Pile Driveability and Bearing Capacity in High-Rebound Soils

Abstract

During pile driving, static and dynamic soil forces resist pile penetration. Certain soils exhibit significant elastic behavior, causing unfavorable high-rebound which adversely affects pile driveability and complicates its bearing capacity assessment. This paper discusses the types of piles and soil conditions where the negative effects of high-rebound on the performance of the hammer system, pile, and soil have been observed, and a case history where field instrumentation and testing were performed. The case history involved the driving and testing of a 762 mm square, 35 m long, prestressed concrete pile driven into saturated fine silty to clayey sands and sandy clays that exhibited high pile rebound. Dynamic pile measurements were obtained during initial pile installation and restrikes to assess pile driveability and bearing capacity. Full-scale static load testing was performed to measure static pile bearing capacity and pile load-movement. A correlation between the static load test and dynamic test results is presented.