Rock socket piles at Coventry Point, Market Way, Coventry

IL W. COLE* and M. A. STROUD*

Coventry Point, Market Way, Coventry, comprises two interlinked ofice blocks of $fteen and
sixteen storeys placed in the already highly developed pedestrian mall layout of the city centre.
One of the blocks is situated directly over the Market Way mall and, to keep obstruction to a
minimum, is confined to lift shafts and staircase area at ground level. The other block is conven-
tional, but both blocks derive common support against wind loads via a link structure. The
ground is up to 5 m offil andfirm silty sandy clay overlying the Enville beds of Upper Carboni-
ferous age. These latter consist of siltstones and sandstones of varying strength, interbedded with
bands of mudstone extensively weathered. The selection of the foundation was dictated by the
physical site conditions and the need to keep nuisance to a minimum. Piers to rock would have
been suitable but unnecessarily expensive for the whole project, whereas rock socket piles pro-
vided the necessary support andflexibility leading to economy in design. Factual information on
the design of rock socket piles was limited, so a very thorough review of all design information from
the site investigation and trialpile test was made and both the investigation and construction were
carried out under constant supervision by the Engineer. The design has been reviewed in the
light of the measured performance. From this review, it has been shown that the performance
is consistent with recent published information on weak rocks.

L’operation Coventry Point, Market Way, ci Coventry, comprend deux tours pour bureaux inter-
connectees de quinze et seize &ages, situees dans le mail pour pietons deja fortement de’veloppe, du
centre ville. Une des tours est sit&e directement au-dessus du mail du Market Way et, pour
assurer un minimum d’encombrement est limit&eau niveau du sol, a des cages d’ascenseurs et aux
superficies pour escaliers. L’autre tour est classique mais toutes les deux presentent un support
commun pour resister au vent. Le sol est est constitue’jusqu’h 5 m de remblai et d’argile ferme
limoneuse sableuse, recouvrant les couches d’Enville d’age Carbontfere Supbieur. Ces dernieres
comprennent du grb fin et du gres, de resistances variables, entre-coup&es de couches de limon
compact trbs alterre’es. Le type de fondation etait command6 par la situation physique du
chantier et la necessite’ de maintenir les nuisances d un minimum. Des puits fond&s sur le rocher
auraient e’te’convenables mais inutilement coliteux pour l’ensemble du projet, tandis que des pieux
a emboitures sur le rocher ont fourni le support et 1aJIexibilitP ne’cessaires, entrainant des econo-
mies dans le projet. Une information effective sur le calcul des pieux d emboiture, Ptait limit&e,
done une recapitulation tres complete de tome information en provenance de la reconnaissance du
sol et de l’experience d’essai de pieu a e’te’faite et la reconnaissance aussi bien que la construction
ont e’te’eflectuees sous la supervision constante dun ingenieur. Le projet a 6% revu en fonction
des resultats obtenus. A partir de cette refonte, il a ete’ demontre’ que la performance correspond
bien avec les informations publie’es recemment au sujet de roches tendres.

* Ove Amp and Partners, 13 Fitzroy Street, London.

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 K. W. COLE AND M. A. STROUD

Marker Way
pederirian mall
British Home Storer

BLOCK 6
,____ _,_i___‘
/ eB2 ‘\
1 O?
,,t---7__I----,
/
4 ,F _ A _

-~64- - t- - -
Solid wall

@ Boreholes (Bl to 5)
0 Piles (for sizes see Table I;
letters are pile references)
b Setrlemenr survey point

Fig. 1. Coventry Point: plan of site

Coventry Point is a medium rise office development placed squarely across the already well
established pedestrian mall adjacent to the Barracks Car Park. The introduction of the two
substantial tower blocks into an essentially pedestrian area amid existing low rise commercial
premises inevitably created difficulties, not the least of which were the physical restraints to
access and cranage.
The plan in Fig. 1 shows the existing properties, the access route and the layout of the piled
foundations with the main vertical structural elements superimposed. As may be seen from
Fig. 2 the western tower block B of 16 storeys has a severely restricted plan area at pavement
level and the upper 14 storeys are supported on cantilevers. Block A of 15 storeys has a more
conventional layout, and the two structures are linked by an eleven storey high bridge cen-
trally supported at second floor level by a pair of columns.
Conventional shear walls resist north-south wind loads, but both blocks derive common
support against east-west wind loads from the solid wall across the northern end of block A
(Fig. 1) so the relative settlement of each structure was required to be compatible.
To the east of block A, there is a two storey extension to the structure and, although it was
possible to provide a movement joint between this and block A, the differential settlements
between the two were required to be small.

