Experimental study of pile set-up of driven piles in Bangkok Clay

Abstract

Experimental study of pile set-up of driven piles in Bangkok Clay was conducted on seven I-shape prestressed concrete piles with their pile tips varied between 8-21 meters below ground level. The study site was selected at State Railway of Thailand (SRT) Eastern line between Hua Takhe station and Chachoengsao junction. The soil condition of the site consisted of high plasticity soft clay approximately 12 meters in thickness and the second layer is 6 meters of high plasticity medium clay, and the third layer is 4 meters of high plasticity stiff clay. Three periods of dynamic pile load test were carried out, including the end of drive (EOD), 11 days, and 32 days after pile installation to observe the pile resistance set-up behavior. After 32 days, it was found that the overall average side resistance set-up ratio is 5.4, the overall average tip resistance set-up ratio is 1.5, and the total pile resistance set-up ratio is 2.7. The increase in side resistance with time is more significant than that of tip resistance. The increase in side and tip resistances of stiff clay are smaller than those of soft and medium clays. To predict pile set-up in Bangkok Clay, the pile set-up parameter of 1.065 is recommended for Skov and Denver [1] pile resistance prediction equation.

Keywords

• pile set-up
• dynamic pile load test
• driven pile
• pile capacity
• bangkok clay