Pile Integrity Tests as a Tool in Quality Control of Bored Cast in Situ Pile Foundations
摘要
This paper deals with the case study of a chemical manufacturing facility located close to the seacoast, Kutch Gujarat. The Industrial facility utilizes seawater for various applications inside the plant including cooling applications. During the manufacturing process, the plant generates treated wastewater from various processes. Environmental regulations require the dilution of treated wastewater with spent sea water and disposal at selected outfall points through a closed conduit instead of an open channel. This effluent conveyance system up to the outfall point is approximately 3.8 km inside the sea. The superstructure is supported on large-diameter pile foundations socketed in refusal strata. Pile integrity tests (PIT) are used to assess the quality of concrete in pile shafts and are generally carried out on working piles. In this project, the piles were constantly failing the initial load test despite providing adequate rock socketing determined through design. The root cause for the failure and apparent anomalous result could not be determined. In this paper, the authors present how Pile integrity tests (PIT) were used as an effective tool to analyze the root cause of pile load test failure and decide the corrective action, and modify the Piling installation procedures. This helped achieve the objective of a successful initial load test of piles and determination of optimized rock socketing depth for a satisfactory design that could proceed to the execution stage.