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By Takashi Saito

Since early 1970?s skirt suction foundations (skirted foundation / bucket foundation) have been used as support for large fixed substructures or anchors for floating structures in offshore hydrocarbon development projects. In recent years skirt suction foundations are recognized as one of the solutions in foundations applicable to bridge substructures installed in waters, because skirt foundations have a wide variety of functions such as control of settlement during service life, less impact to environments during operation at installation site. This paper introduces general features of skirt suction foundations, and then discusses design practice of them for the application to bridge substructures, with reference to experiments in both laboratory and field.

Jan 1, 2013

By M. Zanotto

[ ] A period of heavy rains caused the river Adda to flood parts of the Valtellina, one of the Alpine valleys of Northern Italy. The exceptionally high waters put under considerable strain the whole system of embankments and levees controlling the river and protecting the adjacent towns and lands. In some places the water breached and washed away the embankments, submerging large tracts of cultivated land, buildings, roads and railway tracks. The town of Talamona, in the lower Valtellina, was hit particularly hard: in its proximity the river overrun and then washed away 300 m (1,000 ft) of embankment (see vicinity map, fig. 2), depositing large amounts of riverbed debris onto over 400 hectares (1,000 acres) of fertile land.

Jan 1, 1992

By B. B. Broms

A method for calculating the bending moment induced in misaligned or bent piles is described, The maximum bending moment varies with the angular rotation between the pile segments, the coefficient of horizontal subgrade reaction of the soil and the flexural rigidity of the piles. A case history involving damages to misaligned 365 x 365 mm square precast concrete piles is described.

Jan 1, 2010

By K. Rambha Devi

The paper is an attempt to co-relate the findings of pile capacity using a number of formula suggested by various authors with the actual field load test results. Five locations consisting of wholly sandy or clayey soils were selected for this purpose. The clayey soils are on a hilly area having clays of medium to stiff consistency upto a depth of 20 m The sandy soils are near the bank of a river having angle of internal friction 'Ø' value ranging from 30 to 35 Degree. The details of the soil properties are given in Table-1 Bored cast-in-situ piles of 30 cm diameter and a length varies from 6.5 m to 13 m were designed and cast for load test to be carried out. The load applied was twice the design load. The load vs settlement curves were obtained. The theoritical values obtained by formula suggested by various authors were superimposed on the curves. From the careful study of these curves it is seen that De Ruiter and Berigen values are close to the actual results for clayey soil. For sandy soil it is found that both the BIS method and Meyerhof method found to give conservative resuslts. A multiplication factor is suggested to theoritical values for obtaining satisfactory results.

Jan 1, 1996

By D. V. Karandikar

Contiguous bored piles have been used in the past for retaining the sides of deep excavation. An innovative version of this method was adopted successfully in two prestigeous projects in Bombay in which in a very constricted and congested locality, adjoining seashore at Walkeshwar, 14 m deep excavations with vertical sides were required. 600 mm dia bored cast-in-situ piles were first installed at 1.2 m c/c and subsequently as the excavation proceeded, they were tied to cast-in-situ RCC waling beams. The shear connectors to the beams were pre-fixed to the pile reinforcing cage at specified depths. The pile / waling beam system was anchored into the ground by installing inclined prestressed cable anchors at the designed depths. The waling beams were also used to support the brickwalls, which formed the required backup wall for fixing the tiled water proofing system. Catch-drains were installed behind the brickwalls for relieving the ground water pressure and thus ensuring a very economic design. The adequacy of the system was proven in that where the system was not installed in time, failure of the sides occurred during monsoon. Whereas in the areas where the above retaining system was installed, there were no problems inspite of heavy monsoon and surcharge of construction materials and equipment. The system became a very effective and economic alternative to an anchored diaphragm wall. The paper presents the case studies of these two projects.

Jan 1, 1996

By Mario Aiezza

This paper outlines the results of a relationship developed during the design and construction of the foundations for the Gallery Towers project in Melbourne. Both the builder and the piling contractor were determined to arrive at a satisfactory foundation solution to the problems encountered at the site. The scope of piling work was to provide load-bearing piles under the building columns, some of which were located within a retention system that also required a piling solution. Geological conditions were variable and challenging. The site area was small and located adjacent to the National Arts Centre in the developed Southbank area, a high density office area. This presented logistical problems in limiting construction traffic on site and also demanding minimal noise and vibration emanating from piling activities. The piling contractor, Vibro-Pile, and the builder, Walter Construction Group, faced the challenges presented with a refreshing cooperative attitude that was beneficial to both companies. Commercial issues rising from design and construction problems were first put apart in order to allow the respective technical department of each company to work with minimum constraints to achieve the most cost effective solution. In the process usual adversarial attitudes resulting in loss of time and money was avoided. A number of issues were addressed successfully at minimum cost and time during this contract. Despite the difficulties encountered, the job was completed on time and with negligible claims for extras, resulting in the development of a strong mutual respect between both companies.

