See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/323959673

Lateral Load Test of Reinforced Concrete Bored Piles of Bridge Eye in Skopje

Conference Paper · January 2015

CITATION READS

1 12,291

3 authors, including:

Tomislav Hanich Viktor Hristovski

1 PUBLICATION 1 CITATION
Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje
46 PUBLICATIONS 167 CITATIONS
SEE PROFILE
SEE PROFILE

All content following this page was uploaded by Viktor Hristovski on 23 March 2018.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

Lateral Load Test of Reinforced Concrete Bored Piles of
Bridge Eye in Skopje

Tomislav Hanich
Institute of Earthquake Engineering and Engineering Seismology, Skopje

Viktor Hristovski
Institute of Earthquake Engineering and Engineering Seismology, Skopje

Nikola Zurovski
Gradezen Institut ‘Makedonija’A.D. Skopje

ABSTRACT:
A new reinforced concrete arch bridge called ‘Eye’ has been constructed in Skopje. Arch bridges transfer
significant lateral loads to foundations, so lateral load test on two full-scale RC bored piles has been performed
on Site to prove actual load capacity of the pile-soil system. Article describes the whole procedure of the lateral
load test and selected part of the conducted research with test results.

Keywords: bridge foundation, reinforced concrete pile, lateral load test

1. INTRODUCTION

Bridge ‘Eye’ is reinforced concrete bridge consisting of three spans: main 56,00 m’ long arch span
across the river Vardar and two half-arch spans (l1=18,69 m’ and l2=20,01 m’) connecting bank to
pillars of main span. Bridge is a monolithic reinforced concrete rigid frame where superstructure and
substructure are integrated, see Fig. 1.1.

Figure 1.1 Disposition of Bridge Eye

The arch girders of main span transfer major loads to foundations which are made of six battered piles
and two vertical piles connected on the top with a pile cap beam. Piles are 1800 mm in diameter and
1600 cm long. Pile cap beam is 1200 cm long, 1200 cm wide and 200 cm high. The soil is river
alluvial consisting of poorly graded gravel.

To prove actual load capacity of pile-soil system, during the time of construction of the bridge a lateral
load test has been performed on a full scale test piles. Contractor made the test facility next to the
actual foundations consisting of full scale reinforced concrete piles, shoring equipment, loading
equipment and measurement equipment. The features of each are presented in the following
paragraphs.

The main objective of this paper is to engage discussion and to emphasize the importance of the
execution of lateral load tests on full scale piles on Site to confirm model for calculation and
eventually to get savings in project.
2. EXPERIMENTAL LOAD TEST FACILITY

2.1. Site Conditions

New pedestrian Bridge Eye is located just 100 m up stream from the Old Bridge in Skopje. Load test
facility was located just 15 m from the foundation of the Bridge on the left bank. To execute piles it
was necessary to fill up river bed up to 100 cm above usual top river level to form dry working
platform so piling rig and other machines could access to pile position. Working platform has been
protected with big stones at the edge of the embankment to protect the alluvial fill from the river
washout.

Geotechnical investigation works have been done to determine characteristics of soil and to compare
soil characteristics of load test facility location with actual bridge foundation location. According to
sampling and SPT results we can say that these two locations have same soil characteristics. The in-
situ soils can be broadly classified into three major types: man-made fill out of alluvial deposit from
the river in the top 2 m, poorly graded gravel (GP) medium dense up to 12 m depth and silty gravel
(GM) dense up to 20 m depth.

2.2. Cast-in-Place Reinforced Concrete Piles

In-Ground facility consisted of two cast-in-place replacement reinforced concrete Kelly piles. Distance
between central axes of piles was 670 cm. Each pile was 1700 cm long. Concrete grade was MB40 (C
30/37) and reinforcement type RA 400/500-2 (B 500).

Figure 2.2.1 Piling process. Figure 2.2.2 Finished test pile.

