Behaviour of sensitive clay during pile driving

A full scale investigation with six instrumented test piles has been carried out on the Saint-Alban test site in order to study the behaviour of friction piles in soft sensitive soils. The first part of this investigation, reported in this paper, deals essentially with the effects of pile driving on the induced pore pressures and their dissipation and on the disturbance of the clay around the pile.It is shown that the induced pore pressures at the pile tip ΔuT, and at the pile surface Δus, correspond to 1.6σvo and 0.8σvo respectively. If the failure pattern developed during driving is interpreted by means of the theories of expansion of cavities, it is shown that the induced pore pressures calculated at the pile–soil contact agree well with the measured values; these pore pressures are fully dissipated after 600 h.Immediately after driving, a decrease in the undrained shear strength varying between 0 and 30% was observed in a zone of 3 diameters around the pile. The strength in that zone was nearly fully recovered after the pore pressures had dissipated.The tip resistance measured during driving was quite in excess of the static zone penetration resistance qc, indicating possible scale effects. The average unit skin friction was observed to decrease from a value in the order of cu to about 0.10σvo′ and to be directly related to the pore pressures, i.e., to the effective stresses in the clay around the pile.

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Soil disturbance from pile driving in sensitive clay: Discussion

Canadian Geotechnical Journal ◽

10.1139/t79-048 ◽

1979 ◽

Vol 16 (2) ◽

pp. 444-446 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Marius Roy

Keyword(s):

Soil Disturbance ◽

Pile Driving ◽

Sensitive Clay

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Testing of drivability of concrete piles and disturbance to sensitive clay

Canadian Geotechnical Journal ◽

10.1139/t76-015 ◽

1976 ◽

Vol 13 (2) ◽

pp. 139-160 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Bengt H. Fellenius ◽

Laval Samson

Keyword(s):

Shear Strength ◽

Pile Group ◽

Undrained Shear Strength ◽

Strength Reduction ◽

Glacial Till ◽

Pile Driving ◽

Shaft Resistance ◽

Concrete Piles ◽

Pore Pressures ◽

Sensitive Clay

The results reported are of an investigation of a group of thirteen 12 in. (30 cm) diameter precast concrete piles driven through 60 ft (18 m) of sensitive marine clay followed by 10 ft (3 m) of silt and sand and 13 ft (4 m) of very dense silt to end bearing in glacial till. The purpose of the test is to study the drivability of the piles through very dense soil and to measure the disturbance caused to the sensitive clay by the driving of displacement piles. Following a literature review, the paper presents the soil conditions at the site and the testing program. The test results are discussed and experience gained from the follow-up of the driving of 520 piles at the site is presented.Visual observations during pile driving, and analysis of driving records, show that a high pile quality is necessary at the site. The large driving resistance encountered in the very dense silt (150 to 300 blows/ft) would prevent low quality piles from reaching the competent glacial till and developing the needed bearing capacity.Pile loading tests showed the piles to have an ultimate bearing capacity exceeding 450 tons (4.0 MN). It was established that the shaft resistance in the clay during test loading was between 100 and 125% of the undrained shear strength of the clay as measured by field vane testing. In comparison, an uplift test to failure showed that the uplift shaft resistance along the pile in the clay was only 60% of the undrained shear strength of the clay.The pile driving developed large pore pressures in the clay which exceeded the effective overburden stresses. The excess pore pressures dissipated over a period of slightly more than 3 months. Vane testing within the pile group immediately after driving showed that a shear strength reduction of about 15% was caused by the piles. At a distance of 2 ft (0.6 m) outside the pile group, no strength reduction was found. The reduction within the group was gradually regained during the dissipation of the induced pore pressures. Laboratory testing on clay samples obtained within the pile group 75 days after pile driving showed a smaller value of the preconsolidation pressure of the clay, but no change in the compression indices.

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