noise,
particularly on-site traffic. Klopp and Griffith (1993) presented a summary of the dynamic characteristics of several
unreinforced masonry structures; those which are most likely to be affected by pile-induced ground vibrations. The
majority of these structures exhibited a natural frequency typically in the range 3 to7 Hz. Whilst an 11 Hz filter was
used, and was appropriate given the on-site conditions, it is nevertheless, possible that higher frequency vibrations (in
the range of 10 to 50 Hz) may cause damage, if present in sufficient amplitude. Measurements of ground vibrations
were obtained at horizontal distances of 3.5, 7, 15 and 30 metres from the driven pile. At each of these lateral distances
vibrations were measured throughout the complete pile construction sequence, that is, from pile driving at the ground
surface, to forming the pile’s enlarged base.

3 ANALYSIS, RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Particle velocities were calculated by integrating the measured acceleration time histories. Typical particle velocity
data are given in Figures 3 to 6.

The complete results of the ground vibration measurements, in terms of peak particle velocities with respect to depth of
the base of the piling tube and lateral distance from the pile, are shown in Figures 7 and 8. It can be seen from these
figures that the maximum measured peak particle velocity was 8.8 mm/s and was associated with the formation of the
enlarged base at a lateral distance of 3.5 m from the perimeter of the piling tube. In addition, Figures 7 and 8 show the
maximum peak particle velocities decrease with lateral distance, as one would expect and, at each lateral distance, the
maximum value measured was associated with the establishment of the enlarged bases.

Comparing this maximum value of 8.8 mm/s to the maximum recommended values shown in Table 1, indicate that the
pile driving activity would only be of concern to very sensitive structures such as ancient and historic buildings or
structures which are damaged or in poor condition. Whilst the majority of measurements are above the perception
threshold of 0.3 mm/s (Wiss 1981), only 3 measurements, recorded at a lateral distance of 3.5 m, are regarded as
‘disturbing.’

Australian Geomechanics March 2002 69

VIBRATIONS ASSOCIATED WITH DRIVEN PILES JAKSA et al

10
Particle Velocity (mm/s)

-5

-10
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Time (s)

Figure 3: Typical particle velocity time history – vertical direction (filtered).

10
Particle Velocity (mm/s)

-5

-10
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Time (s)

Figure 4: Typical particle velocity time history – transverse direction (filtered).

10
Particle Velocity (mm/s)

-5

-10
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Time (s)

Figure 5: Typical particle velocity time history – longitudinal direction (filtered).

70 Australian Geomechanics March 2002

VIBRATIONS ASSOCIATED WITH DRIVEN PILES JAKSA et al

10
Particle Velocity (mm/s)

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Time (s)

Figure 6: Resultant particle velocity time history for data in Figures 3 to 5 (filtered).

Peak Particle Velocity, Vmax (mm/s)

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
0

8 30 m 15 m 7m 3.5 m

9
Enlarged Base
10

Figure 7: Peak particle velocities plotted against depth of the piling tube base and lateral distance.
(The depth associated with the enlarged base is not shown to scale).

Attewell and Farmer (1973) observed that the pile driving involves the generation of compression waves that propagate
from the area of the pile toe and expand outwards over a spherical front. In addition, vertical shear waves emanate from
shaft friction around a conical surface. Figure 9 shows the variation of particle motions with time for the data presented
in Figures 3 to 6. It is evident from Figure 9 that the motion is predominantly vertical, as one would expect with driven
friction piles (Kim and Lee 2000). As a result, the vibration source can be regarded as a point source generating body
waves and the travel distance can be approximated to the horizontal distance (Kim and Lee 2000).

Australian Geomechanics March 2002 71

VIBRATIONS ASSOCIATED WITH DRIVEN PILES JAKSA et al

Lateral Distance (m)

3.5 5 10 15 20 25 30
0
9
1
8
2
7
3
6
4
5
5
4
6 3

7 2

8 1

9 0
9.5

Figure 8: Longitudinal cross-section of contours of peak particle velocities.