Jan 1, 2002

By B. Ladanyi

The design philosophies for piles in unfrozen and frozen soils are compared, and their similarities and differences are underlined. It is shown that in frozen soils, the long term behavior of a pile is difficult to predict, because of inadequate knowledge on the behavior of adfreeze bond with time, and on the value and variation of the lateral normal stress acting on the pile. Both of these problems are discussed in the paper on the basis of laboratory tests and theoretical analyses.

Jan 1, 2010

By Dan Brown

A method is outlined for computing the contribution of a micropile group to global stability of a sliding mass. The forces in the micropile are computed in a way which accounts for the effect of soil mass movement on the mobilization of axial and shear forces and which maintains compatibility between shear and axial force as a function of displacement. The method provides a rigorous model to incorporate the pile forces into the stability calculations, including the effect of pile forces on the resultant shear and normal forces at the sliding surface. This paper demonstrates the proposed solution using a simple example slope.

Jan 1, 2007

By Ali Porbaha

In today's fast-track construction environment, owners are searching for non-conventional technologies to build their projects faster and safer while maintaining traffic flow during construction. To that end designers and contractors are providing solutions that incorporate many unique features to expedite construction processes. In addition to timely delivery of the finished highway products, there is an increasing interest in making the initial investment in applying innovative technologies and thereby minimizing costly maintenance of highway projects. Accordingly, the aim of this paper (along with the accompanying paper) is to examine innovative technologies, developed mostly in Europe, that accelerate construction of highway, runway and railway embankment foundations. For each technology, a basic concept, installation technique(s), and design considerations are discussed, along with the case history of a real-world project. The Geotextile Encased Columns (GEC), AuGeo, and Continuous Flight Auger (CFA) are presented in Part I. Deep Mixing (DM), Mass stabilization, Cut-Mix-Injection (FMI), and Combined soil Stabilization with Vertical columns (CSV) technologies are discussed in Part II.

Jan 1, 2002

By Jiwei Duan

The deformation and load transfer behavior of a single soil-cement column are studied with the finite element method. The results show that there is an effective length for a soil-cement column. Beyond this length, the settlement of the column is approximately equal to a constant. The effective pile length is introduced to the concentric cylinder approach (Randolph and Wroth 1978), and an analytical formula for estimating the settlement of a single flexible pile is presented. A second analytical formula for determining the effective pile length of a soil-cement column is obtained and an example shows that the calculated and measured results are in quite good agreement.

Jan 1, 2002

By Charles L. Guild

I will add a few facts about the use and development of the Osterberg Test Load Cell and my association with Jorj. I first met Jorj in 1965 when the Guild Construction Co. drove 12" diameter cast-in-place shell piles for him at the Marquette Cement Co. in Nashville, Tennessee. When I met Jorj at the DFI Trustee's meeting in 1985 at Longboat Key, Florida, he showed me a sketch of his idea about using a test cell at the bottom of a caisson to test the end bearing and side friction on a caisson. He had made a successful trial test in Case International's equipment yard and wondered whether a similar device could be made for a driven pile. At first I was skeptical that it could be done but after thinking about it overnight I told him I felt it was feasible and we would do some work on it. At that time, there was a large bridge job going out for bid in Rhode Island using 14" square prestressed concrete piles'. Based on a record of the Guild Construction Co. Inc. driving over 3,000,000 feet of piling on work for the State of R.I., we felt we would have an excellent chance to be allowed to use them so we designed, detailed and fabricated three for 14" square prestressed concrete piles. As things worked out, we did not test them on this job and have not to date.

Jan 1, 1989

By Y. K. Wong

This paper describes in detail various problems concerning the construction of a pile-raft foundation supporting a 42-storey tower block. The subsurface generally consists of highly weathered sedimentary rock. A comprehensive instrumentation program is implemented to monitor the behaviour of the foundation system throughout the construction period of the superstructure. Instrumentation observations are highlighted in the second half of the paper.

Jan 1, 2010

By Hodjat] [Shiri

A 4-legged jacket structure was installed by an Offshore Installation Contractor (OIC) in the Persian Gulf. In addition to four open-end pipe piles, six conductors were installed by OIC. During the installation of the piles and conductors, some cemented layers were encountered, which had not been accounted for in the foundation design performed by an independent well known offshore geotechnical site investigation contractor (OGSIC). Six months later, the Drilling Company (DC) hired by Client to execute the wells, reported that all of the six conductors were presenting anomalies, such as vertical misalignments up to 10o and/or collapse of the conductors tip and mid height. The DC faced with serious problem in drilling of the wells and in spite of several times milling the conductors and spending 40 days unpredicted extra time, some of the routes could not be opened and Client lost millions of dollars due to direct and indirect associated costs and expenses. This paper presents a complete overview of all engineering, construction and specially geotechnical investigations and shows that how an inaccuracy in interpretations of the results of an offshore geotechnical site investigation as the main reason in this case study can cause serious damages to whole project with unbelievable time and cost impacts some times up to millions of dollars.

Jan 1, 2006

By Bruce Haldeman

Timber has been used as pile support for structures for 6,000 years. Some means of preservation of wood go back almost that far. Timber piles support all types of structures ? some are buried below the water table; others raise a home for protection from animals or a chief's home for prestige. Millions of wood piles have been driven for bridge support. Earlier piles were driven by hand then by ingeniously raised weights. Charring, animal fats and oils have been used for preservation. Coal tar creosote and other preservative methods started only in the early 1800's and give effective protection.