GEOLOGY
From the published information and data from adjacent sites it was evident that the suc-
cession was fill and silty sandy clay to a depth of about 5 m overlying the siltstones and sand-
stones of the Enville Beds of Upper Carboniferous age. The Enville Beds are variable in

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 PILES IN WEAK ROCK 49

Woolworth’s

Barracks

Fill overlying
silty randy clay

Enville beds

BLOCK B BLOCK A

Fig. 2. Coventry Point: elevation on line of section shown in Fig. 1

lithology both laterally and vertically and were known to contain bands of mudstone, which
together with the argillaceous siltstones might be extensively weathered to soil consistencies.

SITE INVESTIGATION
The first four boreholes, B1-4 on Fig. 1, were made during the design stage and were
continuously supervised by the design team. The most significant results are shown in Fig. 3.
Boreholes Bl-3 were made using conventional percussion boring (soft ground) to depths of
lo-11 m. Borehole B3 was also rotary drilled immediately adjacent to the soft ground bore
to obtain core between 6 and 30 m below ground level and borehole B4 was rotary drilled to
obtain core between 5 and 255 m below ground level.
In the soft ground holes, a few open drive 100 mm diameter undisturbed samples were
obtained in the fill and silty sandy clay, to depths of 5 m. Throughout the depth of the soft
ground holes frequent (O-75m intervals) penetration tests using the SPT tool were made.
Below a depth of 5 m the standard penetration tests could not be completed, so the values given
in Fig. 3 are those extrapolated from the number of blows (generally 50) given to advance the
tool a measured depth of less than 0.30 m.
The cores from the rotary drilled holes were examined in detail and a profile of strength
assessed, the interpretation being shown in Fig. 3. The methods used were those given under
the headings of ‘breakability’ and ‘scratch’ in Fig. 4 and were correlated in terms of shear
strength through other concurrent work. The relationship between the penetration resistance
(N value) and rock strength was also under critical review at the time of designing this job.

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 Drllllng rate (ml”13 m)
FEDC B A-B
0 5 IO I5 20
0- 0

Borehole 84 Anchor hole

5 5 r----
IO
R
~, , , .Borehole B5
0 Sandstone Y sol 301
I Mudstone and
smstone

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Fig. 3. Site investigation data
 PILES IN WEAK ROCK 51

The borings to produce cores of 75 mm diameter used air flush, which caused severe erosion
of some of the more significant weak strata when these lay below the natural groundwater table.
Some small sections of the core were thus absent, but where possible a comparison of penetra-
tion tests at similar depths was made and indicated that the interpretation made on the basis of
examining dissociated fragments from the eroded zone was not seriously in error.
Piezometers in boreholes Bl and B3 showed the groundwater to be about 4 m below ground
level. Chemical tests on groundwater and soil indicated low sulphate content and neutral pH.

Shear Approx. Strength/

strength: x consistency Grade Breakability Penetration Scratch
'value *

40000-
strong Difficult to break Cannot be
against solid object scratched
with hammer with knife

20000-

Moderately
Broken against solid Can just be
600 strong
10000- object with hammer scratched
with knife
8000-

bOOO-
400 Scratched with
Broken in hand by knife. Can just
4000- hitting with hammer be scratched
Moderately with thumb-nail
weak

Broken by leaning No penetration Scratched with

zooo- zoo thumb-nail
on sample with with knife

Weak
Penetration to
lOOO- Broken by hand
about Zrm with knife
BOO-
100
600- Easily broken Penetration to
by hand about 5mm with knife
80
400-
60
very Penetrated by thumb-
stiff nail and to about
40 15mm with knife
zoo-

Stiff Indented by thumb

loo- 20
ao-
Firm Penetrated by thumb
60- with effort
10
40-
8
Easily penetrated
Soft
6 by thumb

20-

lo- very
soft

* Gee,. SK. llorking Party Report (1970:
and CP2004 (1972) except that the
designation 'hard' for soil materials
has been given a separate identity
which is analagous to very weak
for materials classifiable as rock
t,.~. Grades and shear strengths for
rock refer to intact specimens.
The s value, however, is an
I" situ test and includes some
effect of discontinuities. For
cohesive soils the correlation between
:J values and in situ strength assumed
is that given by Stroud (1974) for
clays of low elasticity.

