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By Wolfgang G. Brunner

The closing of the gap in the European waterway- net is one of the big and challenging traffic projects following the German reunification. The water canals in the North German plain connect the Rhine river, the border between Germany and France, with the Oder, the German border river to Poland. As early as in the 30's of the 19th century the planning and construction of a ship- lift and a canal bridge started, in order to close this last big gap in the system between the Mittelland Canal and the Elbe- Havel Canal near Magdeburg. This main waterway connects the West of Germany, known for its coal mines and steel mills, with the capital Berlin, and from there it goes on into Poland. The building activities started in 1934 but came to a complete stop in 1942 because of the war. The communist government in East Germany was not interested in continuing this huge project, including the ship lock Rothensee, the canal bridge crossing the river Elbe, the former border river between West and East Germany, and the lock Hohenwarthe due to lack of political backing along with low construction capacity. Now this important project is in progress and this report describes the special foundation techniques used on the great ship lock Hohenwarthe. Hohenwarthe is a double- bay ship lock of considerable scale, which is notable for recirculating water rather than letting it flow. It includes 44 800 m2 ( 481 720 sq. ft) of up to 55 m ( 180 ft) deep cut- off walls, ground water control, 1248 bored piles with a depth of 22 m ( 72 ft ) serving as foundation and 28 000 m ( 91 864 ft) of soil densification with vibroflotation equipment for ground improvement. In the year 2003 the project shall be completed and all ships can travel from the West to the East through Germany without expensive and time- consuming detours through other canals and locks.

Jan 1, 2000

By William Van Impe

A most renewing and promissing soil displacement screw pile is called the O-pile. The O-screw pile is a soil displacement auger pile based on a screwing in - screwing out procedure. The displacement auger head consists of a discontinuously diameter - increasing steel tip, on top of which the continuous screw flange with variable pitch is mounted. The soil displacement is kinematically ensured by downwardly oriented slots mounted on the auger head at different well chosen locations on the flanges. This leads to a very efficient lower energy screwing-in sequence of the pile and consequently to a high penetration rate. A test loading program of instrumented O-piles has been carried out in order to evaluate the load settlement behaviour, the shaft and tip capacity of the O-pile, including its specific installation parameters.

Jan 1, 1996

By Stan Merjan

Composite piles with precast concrete tapered pile tips (TPT Composite Piles - U.S. and foreign patents) are a new and important addition to the piling types available to the construction industry. TPT Piles were invented by Stanley Merjan, Vice President of Underpinning & Foundation Constructors, Inc.. U. F. C. installs these piles in the Northeast United States and licenses piling contractors in other parts of the country. TPT Piles have been developed for use in sandy subsoils at depths to 70 feet or greater. The TPT system (see Figure 1) is simple. A pile stem of conventional material (shell, pipe, steel, wood, precast concrete) is connected to a socket formed in a precast concrete tapered pile tip (TPT). This composite assembly is then driven as a unit by ordinary pile driving methods until adequate driving resistance (established by formula or load tests) is met in a suitable soil strata. This driving resistance develops from the displacement and densification produced by the TPT. Many combinations of tip shapes and stems are available to suit particular job requirements with respect to subsoil conditions and pile capacities. TPT Piles should be considered for use on a wide variety of jobs. The advantages offered by a TPT installation include: ? High capacity piles in marginal soils ? Minimal lengths required to produce these capacities ? The use of conventional pile driving equipment and procedures ? Pile inspection techniques that are the same as for ordinary pile driving Furthermore, TPT piles are economical due to a combination of a low cost per ton of pile capacity and high productivity, both of which lead to significant savings in foundation costs and time required to complete foundation work.

Jan 1, 1987

By James J. Neate

The augered cast-in-place pile system came into use in the late 1940's where various techniques were tried using pressure grouting methods. In the early development stages some piles were installed using the preplaced aggregate concrete system. As development continued it became more apparent that placement of coarse aggregate was more costly than making a pile out of a cement and sand mixture only. Various techniques were tried consisting of pumping structural grout into an open hole through a pipe left in the bottom of the hole, drilling or driving a pipe in close proximity to the tip elevation of the auger or in working a pipe down adjacent to the auger fluting. For these techniques the pipe was usually withdrawn after grout appeared at the surface. In 1951 a patent was applied for by Raymond Patterson describing the above techniques along with a technique for placement of grout using a hollow stem auger and a removable plug or lead bit at the tip of the auger. The plug or lead bit was removed by grout pressure and this would be an expendable item for each pile placed. The patent was granted in 1956 and patent rights were assigned to Intrusion-Prepakt, Inc. Shortly thereafter other contractors were granted licenses to utilize the system. Patent coverage expired in 1973 and this method now is in the public domain. Today the method is in wide use throughout the world and is particularly well accepted in Japan and England.