Piling rig used to execute piles was Bauer BG 36 type and geotechnical crew consisted of one
engineer, one foreman, one piling rig operator and three workers. Except piling rig and piling crew,
one mobile crane, one backhoe loader and two operators executed secondary jobs, see Fig. 2.2.1.

Piles have been fully cased and bored by Kelly method without casing oscillator. Kelly method is
named after telescopic Kelly bar which transfers torque and crowd force from the KDK rotary drive to
drilling tool. Firstly the casings are pushed into ground as deep as it is possible. This length depends
on the length of the casing, power of the piling rig and the resistance of the ground material. Material
inside casing is excavated with drilling bucket. It is crucial that drilling bucket doesn’t drill deeper
then the casing bottom and this is controlled by drilling rig computer and visually by pilling rig crew.
When excavation reaches casing bottom, next casing is attached and pushed deeper into ground. Each
casing has joint at the top and the bottom. Only first casing has special end with drilling teeth. Joints
on casings are connected with special conical bolts. After drilling passes ground water level it is
necessary to fill up water to the same level into casings instead of excavated material to prevent water
pressure effects (piping or heave results) on the bottom of the borehole. During the drilling process

2
additional machine for earthworks is needed to remove excavated material from drill bucket around
the piling rig.

When the excavation reaches designed bottom level, reinforcement cage is inserted inside casing by a
mobile crane and concreting can start. Reinforcement cages due to their own weight have to be
carefully uplifted from two sides to prevent excess deflection and therefore change in shape. Pile
reinforcement was RA 400/500-2 (B500) type. Reinforcement cage had three different sections. First
section was top seven meter of reinforcement cage and in this area it consisted of twenty two
reinforcement bars Ø28 mm and twenty two bars Ø25 mm with hoops of Ø14 mm on each 14 cm as
lateral ties. Second section consisted of twenty two bars Ø25 mm and eleven bars Ø28 mm with hoops
of Ø14 mm on each 20 cm as lateral ties. Third section consisted of twenty two bars Ø25 mm with
hoops of Ø14 mm on each 14 cm as lateral ties. Also Ø14 mm hoops were used from inner side to
form the reinforcement cage. The inner hoops were later welded and used for lifting of the cages.

Tremie method of concrete placing is used since the concreting is done below water level. Tremie
method implies always placing concrete inside already freshly casted concrete so water and other mud
particles are pushed by the concrete up the borehole. At the end of the process water and mud particles
are pushed all the way out of the borehole and concrete is placed continuously full-length of the pile.
Tremie pipes are in sections of 2 m length and have joints at the end so they can be extended or
shortened. Pipe diameter is 150 mm. At the top of the pipes is concrete bucket. Pipes should be
submerged into fresh concrete at least 50 cm. Casting of concrete and pulling out of casing pipes is
done in carefully planned phases so that at any time of this process concrete level stays inside casing
and tremie pipe inside concrete. When concrete level reached top ground level, the last casing has
been pulled out and top of the concrete was cleaned. This is done by additional cast of concrete and
cleaning of reinforcement by water and removing top of concrete still mixed with water and mud
particles by hand tools. When this process finished in a proper way, steel tube was fixed at the top of
the pile and concrete has been casted to the top pile level, see Fig. 2.2.2. Concrete slump tests were
performed on each truckload. S4 slump class was determined. Three in-situ concrete cube samples
were taken per each pile. The strength of concrete was checked by performing of compression test on
cube samples. The 28 day compressive strengths ranged between 45 N/mm2 and 48 N/mm2. Average
value was 46 N/mm2. Water curing of concrete has been done during the next seven days after casting.

2.3. Shoring and Loading Equipment

No loads were applied until 28 days after casting of concrete pasted. Lateral loads were applied to pile
heads using two 200 ton Dykerhoff & Widmann AG hydraulic jacks type R500/80, two 500 bar
hydraulic pumps type HR 3,7/Z4 and steel shoring system as presented in Figure 2.3.3.

