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Equivalent Head-Down Load Vs Movement Relationship Sung-Ryul Kim and Sung-Gyo Chung
Equivalent Head-Down Load Vs Movement Relationship Sung-Ryul Kim and Sung-Gyo Chung
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Abstract
The increasing use of bi-directional (Osterberg cell) load tests in piles necessitates a reliable evaluation of the load-movement
relationship equivalent to the head-down load test. In this study, the existing evaluation methods were reviewed, and a new method
for evaluating the equivalent head-down curve was proposed. This method considers possible situations, such as non-measured axial
load distribution along the pile and the existence of residual load distribution. Three cases, in which bi-directional and head-down
load tests were performed at the same site, were analyzed in order to validate the proposed method. The results of the case studies
showed that the equivalent load-movement curves obtained either without assuming unit shaft resistance distribution or by
considering the effect of residual load agreed well with the measured curves obtained from the head-down test. Therefore, the
proposed method is recommended for practical use.
Keywords: deep foundation, foundation engineering, load test, pile, residual stress
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*Member, Associate Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Dong-A University, Busan 604-714, Korea (Corresponding Author, E-mail: sungryul@dau.
ac.kr)
**Member, Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Dong-A University, Busan 604-714, Korea (E-mail: sgchung@dau.ac.kr)
− 1170 −
Equivalent Head-down Load vs. Movement Relationships Evaluated from Bi-directional Pile Load Tests
∆head = α × ( D2 – D3 ) (5)
Fig. 2. Load Distributions and Pile Compressions Developed from where, α=1: For a constant unit shaft resistance with depth
the Head-down and O-cell Tests: (a) Head-down Test, (b) α=2: For a linear increase of unit shaft resistance with
O-cell Test depth
3.1.2 When Axial Load Distribution is Known If the false load distribution in Fig. 4(b) is used without the
If the axial load distribution is measured during a load test, the residual load, ∆head is proportional to the area EHI in Fig. 4(b)
pile compression ∆head can be calculated directly from the load
distribution curve shown in Fig. 3 using Eq. (7). Calculating load-
distributed areas based on the maximum applied load at the final
loading step is convenient. This procedure should provide a more
accurate estimate of the pile compression based on a measured
load distribution.
Qu L ⎛ area ACD ⎞
∆head = --------- ---------------------------- (7)
EA ⎝ area ABCD⎠
where the notations A, B, C and D are shown in Fig. 3.
rather than to the [(area EHI) - (area EFG)] in Fig. 4(c). This
may lead to a significant overestimation of the pile compres-
sion.
4. Case Studies
tively. The load test was performed 20 days after the concrete
placement, thus the effect of the residual load was insignificant.
The detailed description about the test is reported in the paper of
Lee and Park (2008).
The O-cell test was performed in two stages. In the first
stage, the bottom O-cell (36.9 m deep) was expanded, and the
toe resistance Qd was measured. In the second stage, the middle
O-cell (26.9 m deep) was expanded to measure the Lower Side
Shear (LSS) and the Upper Side Shear (USS) under zero toe
resistance by the toe opening of the bottom O-cell. Therefore,
the total resistance can be represented by the sum [Qd+LSS
+USS].
If the equivalent load of [Qd+LSS+USS] is applied on the pile
head, the following pile compressions would occur along the pile
Fig. 8. Comparison of Equivalent Load-movement Curves (Fig. 9); (1) ∆d-EB = the pile compression by Qd, (2) ∆head-LSS = the
pile compression along lower side by LSS, (3) ∆d-LSS = the pile
larger than that of the measured curve. The larger movement of compression along the upper side by the reaction of LSS, and (4)
the equivalent curve can be attributed to the large toe downward ∆head-USS = the pile compression along the upper side by USS.