Fig. 4. Scale of strengths and N values for weak rocks and soils

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 52 K. W. COLE AND M. A. STROUD

FOUNDATION SELECTION
It was evident from the site investigation that competent strata existed below about 5 m
below ground level and the strata above should be discounted from the design if the required
stiffness was to be achieved. Bearing in mind this and the other limitations already outlined
three foundation types were readily apparent as likely to be economically viable.

Spread foundations bearing on sound strata about 5 m below ground level

This type has the advantages of simplicity and that no great difficulty in controlling ground-
water is expected. Disadvantages are that the limited extent of the site precludes battered
sides to the full depth of excavation; sheet piling or diaphragm wall to provide support and
limit water flow would give much nuisance; extending such a deep foundation to lightly loaded
areas with no advantage in providing a basement (basements were not required on this project)
would be expensive; large amounts of excavated material would have to be removed and con-
crete brought through congested site access.

Driven piles of cast in situ or precast concrete

Advantages are as follows. With capacities up to 1500 kN there is no difficulty in designing
for suitable range and layout; excavation for pile caps is shallow; piles are unlikely to be
more than 6 m long from ground level and therefore inexpensive. Disadvantages are the
high noise nuisance probable; ground disturbance which might cause damage to nearby
properties by vibration or displacement; pile driving interaction (uplift) problems (Cole, 1972)
which are certain to be present and difficult to overcome on a congested site.

Bored piles cast in situ without under-reams designed as rock sockets

Advantages with these are that larger loads per pile are possible than for driven piles and
hence fewer units, fewer operations, less congestion and a quicker job are possible; noise level
is high but less objectionable than the sound of pile driving; piles are unlikely to be more than
9 m long from ground level; rapid construction could eliminate groundwater infliltration and
softening problems (but this would preclude using under-reams). Disadvantages are that this
method of design was relatively untried in the UK (at the time of design in 1971) especially in
weak rocks and a trial pile necessary to prove the design would be expensive.
After consideration of the foregoing, the rock socket pile was selected as being the most
suitable for this site. The pile loads are set out in Table 1.

Table 1. Pile loads

- -
Pile Diameter, Dead Live Wind Design load, kN Concrete stress
mm load, load, load, at design load,
kN kN kN Required 1 Provided kN/m2
__ ._ ._ __
1220 5031 501 + 475 5532 6100 5200
885 352 - 1237 2450 5200
:z 1470 425 - 1895 2450 5200
760 1430 - 1730 2450 5200
1060 3061 z + 859 3461 4500 5200
1220 4975 693 +1990 6100 6100 5200
760 1835 460 - 2295 2450 5200
760 1079 269 - 1348 2450 5200
560 713 386 - 1099 1280 5200
760 711 178 - 889 2450 5200
1060 1423 276 * 955 2130 4500 5200
- -

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 PILES IN WEAK ROCK 53

Q = shaft adhesion factor

maximum load on pile

rQ2_ nD2
%l 4 -4, 7 toc,“DL

Fig. 5. Pile design for rock sockets

DESIGN OF ROCK SOCKETS

As has been indicated, there was little published information on the design of piles that could
carry a greater stress than is permissible in direct end bearing upon the rock on which they are
intended to be founded. The references of value were those by Thorburn (1966) and Coates
(1967).
Empirical rules for the piled foundations for the Rotherham Civic Centre had proved to be
of value. In these, the rock below the piles was tested by the SPT at frequent intervals during
the cutting of sockets. Depending upon N, the socket was made between 2 and 4 diameters
deep. Piles installed performed satisfactorily under test load, but the size of piles at Rother-
ham was limited to 600 mm diameter. Nevertheless, these empirical rules indicated that at
Coventry the piles required to carry the largest static loads of about 6000 kN, which would
have to be 1220 mm diameter to limit the concrete stress to about 5000 kN/m2, would require a
socket of about 2 to 3 diameters, giving depth of excavation to between 7 and 9 m below
ground level, the socket commencing at 5 m depth, since the overlying soil could contribute
little except lateral support.
Clearly such extrapolation of empirical design has inherent dangers and alternative design
methods were investigated. Two that introduced a more scientific approach were the ‘cone’
method and a method analogous to conventional design of bored cast in situ piles in cohesive
strata.
Using the ‘cone’ method, and assuming the spread of load is not better than 1 in 4 owing to
the friable nature of the rock and presence of water and mudstone layers, the penetration for
the largest pile would be between O-4and 1.2 diameters, depending on the interpretation of the
quality of the rock below the pile base.
This design method overlooks the magnitude of stresses developed at the vertical concrete/
rock interface. The ‘pile design’ method is given graphically in Fig. 5. The maximum
stress on the pile qm due to the applied loads is known. The allowable pressure on the base
of the pile qa= N,c,/F where cB is the shear strength of the rock below the base of the socket,