Jan 1, 1988

By William H. Walton, Clyde N. Baker Jr., Darren S. Diehm

"A 51-story concrete core and steel frame commercial office tower was recently constructed on the site of the former US Gypsum building in downtown Chicago, Illinois, USA The structure foundation reused several caissons from the demolished US Gypsum building supplemented with new belled caissons bearing on silty clay hardpan. Extensive in-situ pressuremeter testing was performed during the geotechnical investigation to determine allowable bearing capacity and better estimate building settlements. Problems during foundation construction along the south side of the building frame required remediation of two caissons. One caisson was supplemented with micropiles, while the second caisson was abandoned and replaced with a straight-shaft rock socketed caisson. To determine the effectiveness of the repairs, the building foundation settlements were monitored during construction.IntroductionIn 2001, The John Buck Company began development of a new office tower at the southeast corner of West Monroe Street and South Wacker Drive in Chicago, Illinois. The site was formerly occupied by the 18-story US Gypsum (USG) building. Mr. Clyde N. Baker, Jr. (Senior Principal at STS Consultants, Ltd .) served as the foundation engineer for USG which was completed in 1962. The building was founded on a forest of belled caissons bearing at elevation -56 Chicago City Datum (CCD). For reference, the ground surface at Upper Wacker Drive is approximately elevation +20 CCD. The bearing material was a hard silty clay, locally described as Chicago Hardpan. The foundation caissons were designed using an allowable bearing pressure of 16 ksf (766 kPa). In 1996, the USG superstructure was razed, and the three-level basement was converted to an underground parking ramp.South Wacker DevelopmentThe 51-story high-rise building was completed in 2005 with a structural height of 681 feet (208 m), and an internal space of more than 1,000,000 square feet (93 ,000 square meter). The typical floor size is 27, 700 square feet (2, 570 square meter). Renderings of the building are provided in Figures 1 and 2. The largest single tenant is the accounting firm of Deloitte & Touche, which occupies roughly 45% of the building space with over 3,000 employees."

Jan 1, 2005

By Giovanni A. Bonita

The new Embassy of the Peoples Republic of China in the United States (Chinese Embassy) is located in the Embassy Row portion of Northwest Washington DC. The 475,000 ft2 (44,125 m2) structure has five levels below ground and four above, making it the largest embassy in Washington DC. The structure approaches the property line on all sides, and is immediately adjacent to several foreign embassies and a secure U.S. Federal Building. A vertical soil nail wall was used as the primary support of excavation (SOE) system for the project. The soil nail wall was irregularly shaped, benched in areas, and reached total heights up to 98 feet (29.9 m). The soil nail and shotcrete system consisted of approximately 1,600 soil nails and 50,000 square feet (4,645 m2) of exposed shotcrete wall surface. Tight excavation requirements were defined for the project due to the location of the building relative to the property line, requiring fairly precise wall positions and shotcrete tolerances. Design challenges included soft soil conditions, inside wall corners, underground utilities, and seismic impacts from blasting. The paper will focus on the design, construction, and performance of the soil nail SOE system, as well as touch on the logistical and political factors that influenced the design. The paper also notes the Value Engineering and communication approaches that were generated during construction. These efforts resulted in a significant improvement in the quality control and quality assurance exhibited on site, expedited the schedule, and led to significant cost savings to the contractors, engineer, and owner.

Jan 1, 2006

By Kenneth Gavin

The accurate prediction of the shaft capacity of drives piles in sand continues to present problems for foundation designers. Research in this field has been carried out for many years and has yielded a wide range of design approaches -some of which have been shown by recent experimental work to be based on questionable assumptions. This Paper reviews some of the current popular design methods for piles in sand in the context of recent information obtained from high quality field tests conducted by institutions such as Imperial College London. A database of driven piles in cohesionless soils has been compiled from well documented (and reliable) case histories that have been reported in the literature. The measured shaft capacities of the piles in this database are compared with predictions made by the various methods and an assessment is made of the predictive performance and reliability of each method

Jan 1, 1996

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 C. Van der Veen

The use of the quasi static (Dutch) Cone Penetration Test (CPT) is described as a tool to predetermine the ultimate bearing capacity of the pile point. An analysis is given why a purely theoritical approach does not meet with success. A practical method is explained of extrapolating the cone resistance to predict the pile point resistance. The method has been calibrated against the result of 32 selected high standard loading tests on pile points in the Netherlands.

