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6 common issues that can occur when driving piles and how PDM can help
solve them
Blog13 October 2020
Pile Driving Monitoring (PDM) is often overlooked on projects until something goes wrong, but why not make it part of the schedule from
the beginning? In this article you’ll discover 6 common issues that can occur when driving piles on site and how PDM can help solve them.
Often, these problems are addressed retrospectively and the G-Octopus team have experience assessing in-situ pile capacity
in case of premature pile refusal. But instead of trying to fix an issue once it’s already occurred, why not include it early?
Carrying out numerical analysis to simulate the buckling conditions can lower the construction risk considerably.
anomalies. If the integrity of the pile is damaged, it’s likely to cause problems with
the remaining structure installation.
Pile driving monitoring and specifically using fibre optic sensors, is a reliable method of monitoring the integrity of an entire
pile. When compared to standard pile driving monitoring which only provides an estimate of the distribution of resistance
along the shaft, fibre optic sensors allow stresses to be measured during driving over the entire length of the pile, providing
more accurate results from top to bottom to help inform the installation process.
Pile monitoring and acceptance procedures can help to overcome issues like unusual soil profiles and long-term creep
behaviour without the need to bring in longer, or shorter piles, saving a project both time and cost.
4. It’s taking more or less strikes than expected to drive the pile to the right depth
In this situation, pile driving monitoring can help to assess the pile behaviour. It can provide key elements for calculating the
soil resistance at the time of monitoring as well as information and on driving system performance.
If the piles don’t drive as expected, it can cause unwanted problems and delays for the contractor.
Drawing on the experience of a team dedicated to deep foundation testing and monitoring means they know the best
methods to use to avoid project delays such as undertaking numerical analyses to accurately simulate the test.
Finally, although this issue is a little more unusual, and dependent on location, sometimes piles need to be approved on site
and fit certain criteria as required by standards, such as the Eurocode.
By engaging specialists in PDM, their experience means they have the expertise to devise and set up pile testing procedures
specific to the site. They’ll make sure all possible installation cases are allowed for, have staff available 24/7 to confirm the
final pile installation and all without causing delays to the project.
Even projects that look simple in theory can come across problems during construction. By involving pile driving
monitoring from the beginning, you’ll have the information you need to progress according to plan, reduced risk and
if the unexpected does occur, a team of experts to draw on their expertise to find a solution, quickly.
Source: Figure 1 – Widening a harbor basin, demolition of a deep see quay wall in Rotterdam, the challenge of ever growing
ships at the ETC Delta; Erik Broos, Rob Sibbes, Jarit de Gijt, (2017).
If you’d like to get in touch with our team they’d be happy to help or sign up to our mailing list for more case studies
and articles!
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