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 PILES IN WEAK ROCK 55

t
Load
(kN)

Fii. 7. Pile test results (1060 mm diameter)

load are shown diagrammatically in Fig. 3, and the complete test rig in Fig. 6. The cribbage
of sleepers supporting the loading frame settled some 200 mm under the prestress load which
produced a bearing pressure of some 350 kN/m2, thus demonstrating the compressibility of
the superficial deposits.
In accordance with the Authors’ firm’s standard procedure the pile was loaded cyclically to
design load, l$ design load and 14 design load, all load increments and zero loads being
maintained constant until pile movement had fallen below 0.05 mm per half hour, the levels of
datum beams being checked to confirm they were not affected by the pile and load assembly
movement and corrections made if movements were detected. The advantage of such cyclic
loading is that should a pile not perform as well as expected, the load at which it began to ‘run
away’ can be closely identified and appropriate redesign made.
The load-pile head settlement plot is given in Fig. 7 and the plot clearly shows that, unless
brittle failure was imminent at a load in excess of 14 design load, the pile probably had a factor
of safety well in excess of two.

GROUND ANCHORS
Upon completion of the test on the pile the piling sub-contractor was instructed to
proceed to install the remaining piles to the dimensions in Table 1. However, the sub-
contractor expressed reservations saying that, whilst he was satisfied with the performance of
the pile and believed he could construct the remaining piles in a like manner and that their
load-deflexion performance would be comparable with that of the test pile, his ground anchor
sub-contractor had found it necessary to extend the depth of the anchors to 29 m because he
had encountered strata too weak to enable him to form the anchors satisfactorily. Therefore,
there was concern that the stability of the piled foundation as a whole might be inadequate.
A study of the records made during the installation of the ground anchors showed that,
whilst the descriptive records themselves were qualitative and thus of little value, the time for

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 56 K. W. COLE AND M. A. STROUD

each drilling run had been recorded by the Resident Engineer and when these were plotted as
shown in Fig. 3 gave substance to the concern.

REVIEW OF DESIGN
Immediately a further rotary drilled borehole (borehole B5) was commissioned and was
positioned as shown in Fig. 1. The core was 86 mm diameter and from ground level to a depth
of 26.4 m; the core from a depth of 4 m is shown in Fig. 8.
The core was described using the same strength criteria as for the cores from boreholes B3
and B4, and between each core run from a depth of 7 m to the base of the hole a penetration
test using the cone (solid nose) penetration tool was made. The assessed strength and pene-
tration test N values (all extrapolated from penetrations less than 0.30 m) are shown in Fig. 3
and indicate that the ground below 15 m is weak (grade F), similar in general to nearby bore-
hole B4 but without the thin zones of harder strata, and much weaker than the zone from 15 m
to 20 m in borehole B3.
The design of the piled foundation was reviewed, and the two salient conclusions were

(a) the piles as designed and tested required
would be only marginally affected by variations
below their bases;
(b) the settlement of block A might be some
predicted, owing to the higher compressibility of
ground from that assumed in the design.
no modification as individually they
in the strength of strata some 6 to 7 m
3 mm more than the 15 mm originally
the strata between 15 m and 25 m below

The results of this reappraisal were discussed and accepted by all parties to the contract
and work on the remaining piles then continued.

