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The purpose of an Instrumented Pile Load Test is to obtain the load distribution of soil along pile shaft.
The instrumentation consists of placement of strain gauges at selected levels of the test pile to determine the load at that location for each load applied to the pile head. From the measured strain, the forces in can be calculated, and thus the load distribution along pile shaft is known.
The O-cell is a hydraulically driven, high capacity, sacrificial loading device installed within the foundation unit. As the load is applied to the O-cell, it begins working in two directions; upward against upper side shear and downward against base resistance and lower side shear (if applicable).
This test often requires custom setup due to the way the load is applied to the pile and large horizontal displacement during the test. The pile may be instrumented with strain gauges and an inclinometer to determine the load distribution, deflection and bending moment profiles of the pile during the test.
The high strain dynamic testing, on the other hand, utilizes a heavy impact or pile driving hammer, a pair of strain transducers and accelerometers attached to the pile shaft. These sensors are connected to the Pile Driving Analyzer (PDA) which records, processes and displays the data and results upon the impact of the hammer onto the pile. A further analysis using the CAPWAP (Case Pile Wave Analysis Program) is done with the data obtained after the test is completed, to verify the integrity and capacity of the pile.
The low strain integrity testing adopts lightweight handheld equipment comprising of a small impact hammer, an accelerometer attached onto the pile top and a Pile Integrity Tester (PIT) to quickly evaluate the shaft integrity of a pile, through the response from the hammer impact.
Cross-hole Sonic Logging (CSL) is a method to verify the integrity of drilled shafts and other concrete piles.
CSL normally requires steel access tubes tied to the rebar cage and installed in the drilled shaft. The cage is then lowered into the hole and the concrete is placed.
Sonic Coring is one of the most commonly used non-destructive pile integrity tests for cast-in-place Bored Pile / Barrette Pile / D-Wall. It is based on the extraction of the concrete by coring.
Upon completion of the Sonic Coring & Logging Works, proposed non-shrink grouting materials shall be prepared and injected to fill the cored tube.