10 Vertical 10 Vertical
(mm/s) (mm/s)

5 5

0 0
-10 -5 0 5 10 -10 -5 0 5 10
Transverse Longitudinal
(mm/s) (mm/s)
-5 -5

-10 -10

Figure 9: Particle motion associated with installing enlarged-base driven cast-in-situ piles.

Figure 10 superimposes the data from Figure 7 on to Wiss’ Chart (Figure 2). In addition, Figure 10 includes the upper-
bound envelope of a large number of ground vibration measurements, related to pile driving, and reported by Tchepak
(1986). It can be seen from this figure that all of the measured values are in the vicinity of, but plot below, both of
Wiss’ pile-related relationships, as well as Tchepak’s upper-bound envelope.

4 CONCLUSIONS
The paper has presented measurements of ground vibration associated with the construction of enlarged-base driven
cast-in-situ piles. Data were obtained using servo accelerometers measuring acceleration in three orthogonal directions,
and at varying lateral distances from the driven pile. Vibration was found to be predominantly vertical, as one would
expect for this type of pile. The measured peak particle velocities are in general agreement with data published by
others, and the maximum measured peak particle velocity of 8.8 mm/s was associated with the development of the
enlarged base, at a lateral distance of 3.5 m from the pile. This maximum peak particle velocity may result in damage
to ancient or historic buildings, or structures which are damaged or in poor condition. As expected, the measured
vibrations decreased with increasing lateral distance from the pile. At a distance of 15 m, the measured peak particle
velocities were significantly lower than the threshold value which would be expected to cause damage to visibly-

72 Australian Geomechanics March 2002

 VIBRATIONS ASSOCIATED WITH DRIVEN PILES JAKSA et al

damaged structures. The data presented herein suggest that enlarged-base driven cast-in-situ piles can be used
successfully in the urban environment. The measurements are, however, site-specific and should be used with caution
in different soil profiles.

Figure 10: Comparison of measured peak particle velocities.

5 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors are grateful to Ian Cates from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Adelaide
University, for his instrumentation expertise and assistance; McMillan Contracting and, in particular, Richard Bartlett
and Kerry Clunes, for enabling the data to be acquired; John Hindmarsh (South Australia) for providing access to the
site; and Frankipile Australia for allowing Figure 1 to be reproduced. Comments by Bob Whiteley, Coffey
Geosciences, Sydney, are also gratefully acknowledged.

6 REFERENCES
Amick, H. and Gendreau, M. (2000). Construction Vibrations and Their Impact on Vibration-Sensitive Facilities.
Proc. Construction Congress 6, ASCE, Orlando, Florida, February, pp. 758–767.
Attewell, P. B. and Farmer, I. W. (1973). Attenuation of Ground Vibrations from Pile Driving. Ground Engineering,
Vol. 6, No. 4, pp. 26–29.
Coffey Geosciences (2000). Geotechnical Investigation Report, IMVS Car Park Building, Frome Road, A3211/2
(unpublished).
Frankipile Australia (undated). Franki Piles Brochure, Sydney, NSW.
Kim, D.-S. and Lee, J.-S. (2000). Propagation and Attenuation Characteristics of Various Ground Vibrations. Soil
Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, Vol. 19, pp. 115–126.
Klopp, G. M. and Griffith, M. C. (1993). Dynamic Characteristics of Unreinforced Masonry Buildings. Australian
Civil Engineering Transactions, I.E.Aust., Vol. CE35, No. 1, pp. 59–68.
Selby, J. and Lindsay, J. M. (1982). Engineering Geology of the Adelaide City Area. Bulletin 51, S.A. Dept. Mines
and Energy, Adelaide.
Standards Australia (1993). Explosives – Storage, Transport and Use, Part 2: Use of Explosives, AS 2187.2.
Tchepak, S. (1986). Design and Construction Aspects of Enlarged Base Frankipiles. Speciality Geomechanics
Symposium, Adelaide, August, pp. 160–165.
Wiss, J. F. (1981). Construction Vibrations: State of the Art. Journal of the Geotechnical Division, ASCE, Vol. 94 No.
9, pp. 167–181.

Australian Geomechanics March 2002 73

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