Jan 1, 1989

By Virendra Singh

The load settlement behaviour of single pile or pile group may be obtained using computer based methods such as the finite or boundary element techniques. An alternative method of obtaining the vertical soil stresses adjacent to the Pile is presented Based on calculated stresses consolidation settlement for Piles foundation is obtained. This approach may be computationally more attractive than the more general finite or boundary element techniques.

Jan 1, 1996

By W. Sondermann

"AbstractWith the increasing demand in reuse of inner city areas and the urgent need for deeper foundation pits under cramped circumstances, adjacent structures close to and high ground water level, the well-known established technologies especially with small to mid-sized dimensions are often too time consuming and occasionally not economic to install lateral support systems. The alternatives for these specific cases could be the usage of the deep mixing technology to create lateral support systems in reinforcing the deep mixing elements additionally to transfer the horizontal loads from earth – and water-pressure.With increasing demand in depth and water tightness, verticality and overlapping of single column solutions are becoming the key in execution. In addition, for some applications subsoil-conditions were not ideal for wet deep mixing technologies. The tubular soil mixing system (TSM) as a combination of mechanical mixing and support of hydraulic cutting by jet grouting can provide solutions toovercome these challenges.1. Current market conditions and trendsThe present financial crisis and the efforts not only to consolidate national budgets, but also to rescue certain banks, have not left the building industry unaffected either. Some drastic cutbacks to public budgets, along with the increasingly restrictive granting of credit for the financing of construction projects, have led to enormous over-capacities in the building sector, with purely negative impact. As a consequence of these negative developments, many companies are experiencing the pressure to restructure more quickly and to reduce costs but at the same time to keep the consequences of all activities, both externally and internally, within limits acceptable to employees, owners and finance institutions and last but not least consumers."

Jan 1, 2014

By Sanjeev Malhotra

The American Petroleum Institute (API) method of predicting pile capacities in sands is reviewed. Factors that influence pile capacity such as soil parameters, pile parameters, loading effects and installation effects are listed. In addition, the simultaneous occurrence of physical phenomena such as grain crushing, pile shaking, stress-redistribution and plugging add to the uncertainty in the prediction model. To better understand the method of prediction, each parameter and the associated uncertainty is revisited. It is evident that these factors are inter­related and sometimes compensating. This discussion also draws attention to the influence that pile installation procedures can have on pile capacities and highlights the need for field experience with various pile installation procedures for designers. In summary, the strength of the method lies in its simplicity and ease of application, but the possible savings generated by an improved method are too substantial to ignore.

Jan 1, 2000

By Eric M. Klein

As part of the Woodrow Wilson Replacement Bridge project several damaged wetland and environmental areas were to be mitigated. One of the mitigation projects consisted of constructing a Denil fish ladder around Peirce Mill Dam in Rock Creek National Park, Washington, D.C. The dam is a historic structure operated by the National Park Service. The fish ladder is located between the east abutment of the dam and Beach Drive, a major collector road. Construction of the fish ladder required removal of a portion of the east abutment and an excavation that extended about 22-ft below the pavement of Beach Ave. It was not possible to close Beach Drive except for very brief intervals or at night; therefore, a support of excavation system that would minimize disruption to the public was required. The high groundwater required that the groundwater be cut off prior to excavation; the random rubble and soil fill, and shallow but erratic rock surface precluded driving sheet piling. A jet grout system was selected because the grout probe could penetrate the rubble fill, stabilize a variety of soil conditions, and cut off the ground water prior to excavation. It was not possible to construct a stable wall without tiebacks or soil nails. Given the schedule and tight working conditions it was decided that soil nails through the jet grout wall facing would be the most cost effective method, as it did not reduce the working space as rakers would and would be more cost effective than prestressed tiebacks.

Jan 1, 2006

By Rick Deschamps

The Block 76 project includes the demolition and redevelopment of an entire city block for mixed use retail, office and residential properties directly adjacent to Historic Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah. Excavation was carried out 65 ft below street grade and by as much as 50 ft directly below adjacent buildings supported by shallow foundations. Movements of the earth retention system and adjacent buildings were monitored in real time using automated equipment which complemented traditional geotechnical instrumentation. In the areas immediately adjacent to the existing buildings 9 stories or greater, anchored diaphragm walls were employed. Areas of the site not supported by diaphragm walls employed a soil nail wall system. Jet grouting was used for water cutoff in lieu of dewatering along the north and east sides of project. In total, the earth retention scope included 45,000 sq. ft of diaphragm wall, 104,000 sq. ft of soil nail wall, and micropile underpinning of 3 buildings. This paper provides an overall description of the Block 76 project. A detailed account is provided of the technical and commercial lessons learned. The project provided a unique example of how an owner can receive best overall value by acceptance of some technical risk up front. Benefit was gained by allowing the contractor to reduce contingencies within the bid from unknowns on a fast-track project.

