Experimental investigation of the response of a driven pile in soft silt

Abstract

The paper describes the results of field tests carried out using highly instrumented piles at a very soft estuarine clayey silt deposit at Kinnegar, Belfast. The site has been used for a number of years as a geotechnical test bed site and has been comprehensively characterised using both in-situ tests including Cone Penetration Tests (CPT) and by means of an extensive laboratory test program. The instrumented pile used in the investigation was developed at University College Dublin and includes sensors which allow readings of both total radial stress and pore pressure during installation, equalisation and load testing to be made at a number of locations along the pile shaft. The radial stress and pore pressure developed during installation and equalisation are discussed in terms of the CPT qcnet value and compared with similar results from the literature.