Figure 2.3.1 Shoring system. Figure 2.3.2 Hydraulic jacks and pumps.

3
 Figure 2.3.3 Drawing of lateral load test facility.

The forces were applied from two parallel hydraulic jacks, so shoring system consisted also from two
steel pipes and horizontal and vertical steel plates. Two steel pipes (dia. = 480 mm; t = 14.2 mm; n =
2) were positioned in the same axes as hydraulic jacks. Forces from hydraulic jacks were applied
firstly to steel plates (908 mm x 1000 mm; d = 100 mm; n=6) and then on one side to steel pipes and
on the other side to RC pile. To achieve uniform transmission of force and to get good connection to
shoring system, two steel pipes were installed at the top of the pile heads (steel pipe t = 7 mm;
L=1000mm; dia. = 1800 mm; n = 2). For better understanding see Figure 2.3.1 and Figure 2.3.2.

2.4. Instrumentation

To check what is happening below ground surface during the load process, strain gages have been
installed on eleven sections of reinforcement cage of test piles. Measurements have been done by
Gradezen institut ‘Makedonija’ A.D. Skopje.

Strain gages type KFC-2-C1-11 (produced by Kyowa Electronic Instruments Co., Ltd., Japan) with
specific electrical resistance of 120 +/- 0.3 Ω were attached to reinforcement bars of test piles. Strain
gages have been positioned on the two opposite side of reinforcement cage, vertically in eleven
sections of test pile and axially towards load force (Figure 4.2.3.1.). Strain gages were protected from
water and connected to reinforcement with special type Schenllklebstoff X60 two-component fast
curing adhesive (produced by Hottinger Baldwin Messtechnik GmbH, Germany).

Strain gage is a device whose electrical resistance varies in proportion to the amount of strain in the
device. Strain gage consists of metallic foil arranged in a grid pattern. The grid pattern maximizes the
amount of metallic wire or foil subject to strain in the parallel direction. The cross-sectional area of the
grid is minimized to reduce the effect of shear strain and Poisson Strain. The grid is bonded to a thin
backing, called the carrier, which is attached directly to the test specimen. Therefore, the strain

4
experienced by the test specimen is transferred directly to the strain gage, which responds with a linear
change in electrical resistance.

Figure 2.4.1 Strain gages position scheme.

The Wheatston bridge Indipoc MC7 portable data acquisition system for strain gage measurements
(produced by Huggenberger A.G., Switzerland) was used during test measurements. Experienced
measuring crew consisted of one engineer, one electrician, one technician and one operator.

Additional measurement of displacement of top of the test pile was done with survey total station Leica
TC 803 by Geo As Grup dooel. Leica TC 803 according to specification has accuracy of 2 mm +/- 2
ppm and angle accuracy of 3 seconds.

3. LATERAL LOAD TEST PROCEDURE

Lateral load test was done on 11th of March 2011. The weather was shiny and temperature was around
100 C. Load was applied step by step until maximum load was reached at pressure of 330 bars.
According to calibration report from laboratory, ratio bar – kN was 1 bar = 4.545 kN or 1kN = 0.22
bar. Loading was done in seven phases with ten minute breaks between two steps of loading as shown
in the Table 3.1.:

Table 3.1. Lateral load test steps.

Step Loads applied
1 2 x 50 bar = 100 bar = 455 kN
2 2 x 100 bar = 200 bar = 909 kN
3 2 x 150 bar = 300 bar = 1364 kN
4 2 x 200 bar = 400 bar = 1818 kN
5 2 x 250 bar = 500 bar = 2273 kN
6 2 x 300 bar = 600 bar = 2727 kN
7 2 x 330 bar = 660 bar = 3000 kN

5
Procedure started with the calibration of measuring instruments and ‘’zero’’ readings. After each
loading step was a ten minute break and then a new set of survey measurement and strain gage
measurement were done.