movement D1 at the O-cell test because of the poor filling of Each pile compression was evaluated by adopting Eqs. (4) and
concrete near the pile toe as reported by Kwon et al. (2005). (6) as follows:
The comparison showed that the equivalent curve by the pro-
Qd L
posed method predicted a similar trend with the measured curve, ∆d – EB = --------
- (9)
EA
and the method can be applied successfully to the case with an
unknown axial load distribution. ( LSS )L
∆d – LSS = -------------------1 (10)
EA
4.2 Case 2: Multiple O-cell Test for a Drilled Shaft in the
∆head-LSS = pile compression along lower side during 2nd step (11)
Singapore MRT Project
= (D4 − D1)
The head-down and the O-cell pile load tests were performed
separately for two drilled shafts at Singapore MRT (Mass Rapid ( USS )L
∆head – USS = --------------------1 – ( D5 – D3 ) (12)
Transit) project. The soil layer, as shown in Fig. 9, consisted of a EA
silty clay layer, a clayey silt layer, and a very stiff silty clay layer
where the notations D1, D3, D4, and D5 are defined in Fig. 9
below 37 m, which comprised the bearing stratum of the test
L1: Pile length of upper side
piles. The diameter of the test piles was 1.2 m, and the multi-level
LSS: Shaft resistance along lower side at (LSS, D1) curve
O-cells were installed at depths of 26.9 m and 36.9 m, respec-
of second step
Qd: Toe resistance at (Qd, D1) curve of the first step
USS: Shaft resistance along upper side at (USS, D3) curve
of second step
Figure 10 shows the measured load-movement curves of the
O-cell test. At the first stage, the maximum downward toe move-
ment occurred at about 60 mm, which was enough to mobilize
the toe resistance. At the second stage, the middle O-cell expan-
sion induced the upward movement of about 80 mm and the
downward movement of 10 mm. The LSS at the 10 mm move-
ment did not reach the maximum value. The LSS was assumed
to be constant after the maximum test load.
Figure 11 shows the comparison between the equivalent curve
using the proposed method and the measured curve using the
head-down load test. The comparison showed that the equivalent
curve using the proposed method showed good agreement with
the measured curve.
This case study shows that the proposed method can properly
Fig. 9. Schematic Drawing of Test Piles and Definition of Move- evaluate the equivalent head-down curve without assuming unit
ment and Pile Compression shaft resistance distribution. Moreover, the proposed method can
the residual load before the head-down test (area EFJ) was used
for this analysis.
Figure 16 shows the comparison between the equivalent curve
and the directly measured curve from the head-down test. The
equivalent curve, which considered the residual load, agreed
well with the measured curve, whereas the equivalent curve that
ignored the residual load significantly overestimated the pile
movement.
5. Conclusions
Fig. 14. Load-movement Curves Obtained from the Head-down
Test A new method was proposed to construct the equivalent head-
down load movement curve on the bi-directional load tests. The
tribution of the maximum applied load in the O-cell test. The proposed method was verified by comparing the equivalent
shape of unit shaft resistance was not obtained by the O-cell test. curve from the bi-directional load tests and the measured curve
Thus, an attempt was made with the assumption that the unit from the head-down load tests. The following conclusions are
shaft resistance increased linearly with depth. That is, Eq. (8) drawn from the study.
with the ratio (area EHI)/(area EFHI) equal to 2/3, was applied, 1. The proposed construction method evaluates the pile compres-
which is also proved with the area ratio of 0.65 calculated using sion of the equivalent curves in two ways: (1) using the mea-
the load distribution measured by the head-down test. In addition, sured pile compression at a bi-directional load test without
assuming the unit shaft resistance distribution, and (2) by con- multi-level O-cell tests
sidering the effect of residual load. ∆toe: Pile compression induced by upward toe load of Qu
2. The residual load was negligible in the first and second case
studies, in which the load tests were performed within a month Acknowledgements
after pile installation. A comparison between the equivalent
curve obtained using the proposed method and the measured This work was supported by the Korea Science and Engineer-
curve obtained from the head-down load tests showed that the ing Foundation (KOSEF) NRL Program grant funded by the
proposed method properly constructed the equivalent curve Korea government (MEST) (No. R0A-2008-000-20076-0), and by
using the measured compression in the O-cell tests, and that it Basic Science Research Program through the National Research
can be successfully applied to a multi level O-cell test. Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education,
3. In the case of a long PHC pile driven into the thick deposit, in Science and Technology (No. 2009-0067319).
which a long term measurement of pile strains was performed,
the estimated equivalent load-movement curve obtained con- References
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