Jan 1, 1984

By Osamu Taki

The development of new auger bits for soil cement column drilling equipment has made it possible to create a homogeneous mixture of soil and cement-reagent slurry. As a result, soil-cement columns are used for foundations of houses and buildings, with reliable results, as demonstrated by many field projects and laboratory tests. This paper presents and discusses construction techniques for soil-cement columns, characteristics of the soil-cement solid, quality control, bearing test results, and soil-cement foundation design procedures.

Jan 1, 1992

By Shaw-Shong Liew

This paper presents the processes of investigation, analysis, design, construction and monitoring of soil nail stabilisation work to facilitate a 14.5 m deep excavation at an uncontrolled fill ground. An extensive instrumentation programme had been implemented to monitor the performance of the stabilisation solution, to provide validation for the designed nail resistance and groundwater variation. From the monitoring results, it was proved that the soil nail stabilisation technique is effective for loose saturated fill provided that substantial care is taken during implementation. Construction difficulties, solutions to overcome the problems and lessons learned will be discussed in the paper.

Jan 1, 2006

By Geoffrey D. Collins

This paper deals with the construction of the Effluent Outfall Diffusers which form part of the outfall for the Deer Island sewage project. The work was executed 15 km out to sea in Massachusetts Bay and required the drilling, installation, grouting and accurate determination of the actual position of 55 riser shafts in 33.5 m deep water. Although not strictly a "foundation", the contractor's approach to the installation of the diffusers was a logical development from many marine foundation projects executed by the Contracting companies over the last decades. The only previous application of this design of outfall had been in Australia where offshore oil drilling techniques had been adapted for use in riser installation.

Jan 1, 1994

By Upendra L. Karna

The pile capacity gain with time evaluated and implemented for the construction of the Route 21 Viaduct in Newark, NJ, U.S.A is discussed in this paper. The project consisted of the replacement of more than 3.2 km of viaduct and ramps. The project site consists of thick residual materials deposited by the Wisconsin Glacier over sedimentary rocks. The upper portion is glacial-lacustrine deposit underlain by marginal morainic till and stratified drift. Subsurface investigations identified significant variations in layer thickness and grain size consistency. The site was characterized into 4 Soil types, based on subsurface soil behavior. Closed end 600 mm and 450 mm diameter driven pipe piles were used for the foundation. Loading tests conducted during an advanced construction contract, established that a significant soil set-up could be expected. For the first construction contract, a pilot loading test program consisting of 112 dynamic loading tests and 77 re-strikes (at 2 to 4 weeks) using the PDA (Pile Driving Analyzer) with CAPWAP (Case Pile Wave Analyses Program) was conducted to establish the soil set-up behavior. Nine (9) quick static loading tests were conducted to substantiate the long-term pile capacity. Based on the loading test results, average set-up factors were established and utilized for developing production pile driving criteria. Bearing resistance with depth was analyzed and reviewed. The set-up factors varied significantly, ranging from 1.05 to 1.89, and averaged about 1.30. Conclusions are derived. Set-up factors behavior for each soil type plotted by linear regression are presented and discussed. An appropriate set-up with time relationship for a glacial soil is suggested.

Jan 1, 2006

By Jay L. Hodkinson

Replacement of an aging twin span river crossing in Vermont required a temporary bridge to accommodate traffic during construction. Soils beneath the temporary approach embankment consisted of very soft organic clayey silt underlain by interbedded, loose alluvial fine sand and silt/clayey silt. Reinforcement was required for the southern temporary approach embankment to limit settlement and to increase global stability factors of safety. A ground improvement design was developed using Rammed Aggregate Pier® reinforcement and was included in the contract documents as an FHWA Category II Experimental Feature. Instrumentation intended to document the performance of the supported embankment was installed. Piers were then constructed and monitoring commenced as embankment and bridge construction occurred. Weekly instrumentation data reports indicated continuing excess pore water pressure, settlement, and lateral deformation of the subgrade soils as the embankment and temporary bridge abutment was constructed. In response to the unanticipated monitoring results, further investigation indicated that significant deviations from the conditions and basis upon which the ground support design was developed were made during construction. This paper discusses these deviations and their specific impacts to embankment support performance, how these deviations occurred, the role that the ground support system played in maintaining global stability, measures taken to limit further detrimental impacts to the embankment, and provides recommendations for contract document preparation and construction oversight to prevent similar situations from occurring on future projects.

Jan 1, 2011

By Michael W. Oakland

Deer Island is the site of the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) wastewater treatment plant which, when completed in 1999, will serve 43 cities and towns in central eastern Massachusetts. Deer Island is located in the Boston Harbor, as shown on Figure 1. The existing wastewater treatment plant on Deer Island is being upgraded to include secondary treatment to comply with Federal require­ments. The new treatment facilities will process an average of 455 million gallons of sewage per day; total capacity will be about one billion gallons per day. The new treatment facilities will cover virtually the entire island. [ ]

Jan 1, 1994