CONTRACT PILES
The piling sub-contractor provided a Williams LDH60 rotary drilling rig, with ancillary
equipment, lining tubes and an attendant crane. The drilling equipment was an auger fitted
with specially hardened teeth, and a bucket auger was substituted finally to clean the debris
from the pile base. All piles were inspected by the Resident Engineer, the majority of the
larger ones directly by descending the pile in a safety cage, the floor of which had a lifting flap.
In general little difficulty was experienced in overcoming the infiltration of groundwater,
but one or two of the larger piles required to be ‘dried’ by depositing a bag or two of neat
cement on the base immediately after inspection and before concreting.
An unexpected difficulty in view of the experiences during the pile test period was the
inability of the auger to penetrate to the specified level especially when drilling the 1220 mm
diameter piles. In part this was overcome by pre-drilling with a smaller auger and then
‘reaming out’ using the correct auger. However, the layers of strong strata in some cases
defeated the greatest possible efforts by the piling sub-contractor. It was therefore

Table 3

Pile diameter, Design load-shaft load, Base contact pressure,

mm kN/m2
1220 6100-1540 = 4560 ’ 3950
1060 4500-1320 = 3180 3600
760 2450- 960 = 1490 3220
560 1280- 500 = 780 3180

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 58 K. W. COLE AND M. A. STROUD

Block A

BlockB

Fig. 9. Load-time-settlement relationship

agreed that provided satisfactory confirmation could be shown that the rock below the base
continued to be strong for at least 1 m by probing ahead with the 560 mm auger, the founda-
tion at the refusal depth would be accepted as a stepped socket.

SE-ITLEMENT SURVEY
Since the design of the foundation was unusual and knowledge of the load-settlement
performance of the structure of value to future design, a settlement survey by precise level as
described by Morton and Au (1974), was undertaken and has been continued from the start
of the superstructure works in January 1973 until September 1975. The positions of the sur-
vey points are shown in Fig. 1 and the load-time and load-settlement curves are given in
Fig. 9.

REAPPRAISAL
The analysis or prediction of settlement in rock sockets as with other piles is complicated by
a lack of knowledge of the exact distribution of load between the base and the shaft of
the socket.
One possible way of assessing the contact pressure between rock and concrete is to assume
that it is the lateral pressure of the wet concrete developed during placing. Using the CIRIA
(undated) information on concrete formwork design it can be shown that the rapid rate of
pouring the high slump (100-150 mm) concrete used would have lead to development of the
full pressure of fluid concrete. Making the assumption that the conditions were such that no
volume change took place during and subsequent to curing, the ultimate load carried by the
shaft can be designated
Qs = nDLp tan @
where D is the diameter of the pile, L is the length of pile in contact with rock, p is the average
pressure of fluid concrete over depth L and @ is the angle of mobilized shaft friction. For the
piles at this site the assessed value of p is 115 kN/m2 and of @ is 35”. If it is assumed that
shaft friction is fully mobilized at a pile settlement of 10 mm, the contact base pressure for the
piles at their design loads, assuming L=2*5 m for the 560 mm piles and L= 3.5 m for the
remainder, is as shown in Table 3.

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 PILES IN WEAK ROCK 59

(a) TEST PILE

OPC
xke

- I
:: ZOO
E ,o ST = sqx3~xO06
Y! -j @ 200 = s4 x 0.033 1.78 s,,

E
2 0 130 St =
=sqxg3xoQ6
x 0.021 0.56 s,,
sq

0 3w 54 7.95 Sq

Shaft load = 0.82 sq + 1.78 sq + O-56sq = 3.16 J

Base load = 795 sq
I I sq=
Total load = I.1 4500 kN (design load)
:. sq _ 405 kNlm2 /mm
and base stress 9 _ 3650 kN/m2

Fig. 10. Rockso&et analysis using stiiTnesses

These pressures may be compared with those given in the subsequent text for the two larger
piles.