4. TEST RESULTS

Designed lateral force which each RC pile should withstand was HD = 1500 kN. For the purpose of the
lateral load test we have applied double forces HLLT = 3000 kN. Since this research is a part of the
research for the Doctoral thesis, only selected results of strain distribution in steel bars of pile R2
under the load in step 5 of lateral load test are presented in Figure 4.1.

Figure 4.1 Strain in steel bars ((ε5- ε0) x 10-6) at step load 5.

Except the loads which piles had to withstand, it was also crucial not to excess the designed
displacement. Displacements at the top of the pile head (R2) are shown in the Figure 4.2.

Figure 4.2 Load-displacement at the top of Test pile R2.

6
 5. CONCLUSIONS

Lateral load test proved on this project that soil-pile system of foundation of the Bridge can withstand
lateral forces from arch girders which will be activated once when scaffolding under the main span
will be removed.

After comparing design data to lateral load test we can see that test results showed significantly
smaller pile displacement then predicted in the main design. The reasons of such difference in the
results are in limitation of the convectional design methods and determination of soil parameters.

Since lateral load tests on trail piles are costly and take some time to be carried out, we can conclude
that such test on a trial pile in assessing the suitable design parameters is a good way of performing an
economic design of a pile foundation on a risky and high budget projects.

REFERENCES

Abbas J.M., Chik Z.H., Taha M.R. (2008). Single Pile Simulation and Analysis subjected to Lateral Load.
Electronic Journal of Geotechnical Engineering, Vol.13: 2008 – Bundle E.
Ashour M., Norris G. (2000). Modeling Lateral Soil-Pile Response Based on Soil-Pile Interaction. Journal of
Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, Vol. 126: No.5, 420-428.
Ashour M., Norris G., Pilling P. (1998). Lateral loading of a pile in layered soil using the strain wedge model.
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, Vol. 124: No.4, 303-315.
Chandrasekaran S.S., Boominathan A., Dodagoudar G.R. (2013). Dynamic Response of Laterally Loaded Pile
Groups in Clay. Journal of Earthquake Engineering, 17:1, 33-53.
Das B.M., (2011). Principles of Foundation Engineering, Cengage Learning, USA: Seventh Edition.
Hristovski V., Stojanovski B., (2010). Izvedben proekt, faza konstrukcii, za objekt: Pesacki most na reka Vardar.
IZIIS, Skopje.
Li R.., Gong J., (2008). Analysis of Laterally Loaded Pile in Layered Soils. Electronic Journal of Geotechnical
Engineering, Vol.13, 2008 – Bundle J.
Mehta A., Pachpor P.D., (2010). Behavior of Lateraly Loaded Pile. International Journal of Engineering Science
and Technology, Vol. 2 (12), 7252-7254.
Pender J.M., Carter D.P., Pranjoto S., (2007). Diameter Effects on Pile Head Lateral Stiffness and Site
Investigation Requirements for Pile Foundation Design. Journal of Earthquake Engineering, 11:S1, 1-12.
Poulos H.G., Davis E.H., (1980). Pile Foundation and Design, Wiley: First Edition.
Rajapakse R., (2007). Pile Design for Structural and Geotechnical Engineers, Butterworth-Heinemann: First
Edition.
Tomlinson M., Woodward J., (2008). Pile Design and construction Practice, Taylor and Francis, New York:
Fifth Edition.
Zhu L.J., Cheng Y.M., Yang D.B., (2013). The analysis of instrumented piles under lateral load. Geomechanics
and Geoengineering: An International Journal, 7:1, 27-37.
Zurovski N., (2011). Izvestaj za probnoto tovarenje na probni armirano betonski piloti (kolovi) za potrebite za
izvedba na temelna konstrukcija na most ‘Oko’. Gradezen institut ‘Makedonija’ A.D.: Mart 2011.

View publication stats