Pile integrity and load testing: Methodology and classification

Abstract

The paper presents the methodology and classification of pile integrity and load testing, in compliance with current foreign standards, as well as our own defined segments of standard improvement and our own definitions of certain key elements. The classification has been conducted according to the test types which clearly define the pile testing process, analysis methods, and test results processing. Beside the basic division of pile testing to integrity tests and load tests, there is also an additionally defined group of shaft control tests in the case of bored piles, since for the proper shaft formation, when it comes to bored piles, certain qualitative-quantitative criteria must be fulfilled beforehand. Presented in this way, the methodology and classification of pile integrity and load tests serves, primarily, an educational purpose for civil and geotechnics engineers who deal with this issue, to additionally introduce innovations in this field of testing and clarify all the elements of the testing since contradictory opinions and disagreements regarding the testing details are quite common in practice.

Keywords

• pile
• testing
• standards
• classification
• integrity
• load