Analysis considering stifnesses

An alternative approach is to consider the distribution of load between the base and the
shaft of the socket in terms of two rock ‘spring stiffnesses’, a compressive stiffness s,=q/p and
a shear stiffness s,= -r/p where q is the base stress, Q-is the shear stress mobilized on the shaft
and p is the settlement of the rock socket pile.
Poulos and Davis (1968), and Butterfield and Banerjee (1971) have considered the distribu-
tion of load between base and shaft for a pile in a homogeneous isotropic linear elastic medium
and conclude that the ratio of load on base and shaft depends on the length to diameter ratio
of the pile and is only slightly influenced by the value of Poisson’s ratio. For typical rock
socket dimensions where L/D might lie between 2 and 5, the ratio of load on shaft to base varies
between 2 and 5 (Poisson’s ratio taken as 0.3). However, the ratio T/q varies only between 0.22
and O-25. Thus the ratio of the spring constants s,/sg for a given material might be expected
to be sensibly constant for typical rock socket geometries.
In practice, soils and rocks are far from homogeneous isotropic linear elastic materials, but
possess finite shear strength and directionally sensitive stiffnesses. In a pile, the shear stresses
mobilized along the shaft are generally much closer to the shear strength than those developed
below the base. Moreover, because of layering in the soil and rock and because of disturbance
caused by drilling the socket, the shear modulus associated with shaft loading will be con-
siderably lower than that deduced from direct vertical loading.
Thus it is to be expected that, for real rock sockets, the ratio of spring stiffnesses s,/s, will be
substantially lower than the values predicted by simple elastic theory. Thorburn (1966)
describes a rock socket test made in fragmented shale in which the load-settlement behaviour
of the base of the 195 mm diameter by 3.8 m deep socket was first tested as a deep plate loading
test. The shaft was then tested by placing a 150 mm polystyrene pad at the base of the shaft
and concreting and loading the pile in the normal way. From data given for these two tests,
it is apparent that at loads fully mobilizing the allowable concrete stress the ratio of stiffnesses
s,/s, is about 0.05.

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 60 K. W. COLE AND M. A. STROUD

Similarly, Davis (1974) presents data for a twin rock socket test in grade II Keuper marl.
Two socket piles 760 mm diameter penetrating 4-Om into the marl were tested and compared,
one constructed in the normal way and the second with a void at its base. From these tests a
value of s,/s~ of 0.07 was obtained at working loads.
For the purposes of the following analysis, the ratio of SJS, is taken as 0.06 and it is assumed
that s, and s, vary as the N value of the material in question.

Analysis of test pile

The analysis for the test pile at design load is summarized in Fig. IO(a), where the rock
around the socket has been divided into zones of appropriate grades. The relevant stiffnesses
for each zone have been estimated as indicated in terms of the spring stiffness s, for the base
material. At design load of 4500 kN, the pile settled 12 mm (Fig. 7). Deducting 3 mm for
elastic compression of the concrete of the pile itself, the settlement of the socket p becomes
9 mm. For this settlement, the loads on each zone may be estimated from the stiffnesses
(Fig. 10(a)) and these may be summed and equated to 4500 kN to give s,=405 kN/m’/mm.
Thus it appears that just over 70% of the applied load is transferred to the base of the socket
and the base stress is estimated at 3650 kN/m2. An assessment of the modulus of elasticity
for the sandstone beneath the base may be made using the expression
E = ;; D(I -v”)f

where f is a depth factor.

Taking v = 0.3 and f = 05, the expression becomes
E = (?r/S)s,D 0.91
Thus, for the base rock, E= 1.5 x IO5kN/m2.
This computation ignores any interaction of shaft and base loaded areas. In an attempt to
allow for additional loading of the stratum below the base of the socket through load trans-
mitted from the shaft, a spread of 4: 1 has been assumed from the top of the socket (Fig. 10(b)).
For this loading configuration, a value of E= 1.7 x lo5 kN/ma is obtained.
The elastic modulus so calculated is an overall modulus, which includes the effect of joints
and fissures. Hobbs (1974) discusses the effect of discontinuities on the value of the elastic
modulus and relates the modulus for intact rock E1 to the overall modulus by a mass factorj,
which depends on the frequency of joints.
For the order of joint frequency apparent in Fig. 8 at the depth of the socket base, a value of
j in the range 0.2 to 0.3 has been deduced. Thus the value of the intact rock modulus may be
estimated to be
E, = E/j = 5-7 x lo5 to 8.5 x lo5 kN/m2.
For the grade C material at the base of the socket, Fig. 4 indicates a shear strength for the
intact material of c=4000 kN/m2. Thus E,/c= 140 to 210.
These values fall within the range of values given by Hobbs (1974) for intact Trias rocks,
materials that have a very similar lithology to the Enville beds.
Analysis of block B foundation
Turning now to the foundations for block B, a similar analysis has been carried out for the
1220 mm diameter piles. The strengths of the rocks surrounding the socket are slightly dif-
ferent to those of the trial pile, but using the spring stiffness ratio as before a value of base
stress of 3230 kN/m2 was obtained, corresponding to about 75% of the applied load. Assum-
ing, from the trial pile, that E/N= 170 000/300 = 570 kN/m2, the settlement predicted for
each of the piles beneath block B is 14 mm. However, this does not include any group effect.