Jan 1, 2009

By Drew Floyd

Five full-scale pile load tests were performed on pairs of PZ-22 sheet piles installed with a vibratory pile driving hammer. The sheet piling was installed in several locations in soil generally consisting of miscellaneous granular fills overlying soft organic silts, inorganic silt interbedded with sands and gravels, very dense glacial till and shale bedrock. The test program also included the use of tip tell tales to determine what capacity could be attributed to tip resistance and skin friction. During the design phase of the project, it was assumed that the capacity of the sheet piles driven with the vibratory hammer could be correlated with the rate of penetration. The correlation between vertical capacity and rate of penetration would be used as a basis for determination of a driving criteria from driving the production sheet piling. The sheet piling load tests demonstrated that it was not possible to correlate the capacity of sheet piling driven with a vibratory hammer and the rate of penetration. It was also demonstrated that the capacity of the sheet piles was directly related to the density of the soil at or just below the tip. The results also tend to agree with empirical equations provided by Meyerhof (1976).

Jan 1, 1989

? Hollow Stem Auger ? Drill Bits ? Leads/Torque Arm ? Hydraulic Gearbox ? Hydraulic Power Unit ? Grout Pump ? Crawler Crane

Jan 1, 2000

By Anthony H. Tawil

Modern, high-speed machines used in the manufacture of paper require foundations with stringent settlement constraints. To fulfill this requirement, caisson piles, extending into bedrock, were selected to support a paper machine in Baie Comeau for the Quebec North Shore Paper Company (QNSPCo.). This was the fourth machine in an existing paper mill, and its construction was part of an expansion program which included the building of associated structures such as a wood room and chip storage building, and other facilities, Figure 1. The paper mill in Baie Comeau, Quebec, is located in an area which has extensive deposits of sensitive marine clay which are transformed into a viscous liquid when disturbed by external forces such as the driving of piles. Loss of ground and soil disturbance as affected by piling activity assumed considerable importance in the design and construction of the caissons particularly in view of the proximity of existing plant facilities, including another paper machine.

Jan 1, 1987

By Matthew Janes

Statnamic load testing is becoming widely accepted as a method to quickly and economically determine the load-deflection behaviour and ultimate static resistance of high capacity deep foundations. Strain instrumented large diameter bored shafts were tested at four locations for the federal and state Departments of Transportation in the United States. Tests were conducted vertically (to 30 MN) and laterally on the shafts and, in some cases, testing was completed over water. Instrumented shaft test results provided shaft load distribution with depth and shaft shear transfer stress throughout the soil stratum. Shaft end bearing and ultimate end bearing stress values were provided. On two projects, Osterberg load cells provided comparative static data for skin friction and end bearing. Correlations between Statnamic derived static load-displacement results and Osterberg load-deflection results are very good. Statnamic lateral load test results were correlated with static lateral results in addition to providing useful dynamic response and damping data.

Jan 1, 1996

By H. W. Hunt

Accessories are increasingly used to protect and extend H, pipe, precast concrete, timber, and sheet piles for any soils conditions. With point protection, piles can be driven through boulders, layered rock, garbage dumps, and waterfront debris to provide dependable support for all types of structures. Splicers for pipe piles can be tapered for a water-tight drive-fit that does not require welding. The pipe splicer can be made applicable to precast concrete piles. Splicers for H make the long pile as strong as an unspliced length with only simple welding. Transition splicers quickly connect different types or sizes into efficient composite piles.

Jan 1, 2010

By Heinz Brandl

Box-shaped pile and diaphragm wall foundations have proved suitable for transferring heavy loads of bridges, power plants, tanks, towers or other buildings in a concentrated form into the ground. The bearing-deformation behaviour and the earthquake resistance of such "box-foundations" are superior to those of conventional pile groups. The reason lies in the reduction of lateral soil displacement and in the composite effect between concrete elements and the enclosed soil. The paper describes results of comprehensive model tests and in situ measurements, theoretical aspects and case histories.

Jan 1, 2002