High-Capacity Load Tests on Bored Piles from the Longest Sea Bridge in India
摘要
An attempt has been made to perform two static load tests on the foundation of the Atal Setu bridge, the longest sea bridge in India, an iconic structure incorporating advanced technologies for seismic resistance, marine conservation ecosystem, and noise reduction. In foundation engineering, instrumented bidirectional static load tests (BDSLT) are frequently used globally to verify pile design due to advances in strain gauge and data acquisition technologies. This study has been made to check the initial pile design values and the results of subsequent BDSLT carried out for two 2000 mm diameter deep foundation piles to a test load of 62500 kN at the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link project (Atal Setu Bridge), India’s longest sea bridge. The settlement recorded was 11.80 mm, and the unit shaft resistance calculated was in the range of 1955 kPa at the ultimate test load. The side resistances of the rock layers were determined to be greater than the values originally chosen for the foundation design, suggesting that the load test results truly reflected the actual ground conditions. The findings indicate that the test piles could support ultimate shaft capacity because of the significant shaft friction present in the rock strata with reduced settlement.