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 PILES IN WEAK ROCK 61

II Borehole 84 I I

a Mudstone and ar~illaccour siltstone

Fig. 11. Strata below block B

Reference to Fig. 11 shows that, for strata below a depth of about 14 m, the effect of loading
one pile is small. When all piles are loaded, however, the pressure ‘bulb’ is extended con-
siderably and account must be taken of weaker strata below.
It will be assumed that, below a depth of 14 m, the stresses induced by the piled foundation
are equivalent to those induced by a raft having the same area as the pile cap, situated at the
base of the piles and loaded to the same total load. At a depth of 14 m, the maximum vertical
stress so induced is about 300 kN/m2.
Taking E/N= 570 kN/m2, as before, the additional settlement may be calculated to be about
14 mm, making a total immediate settlement of 28 mm. In fact, the settlement at the end of
construction was measured to be about 20 mm (Fig. 9), which implies a value of E/N=
1330 kN/m2 for the material below a depth of 14 m. This increase of E/N for materials at
low stresses is consistent with the trend noted by Stroud and Butler (1975).
Lower bound values of E/N of between 1100 and 1400 kN/m2 are quoted by Stroud and
Butler for a number of structures founded on spread footings on Keuper marl. These values
include consolidation and creep effects, although in most cases these are small.
It may be observed from Fig. 9 that settlement continues significantly beyond the end of
construction. This was not originally anticipated, as consolidation of the mudstone and silt-
stone bands was expected to occur rapidly due to the frequent fissuring and layering and the
relatively permeable sandstone interbeds. The explanation may lie in creep of the heavily
loaded strata below the piles. Moore and Jones (1974) indicate that creep in well cemented
Bunter sandstone may amount to about 20% of total settlement at high stress levels. Al-
Shaikh-Ali (1971) describes plate loading tests on zone II Keuper marl loaded to 2800 kN/m2
in which the creep settlement projected for one year amounted to about 40 to 50% of the total
settlement.
Thus, considering the load settlement behaviour of the individual piles at Coventry Point,
it is likely that creep in the strata above a depth of 14 m accounts for between 4 and 12 mm of
the settlement to date. Taking a value of 8 mm, the total settlement contributed by the
strata below 14 m is then accounted for by a value of modulus of elasticity given by E/N=
1200 kN/m2.
It is apparent in Fig. 9 that the settlement of block A is about 40% lower than that of

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 62 K. W. COLE AND M. A. STROUD

block B. This may be explained by slightly stronger rock immediately below the pile sockets
of block A and by generally wider spacing of the piles resulting in less interaction at depth.

CONCLUSIONS
The constraints of this particular site, the proximity of adjacent occupied buildings and the
ground conditions of fill and soft to firm soils overlying weak rocks, lead by process of elimina-
tion to the choice of rock socket piles. The use of these would obviate deep excavation below
groundwater and would make most efficient use of the ground and structural materials.
The rock socket piles, carrying a load giving a stress greater than allowable in end bearing,
shed the difference to the rock surrounding the socket. With little published information on
which to base the design, all site works, including site investigation, pile testing and pile con-
struction, were carefully supervised and the foundation design subjected to critical review at all
stages. The intentions of the overall design have been successfully achieved with small
settlements giving differentials well within generally accepted limits.
Retrospectively, the measured performance of the test pile and the building have been
examined using data and methods available more recently and the performance has been
found to be in good agreement with published information. Creep has been found to be of
considerable significance in the actual performance of the foundations.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The client for the development was Bryant-Samuels (Developments) Ltd for whom the
John Madin Design Group were Architects. The main contractor was C. Bryant and Son
Ltd, and the piling sub-contractor Pigott Foundations Ltd. The project engineer was Malcolm
Jordan and the resident engineer Alan Sutton, both of the Ove Arup and Partners Birmingham
Office. Edward Au has undertaken the settlement survey. The Authors’ grateful thanks are
due to all the above and to Dr David Henkel, who was deeply involved during the design stage.

REFERENCES
Al-Shaikh-Ali, M. (1971). Creep in Keuper marl. Proc. Symp. Interaction of Structure and Foundation,
University of Birmingham, 50-71.
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No. 2, 135-142.
CIRIA (undated). Formwork loading design sheet.
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Energy, Mines and Resources. - -
Cole. K. W. (1972). Unlift of oiles due to driving disnlacement. Civ. Enpnp Publ. Wks Rev.. March. 263-269.
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